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Twilight Sentinel adjustment?

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Old Nov 2, 2006 | 04:23 PM
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Default Twilight Sentinel adjustment?

It seems to take way too long for my headlights to come on while driving at, well, twilight. Most of the other vehicles on the road seem to all have their lights on already and mine are still off. Sometimes I have to turn them on manually and then turn off the switch and then they will stay on. Is there a way to adjust the light sensitivity?
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Old Nov 2, 2006 | 04:42 PM
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My guess is, there isn't. Reason, because I own three GM cars w/sentinels. I have the service manual for one of the cars. It says, you must replace the sensor.

I've done it on one car because I was having the same problem you are experiencing. I bought the part from gmpartsdirect and replaced it myself.

That fixed the problem.

Good luck!
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Old Nov 2, 2006 | 04:59 PM
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Do you remember about what it cost for the part? Unless it's really cheap, I'll probably just use the switch to turn them on manually.
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Old Nov 2, 2006 | 05:08 PM
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Originally Posted by NolaVette94
Do you remember about what it cost for the part? Unless it's really cheap, I'll probably just use the switch to turn them on manually.
$36.47 shipped to my door. This was for a Cadillac but I imagine it'll be about the same for a Vette.

I got one after I got tired of always covering mine with a ball cap at twilight.
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Old Nov 2, 2006 | 05:16 PM
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No way to adjust the sentinel that I know of. Perhaps the new part is the way to go, but I have noticed mine sometimes takes quite a while to turn the lights on when it begins getting dark.
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Old Nov 2, 2006 | 08:42 PM
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One of the "reasons" is so that they don't pop up when you go under shaded roads or the quick overpass. Just a buffer of sorts I guess.

I turned it off because I did not want the lights to pop up everyday when I crank up in the garage. Too much unnecessary wear on the motors and gear.
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Old Nov 2, 2006 | 08:49 PM
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Originally Posted by allegro
...(snip)...I turned it off because I did not want the lights to pop up everyday when I crank up in the garage. Too much unnecessary wear on the motors and gear.
Same here. I'm not fond of the twilight sentinel feature either.
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Old Nov 2, 2006 | 11:23 PM
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Originally Posted by allegro
One of the "reasons" is so that they don't pop up when you go under shaded roads or the quick overpass. Just a buffer of sorts I guess.

I turned it off because I did not want the lights to pop up everyday when I crank up in the garage. Too much unnecessary wear on the motors and gear.
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Old Nov 2, 2006 | 11:35 PM
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Originally Posted by allegro
One of the "reasons" is so that they don't pop up when you go under shaded roads or the quick overpass. Just a buffer of sorts I guess.

I turned it off because I did not want the lights to pop up everyday when I crank up in the garage. Too much unnecessary wear on the motors and gear.
Wore out both headlight gears before I realized that the light were coming up every time I started the car in the garage.
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Old Nov 2, 2006 | 11:37 PM
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Originally Posted by JDs00PewterCoupe
No way to adjust the sentinel that I know of. Perhaps the new part is the way to go, but I have noticed mine sometimes takes quite a while to turn the lights on when it begins getting dark.
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Old Nov 3, 2006 | 07:31 AM
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Since I own a Canadian vette there is no way to turn off the Twilight Sentinel via the DIC so I used a resistor to disable it.
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Old Nov 3, 2006 | 10:58 AM
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Originally Posted by Zilla
Since I own a Canadian vette there is no way to turn off the Twilight Sentinel via the DIC so I used a resistor to disable it.
I did the same thing. Instead of the lights coming up 6 to 12 times a day because of tunnels and stuff. I think I have turned them on twice this year. That should improve the longevity of the headlight gears.
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Old Nov 3, 2006 | 11:39 AM
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Originally Posted by Zilla
Since I own a Canadian vette there is no way to turn off the Twilight Sentinel via the DIC so I used a resistor to disable it.
Interesting, Canada requires Twilight Sentinel always active? I know they require "day time running lights" But the Sentinel system is an entirely different matter.

One feature I would recommend as Automatic is that the head lights/tail lights come on when the wipers are activated. Several states require that lights be turned on in the rain. But I would say 75% of drivers ignore this requirement - mostly because they think their day time running lights are all they need. Little do they realize that they have no tail lights on when day time running lights are active.
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Old Nov 3, 2006 | 12:53 PM
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Originally Posted by allegro
One of the "reasons" is so that they don't pop up when you go under shaded roads or the quick overpass. Just a buffer of sorts I guess.

I turned it off because I did not want the lights to pop up everyday when I crank up in the garage. Too much unnecessary wear on the motors and gear.
I hadn't thought about that. My headlights pop up unneccesarily everytime I start the car in the garage too. My problem is solved I guess. I'm turning off the twilight sentinel also.
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Old Nov 3, 2006 | 01:35 PM
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I have a similar problem of sorts but I can't turn on the head lights manually. With the twilight sentinnal off the manual switch will not work. The only way to turn them on is having the sentinnal on. Any suggestions???
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Old Nov 3, 2006 | 01:58 PM
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oh, hell. I've been wearing out my gears everytime I crank the car. I can't believe I hadn't thought about it!
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Old Nov 3, 2006 | 02:54 PM
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I've got the non-pop lights from breathless, so I don't care about gear wear... but I WOULD like the ability to adjust the sensitivity.
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Old Nov 3, 2006 | 04:32 PM
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I've owned mine, just over a month.And was upset that the light's had to go on manually.Upset till I went on this forum.I don't mind so much,especially since mine stay's in garage,when not in use.
Nelson
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