Well, then, I'm stumped...

Aftermarket "cell phone" antennae - probably a fake. Is there a matching piece on the inside of the window? If not, lose it.

Brainerd is a little out of my normal travels. But we do have members in Sauk Center and St Cloud that could probably meet up with you sometime.

And I can't think of anything that a collision would cause that would cause the symptoms you describe. It almost sounds like an intermittent short except that it happs all the time and then times out. Hopefully one of the other pre-96 folks will be of more help

YES. Don't feel dumb at all. I can definitely say that I've spent about as much time repairing previous clueless "repairs" on a car as I have repairing something that actually broke. (i.e. broke without "help" from some idiot previous owner)

(Show of hands please: How many of you own a car that was obviously owned by an idiot in the past?)

(I thought so! )

That'* the external component of a cellphone antenna, either real or fake. No connection to the current problems.

No, those do nothing but light up if power reaches them; they would have no control over how long your lights stay on.

At this point I'm thinking that you either have an aftermarket accessory box for something or other that'* going slightly bonkers, or a headlamp switch that'* flaky, although I can't see how the switch would "get better" all by itself and turn the lights off after an hour or however long you said.

In the original lighting system, there is no relay that could allow the parking lights to stay on after you switch off the headlamp switch; the parking light circuit is wired straight through. However, any aftermarket control box for anything that wants to blink the lights will tap into that circuit (the brown wire coming out of your light switch), and probably uses its own relay to blink the lights. If that relay stuck (and jeez, I've seen plenty of cheap crappy relays go bad), that could explain it.

Is it possible that you have an aftermarket alarm box in which somebody snipped the siren because it was sounding off all the time? If the control box is still intact, it could still be turning the lights on, even if it'* making no sound. Any cheap siren under the hood? Unexplained wiring?

95 manual in front of me. It'* beat but still works. First let me say..go on ebay and buy the owner manual...too much stuff in these cars that you'd never guess about.

Twlight Sentinel (OPTIONAL) Says the twilight sensor is the one on the dash near the windsheild by the defroster outlet. If you have this feature you would know. It is labeled next to the ****.

Fog Lamps - An indicator light in the switch will glow when the fog lamps are switched on. Your headlamps must be on low beams, or your parking lamps must be on, for your fog lamps to work. (quoted directly from book)

Scanning page to attach if scanner is working...oh crap...

sorry still recovering from pc death last week...scanning not yet possible

I'll take a look under the hood tonight to see if any suspicious wiring/etc. Never seen an auto start box before, and never had an alarm for that fact either but should be able to spot something out of the ordinary. I'll keep you updated.

Oh, and BillBost37, I will be finding a manual...thanks for the suggestion.

whitetrash (aka Jason)

A remote starter box will almost certainly be under/behind the dashboard, since that'* where 90% of its connections are made (it mostly just bypasses your ignition switch, with a couple of wires going under the hood for optional connections like a hood-open kill switch or a tach connection at the coil pack). The Bonneville'* own hood-open pin switch is a big black plastic plunger near the front left corner, so don't confuse that with aftermarket hardware.

On the other hand, an alarm will probably have its siren under the hood, and possibly a shaker box with some aftermarket labels, etc. But just look for anything suspicious and tell us what you find. (Any oddball brand labels stuck in corners of the windows anywhere? "Protected by SuperDuperCyberWhazooty Security"; that kind of thing?)

The factory manuals are highly recommended! Also, if you register yourself and your car on GM'* website at http://www.myGMlink.com, you can download your owner'* manual in PDF form (or just surf eBay and pick up the right used one for your car for a couple of bucks).

My manual is beat to heck and Ebay has the originals...some still in the plastic. Pretty cheap...I think $15

These used to work, but it seems to be setup differently now..

And yea, don't worry about being a n00b. I still am and everyone here is friendly and helpful. Headlights wouldn't shut off for a awhile after I got out of the car, and it took me about 20 minutes to figure out it was the twilight sentinal....

Right. According to the website, you can download the manual for your year of car, provided you register your car first, but it doesn't look like you can roam around to download any other years.

What was really annoying was that they say I can register my '93, but when I filled out all the form, it wouldn't recognize my VIN. I sent them an email about it, which was ignored. Now every time I log in, I get nagged at by their website to register the VIN, and I'd love to, if they could get their act together and debug the website. Sheesh.

Anyway, I have the entire 1993 Owner'* Manual in PDF form if anyone wants it; send me a PM if you'd like a copy. (Be warned: it'* a _large_ file, umpty-mumble megabytes in size. If I was on my office machine I could give you a more accurate number.)

(_Owner's_ Manual, not the Service Manual...)