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auto dimming mirror

tdm571

tdm571

New member
Did any other vehicles have the same auto dimming rear view mirror as the GPs? Not having any luck only looking in the GPs at the local junkyards. If I could expand my search, I can increase my chances of finding a usable one.
 


Look for a Lincoln mirror those come with auto dimming and built in compass that's what I have. Took mine off a 2002 LS only thing needed to do is take the 3 wires from the original 3 pin plug and switch them out the
12 pin plug the mirror comes with. Doesn't take more that 10 min.

lsmirror.jpg
 
regals have the auto dim too, mine was all leaked out when i got it, i just took it off and opened it up and cleaned all the residue out between the clear glass and the mirror, no more haze, but no dimmer, and its its free.
 
I ended up buying a cheap $14 rear view mirror to replace my current one. How'd you open yours to get rid of all that oil and haze?
 


if you look at the mirror around it is a grove, i pulled the lenses out where the bulbs go and gently pried it open, there are a few clips you need to deal with, 2 small screwdrivers will help out a lot, like eye glass screw drivers, after you get the case open, the glass will just separate from the mirror, then clean it up real good and slap it back together.

if i recall the edges of the glass were quit sharp, so watch your fingers.
 
tdm571 said:
All the other W-body cars have the map reading lights built into the mirror. Everybody always says call Morad. Frankly, compared to the local junkyards, Morad is obscenely overpriced. Why pay $50 + shipping for a mirror when I can get it for under $10.
Click to expand...


True that's why I pulled my mirror of a Lincoln not a lot of Prix junked in my area but one thing you should know is that all mirrors for most American make cars are provided from basically 2 company's I believe. Hell the mirror form the Lincoln was exactly the same size and color my old mirror was and like I said just take the plug off one and put it on the other one. In the end it doesn't matter if it came out of a w body or a ford or a Nissan its still the same mirror just on another car.

check this link hope it helps

http://www.grandprixforums.net/lincoln-ls-rearview-mirror-45242.html
 
There are 2 companies that make auto dimming mirrors. Donnelly, which alot of GM cars have from the factory, and Gentex, which is the preferred mirror to have installed. The Donnelly have a history of leaking fluid from them when they age, if this happens your auto-dim capabilities will not work anymore. The gentex mirrors from 98-02 Olds intrigues have LED map/dome lights that are electronically controlled. Instead of hard switches for the map lights that lock in an on/off position, the map light switches are rubber soft-touch switches, same as the autodim on/off. This seems pretty cool at first, but that also means the electronics in the mirror stays powered up with the hot feed so that the map lights can work. Worse, for some odd reason I can't figure out, the VFD filament is hard-wired to the hot wire as well. This means the hot/standby circuit in this mirror uses 200mA at all times (checked with my multimeter). That much load will drain a good battery in just a week or two. I had opened my mirror and wired in a tiny relay to kill the filament when the ignition is off which worked fine, but the electronics in the mirror (microcontroller) for the domelights and such still uses 80mA which will drain a battery in 2-3 weeks. Sometimes I will drive my truck for a couple weeks at a time in the winter, so even that was unacceptable.

The Intrigue BCM applies power to the hot wire of the mirror as soon as the door is opened and will cut power after 10-minutes if the ignition is off, so that allows the domelights and map lights to appear to function normally. You can't sit in a non-running car with the map lights on for longer than 10-minutes because they'll shut off.

Interestingly, the mirrors predate low cost white LEDs, so they have a bunch of amber and blue LEDs whose light blends together to simulate yellowish incandescent light. It's actually pretty cool.
 
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There is a Lincoln LS in my local pull and pray. I'll brave the weather tomorrow and check it out. Thanks for the tip. Heck, I might even check out the Maximas and Muranos as well Like BillBoost did.
 


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