My headlights are staying on all the time, looks like my light sensor needs to be replaced. I know that these photo cells wear out over time and it is 10 years old now, so I guess I'll just go ahead and order a new one.

Has anyone on here tackled this job? How hard is it to get the old sensor out of the dash panel and the new one installed?

 

I've replaced the one on my 2007. Takes ten minutes. Carefully pop the grill off the dash ... it has small tabs around the perimeter - use a nylon car interior tool - a small screwdriver would work but you risk cutting/scratching the dash pad. I forget how the light sensor itself is attached (either a couple of plastic tabs or a single screw) but it is obvious once you get the grill off. The wire on mine was sort of short so it does not come out very far (another 2 inches of wire would have made disconnecting it a lot easier).

 

be careful popping that grill out. I broke a tab during a "disconnect the center speaker" maneuver. Know where the tabs are.

If you are an Amazon open-box shopper, there is one for 7 bucks.

 

Like said above, use a small screwdriver to carefully pop the center grid off. Sensor is clipped in. Remove wire connections and replace.
Easy job. Got my OEM replacement from Amazon.

Mine is a 07 also.

 

 

Thanks, looks like a simple job.

 

FYI, defroster grill replacement can be found on page 10-122 of volume 2, but it really doesn't tell you much other than there are 4 clips and it shows pretty much the same photo as above.

 

Has anybody else noticed that there appear to be two different types of these sensors? One has a smoked lens, and the other has a more frosted looking lens and it is oriented differently when installed. I ordered the GM part number that is called for (13498958) but it looks different than the one I took out, and it installs 90 degress different.

The one I took out looks like this:




But the new one looks like this. If you look, you'll notice the small plastic alignment arm is in a different position, which means the sensor gets mounted 90 degrees off. It seems to me like the orientation is important if you want it to catch the light from the proper direction.

 

Is there any readable part number on the one you took out?

 

Closer inspection reveals they are two totally different designs internally. I guess GM must have changed/upgraded them since my car was built.

 

FIY, it may or not be the ambient light sensor in the dash the problem.

Hence the HVAC controller sends out 5 volts to the sensor and reads what it sending back, and the HVAV controller tells the BCM if the lights should be on or off in the first place via that feed back voltage from the sensor.

Hence I bring this up, since the problem may not be a sensor that is problem, but just a cold solder joint in the HVAC controller board causing the problem instead. I state this, since my HVAC is having problem the it cold, and when the inside of the car warms up, the problem goes away (classic cold solder joint problem, and at some point, need to pull the HVAC controller board to reflow the solder joint on the board to solve the cold solder joints).

So short of having a Tech II to check the feed back voltage in the first place, start with just replacing the ambient light since they are cheap enough, and if it does not solve the problem, then it time to pull the HVAC controller,pull the board, and re-solder the Cold solder joints that are causing the problem instead.

If your soldering skills suck and don't have anyone to do such for you, then may have to replace the HVAC controller instead.

 

Lights work just fine with the new sensor installed. Just wanted to point out that the sensors appear to have changed in design over the years.