Help to see what's wrong with my Buick Century?
Asked by Nick Feb 21, 2017 at 01:37 AM about the 1998 Buick Century Custom Sedan FWD
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
Hello I am really looking for some help here to see
what is exactly wrong with my car. To see if anyone
else has had the same problem. In my 1998 Buick
Century Custom the Milegae/Gear Selector light in
the cluster goes out and sometimes it goes on. It
usually stays off through out the day but
sometimes it will go back on each time I start the
car again. And occasionally it will come on at night
or whenever it gets dark. I know that these models
had the 4 resistors that were cheaply made in the
circuit board but if that were the case then the light
would never come on. So I wonder if it is a fuse or
short or something? Can anyone help me figure
this out? Thank you
6 Answers
The resistors were welded poorly, and pent up heat causes expansion of the welds and the noted darkness. Look to have the instrument cluster rebuilt with new gauge servo motors, backlighting and new resistors for the PRNDL indicator digital read. It is much cheaper if you remove the cluster and take it to a repair shop. The odometer reading will not be affected by the rebuild.
Thank you Ltcolumbo for the response, I probably just gonna take it apart, solder new and better resistors that I found, to see if that works.
I resoldered the resistor set when I rebuilt the cluster in my 03 Century several years ago, and they PRNDL read is still working like new. You should be fine with yours as well.
Hi my name is Stan I have a 1997 Buick Century Custom 3.1 I'm having problems not catching a passing gear .can you help me I change the transmission filter n transmission oil . and still not catching a passing gear.what u think the problem.please help me this is my only transportation to work .
Do you mind explaining more, like does it rev high and slips into gear or it doesn’t catch at all, when you changed the transmission oil was really low or dirty? Tell me everything it does when doesn’t catch the gear. Maybe I can help explain what’s wrong with it.
