1998 Buick Regal Panel lights, chimes

DJ BUICK

MEMBER
1998 BUICK REGAL
6 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
134,000 MILES

My panel lights recently went out, along with my tail lights. I changed the fuse and it blew again with out lighting up anything. After my second attempt with a new fuse, my chimes rang and will continue to ring as long as the driver side door is open. Nothing else seems to be affected.

4 Replies

MATHIASO

MECHANIC
1,209 POSTS

Hello DJ buick

We are going to work on this together :-)

What you are having is a short to ground.

It usually causes a fuse to blow as soon as it installed.
What you need to start is a cycling circuit breaker to be installed between the fuse terminals to allow the current flow so the circuit can be tested.
You are going to need a test light.
When you have the cycling circuit breaker and a test light I will provide the wirring diagram so we can work together.

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Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 AT 5:42 PM

DANAUTHIER

MECHANIC
156 POSTS

Mathiaso is correct and his diagnostic theory is sound.
I have encountered this with the same model and year vehicle of yours and it was a short to ground in one the rear park lamps.
Of course there is no way to tell which socket is the culprit without diagnosis. You can look to see if any of the lamps are lighting abnormally (dim or too bright) but the ground will have to be checked at all your sockets to ID the failure.
Follow mathiaso direction and you'll be back to new in no time.
Thanks for your post and
Thanks to all.
Dan

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Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 AT 6:07 PM

DJ BUICK

MEMBER
2 POSTS

Where can I get a cycling circuit breaker? Checker Auto? I have replaced 2 tail lights when trying to figure this out. But even with new lights, they dont turn on - burn a fuse.
I look forward to your response.

Thanks
Dj

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Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 AT 3:20 PM

SCOTTC622

MEMBER
4 POSTS

I have an 02 buick regal and I have the same problem but mine is not a constant short it is intermittent and is hard to track I would check the wiring that goes from your tail lights through the trunk door and into a harness behind the right brake light on my car one of my wires corroded and I replaced it but unfortunatley it was a problem but not THE problem so start there and keep me updated because I would like to know to solve mine aswell. I got my harness at the junk yard for 10 bucks verses a dealer oem harness for 125 do the math or just fix the wire thats broken if thats your case

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Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 AT 4:53 PM