Twilight Sentinel Dial Control acting wonky

Lights seem to be working fine on my 95 Roadmaster Wagon, but I noticed that when I attempted to spin the Twilight Sentinel dial to adjust the length of time the lights remain on, that the lights went out completely. Spinning the dial to the end of either direction completely killed the lights. Fortunately, finding a sweet spot in the mid range kept the lights on, and they did not turn off while driving. I am just afraid that something may be failing, and that I may get far from home and become unable to get the lights to come on.

Is this a common issue, is there a reasonable way to resolve it? Worst case scenario, easy way to bypass it? Just wondering if anyone else has ever had this occur and what their suggestions would be. THANKS.

Take a ride up to Go Pull It in Jacksonville.  They have a 96 RMS with twilight sentinel.  That will probably cure your problem.  I was there 2 days ago and it was there.

http://gopullit.com/

Tom

Would it be the dial itself, or an outboard unit that controls it? Do you need to disassemble the dash to get the dial out/in?

First of all, it's not hard to do. The dash faceplate has to come off. I believe the dial has to come out, there is a release in the back for it. Then you can take the unit out from the back. It's probably been 10 years since I have replaced one.

Tom

The wheel is attached to the potentiometer that controls the delay. You must pull the dash face at least partially off, and remove the headlight knob, then the control panel. The switch is held in by a clip on the back of the panel...release it and swap the units.

You might be able to clean the contact on both ends, and fix yours. Crud builds up over the years, although there may be a broken wire as well, and then you can not fix it.

I may have one still installed in the panel. If so, I would like $18 shipped.

Thanks guys! AND Fred, if I need that, I will let you know. THANKS.

If you've not pulled the dash on a 94-96, it's not terribly hard. The large interior colored trim panel under the steering wheel that covers the parking brake release is just held in with clips, and you pull down from the bottom and then forward toward the seat for the upper clips. Then there are two bolts on the black plastic part of the dash bezel just above the speedometer cluster glass. Next, open the coin holder and glove box door, and the small interior-colored endcap piece of trim directly to the right of the glove box also has a clip at the top. Once all that is done, carefully work the entire dash bezel out. It's also just held in with clips, but remember this is 90's-era GM plastic, so be careful. It helps a LOT to pull the shifter lever down into low gear to get it out of the way.

Once the panel is out, the headlight switch trim panel is bolted and clipped to the dash. It's fairly self-explanatory at this point.

Best of luck!

-Texas Mike

Thanks Mike! That helps!

Just a heads-up, I was driving to work early one morning in 2011 and suddenly my headlights just WENT OUT. That was a bit of a shock, but it turned out I had to re-solder one spot in the box. Common issue, thread here:

https://gmlongroof.4umer.com/t13776-twilight-sentinel-stopped-working-1995-roadmaster?highlight=twilight+sentinel

Been working great since!