No Twilight Sentinel?? No Dimming??

[CaddyDaddy]

I have a couple of problems. First off my twilight sentinel has never

worked for me. Another the speedometer will never dim. When I slide the dimmer to the minimum setting the buttons on the cliamte control and the light on the center console for the shifter position dim like they are supposed to, but never the speedometer. When I run the on-board diagnostics both the dimmer and the twilight sentinel sliders work correctly from min to max. In addition to the twilight sentinel when I run the diagnostics on the photocell it seems to work (Some what).

I have check it on a sunny day I get a reading of 7 and I just checked it tonight and I get a 30. So whats the deal here?? It has a range of 0-100. Well I placed a flash light aimed at the photocell and it goes down from 30 to about 10 then when I place a book over the photocell (in the dark anyway) it starts to climb, but very very slowly. Almost seems like it takes 10 minutes to got from 10-20. Plus with it covered I haven't seen it go anywhere higher than 32 even after 30 minutes of waiting. does this thing just need to be cleaned or to they go bad often?? Plus will this fix my dimmer problem? Please help me out if possible. I can use any feedback I get. Thanks alot people.

[CaddyDaddy]

Ok i have some what found out my problem. If I unplug the twilight photocell it reads night time which will allow my speedometer to dim and my dome light to come on when I open the door. But there is this capaciter right next to my twilight photocell (Under the defrost grille) and it was busted in two peices. Does anyone what the value of this capaciter is?? I can't read all the numbers on the capacitor to replace it. It says

KCC

8xxx

8833

I think but I can't read the middle line does anyone think they can help me out??

[98Concours]

That "capaciter" is the sun load sensor and is part of the climate control system. It sits to the right of the twilight sentinel photo cell.

Jeff

[CaddyDaddy]

Thanks alot. I was wondering if that had something to do about the photocell. Well I did some reading and it has to something to do with the climate control. I believe that this is what helps the auto climate work. Mine is nearly busted in two. But the on board diagnostics shows that it still works. I toke a reading from the sun load temp got about a 21 degrees then I rubbed it with my fingers to make a little heat and the read went up to about 30 degrees celcius. So the way i take it, even though this thing is bust nearly in two it still does its job. Very surprising if you ask me. Well thanks Jeff.

[Ranger]

It has always been my understanding that the sun load sensor does not read "heat". It reads sunlight. Basically it tells the system if it is cloudy or sunny and that will have some effect on the amount of cooling if I understand the system correctly.

[KHE]

THe "capacitor" that you refer to is the cadimum sulfide photocell for the twilight sentinel. Replace it and your problems will most likely be solved. It is about $25 at the dealer.

[CaddyDaddy]

THanks guys I think this problem is offically solved. I am gonna try and get my Pops to get the part for me since he wotks at Car Star and has a 25% discount on parts. Although $25 isn't bad, but why not save the money when you can.