Guys, im sure our car has the twilight sentinel, it says "twilight sentinel on the damn switch,

Now the reason i keep asking the same questions, you guys have not really answered my questioins, im not trying to be an a**,

So how is this supposed to work? Straight answer please. Thanx.

Hector

Straight Answer: If the above posts are not answering your question and do not seem clear I'm unaware how else to help you.

Twilight Sentinel as read in my owners manual only controls the amount of time the headlights stay on after turning the ignition off. Sentinel is NOTyour problem.

Check the PHOTOCELL in the dash. The photocell reads day and night to turn on automatic headlights.

The **** also can DISABLE twilight sentinel. And just because it says twilight sentinel on the switch doesn't mean it came factory in the car.

In addition, it very likely is NOT the photocell. They rarely fail in that manner.

Gentlemen, we've got (at least) two separate problems here; let me try and break them down.

1) The Twilight Sentinel system is not working properly here, and in fact my '93 has _exactly_ the same problem: at first it began not switching the lights on at dusk until light levels were much darker than they previously needed to be, and after some months of that, it now simply doesn't work anymore, period. I need to get into the dash and start troubleshooting that.

Incidentally, the light cell for the system is in the top _left_ corner of the dash, near the VIN plate, a flush circle about the size of a dime; it'* not the little raised plastic dome in the center of the dash, which is the Sunlight Intensity sensor for the A/C system.

The rotating ring around the headlamp switch is used to set the time delay after vehicle shutdown, which can range from approximately 6 seconds to 4 minutes. However, turning it fully clockwise until it clicks will completely turn off the system, including the light sensor for turning on vehicle lights after dark. The rotating ring controls only the time delay; it does not control the light sensor'* sensitivity to light. (There is no adjustment for that.)

So I don't (yet) have a fix for this problem, although I'm inclined to blame the control module rather than the light cell, since the light cell is supposed to react to _lack_ of light; i.e. light that it _can't_ see. So if it was failing and, um, going blind, we would expect to see the lights on more often, not less often.

But the more serious problem here appears to be:

2) The external running lights and dash lights are not coming on, regardless of the headlight switch position. The headlights themselves are on a separate circuit (or two), and controlled via a circuit breaker in the headlight switch; these appear from the description to be okay. However, all the other exterior lights are, if I'm understanding this right, _not_ coming on no matter what: no taillights, side markers, parking lights, etc.

These are all fed from the same circuit, usually brown wires to the external bulbs (with tracer colors, if the vehicle has a Lamp Monitor). Hector needs to check his fuses (I would start with fuse 14 in the fusebox under the dash near the steering column; it would be the second from the right in the middle row), as I suspect the external running-light circuit has blown. This includes the dash backlighting: although that has its own fuse (#21 at bottom left in the same fusebox), that is powered by a feed from the exterior circuit, so that if your taillights go out, your dash lights will go out, too, alerting you to the fact that there'* a problem.

If you pop in a new fuse and it blows, you'll need to inspect each of your exterior bulbs until you find the defective one. As for the Twilight Sentinel, you and me are in the same boat there; I'll let you all know as soon as I figure something out on mine.

-- Andy

I'm not sure this has been asked or answered, and I'm probably gonna sound like an ***, but...

You have tried turning the lights on the "old fashioned" way, right? Grab the centermost **** between your thumb and index finger, and pull towards you 2 clicks. Don't worry about twisting anything any way unless your dash lights don't turn on, or your cabin lights don't turn off.

While the Twilight Sentinel is a great feature, it'* not the only way to make the lights work.

Not trying to sound like a total ***, but before we assume parts are broken, let'* verify they are being used correctly.......

That'* okay, and yes, it was asked and answered already. Hector said:

So, (1) Hector'* Twilight Sentinel isn't working, which is not disastrous, but (2) his taillights aren't working either, which is a bigger (and different) problem. His headlights will come on when he pulls out the ****, but not all the other lights.

Yo, Hector, are you out there? What'* the latest on this problem?

-- Andy

I am here, car is about to get smashed pretty darn soon it is driving me crazy....

I havent really used the car at night so no change to the problem.....i will look at some of those fuses and hope to God that is the problem.

Guys, you have been really helpful, keep the good advice coming.

Hector

Hector, your blown fuse (and I'm almost certain you're going to find that) is a symptom rather than a problem. Once you've found it, I wouldn't suggest putting another fuse in right away unless you've got a boxful of fuses to spare, because the replacement will probably blow as soon as you try to turn the lights on again.

I would check the outside bulbs first to see if any are obviously bad, and swap out any suspect bulbs (or at least pull them out of the socket, even if you haven't got a spare bulb yet) before replacing the fuse.

The _very_ first thing I'd check would be the brake lights, since they're shared with the tail/running-light circuit: have an assistant step on the brake while you eyeball the lights in back, and see if any are either completely blown or are burning at only half-brightness, indicating either a filament problem or a ground-wire problem. You should see two good brake lamps on each side, four total. If those check out fine, try the parking/turn-signals up front, then check for exposed or damaged wiring in the trunk, then (if you still haven't found anything wrong), pull the side-marker and rear license-plate bulbs. Don't forget the inboard taillamps, too; the ones that don't light up as brake lights are (I think) #194 wedge-base bulbs, like the markers.

Somewhere in there I think you've got a bad bulb that'* actually shorting to ground, not just burned out. Good luck!

I stayed late last night and checked all the fuses and nothing.......there all good

All the lights work when the it gets dark enough and i turn the ring on the switch, but they do not work when i just pull the **** out....

I can't figure this out...

Hector