Autolamp Funkiness

[gadget73]

With the relay coils in parallel, I don't understand why one would operate normally and the other would not. As your diagram was drawn, a single +12v to 86 would fire both of them. If the voltage input to 86 was weak, you'd have no park or headlamp operation.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

With the relay coils in parallel, I don't understand why one would operate normally and the other would not. As your diagram was drawn, a single +12v to 86 would fire both of them. If the voltage input to 86 was weak, you'd have no park or headlamp operation.

I find the wiring a bit odd anyway. From the headlight switch, there's two feeds to that relay. One feed is headlight, one feed is park light. The relay would engage both those circuits and engage them independently. Why? No idea, it just sounds a bit extra unless it had to do with load since power for the headlamps normally goes straight through the switch.

Now it's a bit more straightforwards with just a single trigger feed.

I popped the dash pad off to inspect the light sensor. Unfortunately the lights are staying on all the time, even in light. I attempted to adjust the little knob to see if there would be any change, but nothing happened. I guess I may need to grab another light sensor for testing.

[gadget73]

looking at the 86 Towncar EVTM should be close enough for reference here. It appears that the headlight power source is a fuse link, and the parking lamp source is a fuse in the box. Do your park lamps work manually? If not, check the fuses.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

looking at the 86 Towncar EVTM should be close enough for reference here. It appears that the headlight power source is a fuse link, and the parking lamp source is a fuse in the box. Do your park lamps work manually? If not, check the fuses.

Park lamps work fine. I've never had an issue with manually turning on the lights. Only when the autolamp circuit was engaged it wouldn't activate the park lamp circuit.


Also, is there a particular autolamp sensor I need to get? I'm seeing stuff for Thunderbirds and stuff for Town Cars. My P/N is E1VB-14A597-A1A, but some of these other units appear similar, usually with just differences in the third character slot of the P/N.

[gadget73]

E1VB is 81 Lincoln, so you should be fine with one of those. I have a Turd sensor on the Continental.

Might be worth checking power through the headlamp switch. Looks like input from the fuse panel is T/W, the pass-through to the relay is DG/Y. If you don't get anything on the DG/Y either the connection at the switch is toasty or the internal connection opened up.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

I ordered a NOS sensor listed for the Thunderbird. The Town Car one that I saw was used and roughly the same price. Dimensionally they appear similar, so hopefully that all works out. I don’t figure they’d made the sensor dramatically different electrically between car lines.

Like I said before, I tried fiddling with the original sensor, but it didn’t care what level of sensitivity it was at or if light was shining on it or not, it just kept the lights on.

I’ll look into testing the feed wire. Something tells me that your thought about a crispy or open circuit is likely correct.

[sly]

Probably the 4-pin connector off the back of the switch. IIRC, that's the one that feeds the autolamp stuff.

[gadget73]

I suspect the only real difference between the various sensors is the adjustment to allow for different amounts of light that gets to the sensor through the hole in the dash. I notice the one in the Conti seems to come on a little later than I'd prefer. Eventually I'll pull the dash pad off and tweak it. It has the adjustment sticking out of the side, though the manual does imply its pretty touchy.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

I suspect the only real difference between the various sensors is the adjustment to allow for different amounts of light that gets to the sensor through the hole in the dash. I notice the one in the Conti seems to come on a little later than I'd prefer. Eventually I'll pull the dash pad off and tweak it. It has the adjustment sticking out of the side, though the manual does imply its pretty touchy.

Mine has "1/16 CCW turn is 15 minutes later". Hopefully tuning it won't take too much effort.

[gadget73]

Might justify a 5 or 10 turn pot if its too much of a PITA.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Got the unit labeled for a Thunderchicken in today. Looked identical to the unit labeled for Lincoln. Plugged it in, now I actually have a functional sensor. Off in daytime, lights on in a dim garage. It seems to be within about the same amount of the delay the '97 has before it'll kick it's lights on when pulled into the garage, so I'll say this sensor is within reasonable tolerance I shouldn't need to play with it.

Now I just need to put the dashpad back on and clean up the relay install. Thanks for everyone's help.

[DerekTheGreat]

Mine has "1/16 CCW turn is 15 minutes later". Hopefully tuning it won't take too much effort.

I suspect the only real difference between the various sensors is the adjustment to allow for different amounts of light that gets to the sensor through the hole in the dash. I notice the one in the Conti seems to come on a little later than I'd prefer. Eventually I'll pull the dash pad off and tweak it. It has the adjustment sticking out of the side, though the manual does imply its pretty touchy.

They are very touchy, and the 1/16 of a turn = 15 minutes thing isn't accurate, least it wasn't for my car. I've got them right though, took a few days of trial and error. I ended up settling for something close to stock, because while where I was originally happy with where I set it during regular driving, I was not happy that even in broad daylight the headlights would come on when stopping for gas under your typical gas station awning.

[gadget73]

mine is odd, in the garage in broad daylight its on. Actually driving in the evening it will be a whole lot darker than the inside of my garage before the lights finally activate. This was an NOS sensor but it is 30 years old. Maybe I should have re-capped it before installing. The original was dinked, not sure what it's ailment is but it seems to be something in the chip. The inputs to it do what they should, the photocell is fine, it just never gives any output to turn the lights on.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Ever forget to check behind yourself to make sure the normal stuff works? I didn't. Need to go find my dunce cap, I don't listen well sometimes.

Parking light setting is headlights. Headlight setting is headlights. Clicking on high beams with no lights on? All lights on. So 100% you cannot hook up park/headlight feeds at the relay and get fully correct operations. Come full circuit to weak coil click for that circuit but no engagement.

I pull the headlight connector out, and I've got a very melty connector at the back which has the feeds for the respective circuits. Parking light circuit is smoked on the autolamp connection at the back of the switch. The main large connector on the bottom is cracking apart. I'm replacing both of those connectors and I'll toss in a new switch for good measure. I'm also going to put the original connector back on for the DPDT relay and see if it all comes to life again. While I could retain the dual relay combo, I figure I'll just eliminate the bulk since I've really only bypassed the-not issue component.

[sly]

Called it.