Questions and Answers

Buick Regal Turn Signals And A Drain Q. Vince, There are two problems I've been having recently. The first problem is with my turn signal. The lever arm has a little play in it and also my cruise control does not work anymore (but I'm not as concerned about the cruise). When I push the lever down to turn the left blinker on, the dashboard indicator does not come on (usually).

When I go outside and look the rear blinker is on, even though the dash isn't, but the front does not work. If I apply pressure up on the lever (without taking it out of the left hand turn position) the dash light comes on and the front blinker does as well. It performs in the same fashion with the right blinker. The back always work, but the dash and front don't kick in until I apply pressure up on the lever. Once the pressure is applied I let go and they usually stay on. I know the bulbs are correct.

What do you recommend I replace to try to fix this problem? When I look at wiring diagrams for the car it seems that the each side, front and rear, is connected to the same switch, and all the lights should go on if the back is able too, so I'm pretty confused. Lastly, I want to mention that this problem appeared 12 months ago and has gotten progressively worse to the point where I usually have to apply pressure on the lever to get my signal to work.

The second problem deals with a drain on my battery. This winter my car suddenly experienced a battery drain that would kill the battery if parked for a day and a half. I used a multimeter and determined that if I pulled the CSTY (courtesy), BELT, and TAIL fuses from my glove box's fuse box the battery drain went away.

Before I go searching my car to find the drain I was wondering if you could offer some advice. This happened all of a sudden so I'm hoping that there's something that uses all of these fuses and needs them all pulled to stop the drain. Do you know of anything like that or a good starting point based on the fuses I need to pull?

Some additional background is: the battery was about 8 or 9 months old when this occurred, about 2 or 3 months after replacing the battery someone vandalized my car and I needed to get a new power mirror and power window (both passenger side) installed, and finally my car has an alarm in it. The alarm is a commander alarm and was installed in 1991 (it has a box under the driver dash with several wires in it). My car is a:

• 1991 Buick Regal
• V-6 3800
• Automatic
• 101,500 miles
• Fuel injected
• ABS brakes
• P/S - A/C - Cruise control

Thank you very much for your professional expertise and more importantly time.

Yours Truly,
Joseph C.

A. First, it sounds like you need a turn signal switch. It's inside the steering column. Second, I would disconnect the alarm first and see if your problem goes away.