> These are definitely the headlights. It's a pain with a car that has a bad alternator. Start, go a fraction of a mile, coast, stop, get a jump, start, go, coast, stop, get jump... we finally left it at a convenience store until we could replace the alternator. Having two vehicles is wunnerful, wunnerful.

Actually, it's hard to tell the difference between running lights and headlights--they both come from the "headlights" unit, but running lights are slightly dimmer. Also, running lights, on many vehicles, come on without the praking lights coming on, so that would be another way to check. One of the best ways to check would be to drive up close to a solid surface (a wall or a fence) at night and try turning the headlights on and off--with the headlights off, the running lights will still be on (unless the vehicle is like mine and the parking brake is on) and there should be a noticable difference in the brightness. Also, be aware that if the running lights do not turn on the parking lights, then you need to make sure that you do turn on your headlights at dusk, or people can't see you from behind. I think that newer vehicles may have parking lights included with running lights, simply because of this problem, but being a '91, yours may not. Oh, and one other thing--the running lights usually do not turn on the dashboard backlights--another thing you may be able to use to tell the difference.

You had also mentioned the sliding door not being openable from the inside--that sounds like child safety locks to me. Pretty much all vehicles here in Canada have them on all rear doors (including sliding doors), and basically, when active, they prevent the door from being opened from the inside under any circumstance. (Some children may be old enough to undo their seatbelts and unlock a door, but not old enough to realize that doing these things and then opening the door could be VERY BAD.) The child safety lock switch is usually located on the door in question, and is only accessible when the door is open--look for a small switch on the front of the door (front being the same as the front end of the vehicle). If you find one, it may or may not be labelled, but try it--you may suddenly find your door openable from the inside. :-)

> Nyper"I did, IIRC"old

Don "I really hope some of this helps, and I will be eagerly awaiting a response, even if it doesn't. :-)" Monkey