Buick Century Electrical/Lights

ewolfdog

Did you find out what it is and could you share it? Same thing is going on with mine.

michael234

Hi,

I tried that on my 1998 Buick Century and and nothing happened. Could you be more specific such as when to insert the ignition key, and what position to set it to?

Thanks,

Michael F

boo321

After changing tail light and turn signal bulbs, my 2002 cedntury started up but the stalled. I tried to start it again and now it won't even turn over. The security light does not stay on, but my brake light and fuel light stay on and i know I have fuel in it, but along with the light staying on it also stays on E. Any help would be great

lautina

Hi, I have a 2005 Buick century. My lights behind the speedometer went out, not the lights for the P/R/D. I took my dashboard apart and replaced the lightbulbs thinking this would work, but when we tested the lights, they still didn't turn on? Can anyone pls help?!! Thank you!!

oldiron86

I had this problem with my 2001 Century. After checking everything I coud think of and replacing many fuses, I accidently found the cause of the problem.

While opening my trunk with the lights on after just replacing a fuse, the fuse blew again, but in the darkness of the trunk I caught a glimpse of a electrical spark near the right side trunk hinge.

I found the problem. The wiring harness retainer does not allow enough slack in the harness where it comes into the trunk lid from the body. The wiring eventually breaks from flexing at that point. The wires then short together knocking out taillights, and all dash and control panel lighting.

I got many outrageous repair quotes and suggested solutions before stumbling on the simple answer to this problem.

I hope this helps you even though your post was a while back. Maybe it will help others too.

bdierkes

Thanks oldiron86. We bought an 02 Century 5 weeks ago and 3 nights ago, I had no dash lights. After finding your message, we checked the tail lights and realized they were out, too. We unhooked some of the wires to try to find the bad wire by trial and error and after blowing 4 fuses, we think we have narrowed it down some. I now have dash lights and tail lights, but no back-ups or license plate lights. The wires had all already been taped up with electrician's tape, though. The dealership where we bought the car wants $90 for a diagnostic and then go from there. I am not excited about spending more money on this vehicle. I'm guessing I need to remove the electrical tape to see if I can figure out which wire is bad?

plaztiksr4me

ok i gotta 1999 century im looking at cooling fans wont work tested all relays and they work one fan was burned out i replaced both and all fuses going to it. another issue is the ignition seems messed up turn on key to start and car starts right away minus the turning it that one click forward to start then it goes back to stay in the run position i turn it forward and back a few times sometimes it works again sometimes it does not. ok most of the times it does not put in new ignition switch and key worked for a while like 8 hours now back to square one. i am gonna try this trunk wiring ordeal to see if thats the culprit. however i had a 2001 lumina that the cooling fans quit working on as well caused my junk plastic intake gasket that those gm morons used to crack which i had to replace which i found the special tool and did so. and of course got the upgraded metal gasket. i am lost i have checked all fuses and relays. please help going to wire the cooling fans to a toggle switch for now.

jimmy124

the check eng light and the abs light and the trac light are on and sometimes goses off
has anyone els had this problme and mybe could shine some light on this
i try and pull codes and it comes up w nothing
i was thinking mybe the ecm or body control moduel ?
let me know oh the low tire light as well and i check the tire presser and nothing

lifekabash

after getting intake manifold gasket replaced, next day engine wont start w/o revving gas, 3 days later radio and windows don't work. replaced ignition switch. mine definately was bad. started right up first day , radio and windows work on On position but not while running?? engine will start sometimes w/o revv
ing, but mostly have to rev to start. also stalls out when making turns. engine revs high on its own sometimes. My friend who is a wrench head is baffled. It is odd it ran purrfect before the gasket manifold was replaced? My wrench head was outta town so had it done elsewhere. mechanic accepts no responsibllity. any help would be appreciated.

radracing

I have a 2003 buick century the right side headlight wont work, i replaced the bulb and still wont work. I have power to the conector on the red wire. I put the new bulb in the left side and it worked there. I'm stumped now help?
thank you any help wecome

jimmy124

my abs,serivce eng light and trac n low tire light on ........i have
been looking online and havent seen anything that the cluster
is the problme bc all i have seen is there bulbs not lighting up
and they come on after starting the car and putting it in gear
and sometimes not comeing on for a short while but then come
on and i check for codes in the ecm and i reset the sereivce light
and it dont reset the light and i check w the dealer and they said
the cluster is usaly at falut and had one there w the same problme
lol but they didnt check it out and he thut it was the cluster

jimmy124

do u have a gd ground ?

dex_cer

mine is 2002 buick, after 2 bulb replacement i found out that there was a short in wirings connecting to that bulb because it lights up after i bend the wiring or straighten the wiring, unfortunate for me i have to replace this since my headlight was completely glued. and it cost me 80 bucks for the whle set ibought online.

rasberta

ok so what was the simple solution? i have the same problem on my 2002 Buick century.the brown/green and black wires are spliced because of the trunk..how can i fix this myself?

ktrams1987

ktrams1987

I just had the Body Control Module replaced on my 05 Buick Century due to the radio and dashboard lights turning on on their own. This would always happen about 2 minutes after the car was turned off and locked with the keyless remote.

About a month after replacing the BCM, the headlights in the car turned off completely while driving a night when trying to turn off high beams. The next day the horn was going off intermittently with no one in or near the car. The car had been turned off for two hours when this started happening.

Does anyone know what this might be happening??? Help!!

mrhitch38

Hi Chuck,

I have the same issue on my '03 Century, did you get a response to this?

Thanks

Martin

smagoo

My 2001 Buick Century is having multiple electrical issues. The other issues is whenever I start the car the drivers side window goes down If I can get it up then when I turn the engine off the window goes down again. Most of the time the window won't go up w/o turning off and on the radio or some other electrical device like the wipers and will only go up a little at a time each time I turn something on or off.
Also, I'm assuming that this electrical problem might be the cause of another issue - the car won't go into reverse sometimes. This issue started at the same time as the window issue above.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

joemerchant2

2000 Buick Century Gear indicator light out and odometer light out. I found a small company in Florida who fixes this for less than $150.00 a few years ago. You have to take your cluster out and send to him. I should have used the Florida guy but I fixed mine myself after I found a youtube video but it's not easy. There are 4 small resistors on the rear of the cluster circuit board which come from the factory with cold solder joints. They are small and don't have pigtails and are hard to solder. Mine worked but eventually failed again. If you find a cluster from the junkyard (that works) the mileage will be wrong of course. The cluster is really not that hard to remove. A dealer will hit you for over $500 for this fix.

joemerchant2

2000 Buick Century. Electric windows, overhead courtesy light, and radio quit working all at the same time. Can't find common fuse or relay. Checked individual fuses, all OK. Talk about weird. HELP! I did have to jump start the thing not long before this happened. This has nothing to do with the common window regulator problem. I've changed so many of those that I can do it blindfolded.

yvesm

Check the 15 Amp fuse labelled "INADV POWER BUS" (location E 7-8 on my fuse block). It blew in my 2002 Buick Century and I had no power windows, no courtesy lights and no radio. It looks like it happened a few times because I found a few blown 15 Amp fuses in the spares in the foam on the cover to the fuse box on the passenger side of the dash board and a blown 25 Amp fuse in the INADV POWER BUS slot. There is obviously a transient overload condition somewhere and whoever put the bigger fuse in (dealer shop?) probably hoped that would solve the problem.

robby1970

whaywardj said:

Recently had a mechanic replace the starter on my 1995 Buick Century (6-cyl). As I drove the car back home, I noticed the ABS light was on. Further investigation revealed that -- although I had turn-signals, the radio worked, and fuses I could examine in the glove box fuse panel were good -- I had no headlights, no brake lights, no interior lights, no courtesy lights, the power locks didn't work, and the radio reset everytime I turned-off the ignition. (Didn't check cruise control or hazard lights.) Is there a connection? I think there are four fusible links in wires going to the starter motor. Could one or more of these have been damaged during starter replacement and cause all this? Or (I hate to think it!) could the car's computer have been rigged during diagnostics to cause it?

staycharged16

I have a 1996 Buick Century, The car alarm dome light and the radio light stay on, even if the radio is not turned on to play, which if I do not go out and start the car everyday, the battery runs totally dead in less the 24 hours. I am a single mom with Stage 4 breast cancer, is there some way to disconnect all this to save money, and my road side assistance is starting to charge me to come jump start my car $20 now because it is the same issue. I don't have much money OR the energy here to deal with all this. But I DO Need my car to run and work properly, ALL Help is needed. Thanks.

Mr_Shiftright

Not much you can do at home except disconnect the battery every time you park. This condition is called a "parasitic drain" and has to be diagnosed by a technician or perhaps a knowledgeable neighbor who has a volt/ohm meter and a little patience. It's possible there is a short somewhere or some module that is not shutting down as it should. A proper scan tool might also indicate something.

There are numerous tutorials on the internet (such as on YouTube) on how to diagnosis a parasitic drain.

thecardoc3

@staycharged16 Do you have your owners manual? There is a 20 amp fuse in the fuse block that is in the left hand side of the glove box that is labeled CTSY which stands for "Courtesy". It controls power for the dome lamps and the radio keep alive memory. Your owners manual will show you the exact location of that fuse. If you pull it, that should turn the dome lamps off for when you are not in the car and that way you might not have to go through the trouble of disconnecting the battery. There is no way to know if the only drain on the car is the dome lamp circuit without testing.

By chance do you live in the northeast US?