Hi all, I was hoping to get some help with a few issues that I have with my mirror / mirror stem.

First off, I have searched around and not found anything really relating to my issue. Most people have the liquid crystal in the mirror go bad / come oozing out, which is definitely not the case for me. My mirror is perfectly clear, and I see no black liquid whatsoever.

Here are the symptoms:
1. The auto-dim does not work. The LED on the front of the mirror that indicates being on does not light up, and pressing in/out the button for AUTO on the bottom of the mirror does nothing at all.

2. The little orange light at the bottom of the mirror stem does not turn off, unless the car is locked. I can press the little side button on the mirror stem, and the light becomes slightly brighter, but it will not turn off until I lock the doors. This is annoying, because I can't leave the car unlocked in the garage for fear of running the battery down. (It's on a battery tender now, so probably not as much of an issue, but still.)

I am attaching some pics to show what I'm talking about. I have a radar detector hard wired, but it pulls power / ground in the center console from the cell phone connector. The PO had a RD hard-wired as well, and you can see the tap connector that was used in the pictures. It's only tapping the one wire, and there is no contact with anything else, so I can't imagine it's shorting out.

I'm not really sure where to go from here. I know enough about electrical work / wiring to get myself into trouble, but I don't know what to start checking or where to start troubleshooting from here.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

 

Anyone?

 

Where the wire is tapped make sure its not severed or damaged? Could be the circuit board in mirror is bad.

 

I feel like my auto dim isn't working as well. I have the little green light that comes on when I push the button. But I don't have or have ever seen that orange light that's at the bottom of the mirror mount housing as your picture indicates. Is that orange light an indication it's working or on?

 

I've got some Posi-Locks coming, so I'll cut out the tap & reconnect the wire nicely. Hopefully that helps.

I have no idea what the orange light is for. The green light on the front of my mirror never turns on, though.

 

The orange light is for nighttime ambient illumination of the console area. Very subtle. I've noticed that mine does not go out either, until I lock the cabin. BUT, I've never stuck around long enough to verify that it's not just on a long delay, like the frunk light if you leave the hood open.

Can anyone chime in with certainty?

-V

 

My car sits unlocked and have never noticed light to be on but will check. Had noticed light on when I had mirror repaired three years ago but have never really looked since lol.

 

http://rennlist.com/forums/996-forum...rear-view.html

Looks like it stays on while unlocked / top down for cab owners.
Since it's LED, no one seems to care about power draw.

This clearly has nothing to do with my issue of the auto-dim mirror not functioning, but at least it shows that power is getting to the stem of my mirror. Now I just need to figure out why the mirror itself doesn't seem to be getting any. (Fingers crossed that it's the stupid tap...)

 

Sometimes those taps sever the wire inside. Sadly I just finally threw out the mirror I replaced, the. Out to on mine broke but the electronics were fine