I worked on the car this weekend and unhooked my battery. When I was done, everything was fine except the compass on the mirror. It gives me the letter "C".
I played around with it and changed the zone just to make sure. No N, NW, S.... just C.
Any ideas?

 

calibrate??

 

You need to calibrate the compass. Just drive the car in three complete circles at less than 5 mph.

 

Seriously?
Sounds like a joke?

 

He left out one part...

you have to sing VERY loud, "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain" while you drive in the circles.

 

Yeah, and you have to videotape yourself doing that hanging out the side window, and post it up here, or else the compass will never work again......

 

But remember! You must drive in a counter-clockwise circle in a crowded area with your windows rolled down.

 

lol .......if he actually video tapes and and post it.........THAT WILL MAKE MY DAY!!

 

I guess no one reads their manuals anymore.........

 

Thanks.
Its a no-go on the singing with the windows down. My wife gave me the "Look" when i asked for her to hold the camaera. Yaa, like she's not a little crazy.

Any ways, I'd probably get carried away and go to fast and maybe even hit a parking block.

 

haha you guys are hilarious!
the manual will go on to say
"You can also calibrate the compass by driving
your vehicle on your everyday route. The compass
will be calibrated once it has tracked three
complete circles."
So you dont really need to go out of your way to calibrate it.

 

....and just to complicate your life a little more, you might have to do this too.....

 

Was Nissan trying to be funny when they decided on how to calibrate the compass? I can see it now, "I'm not drunk officer, I'm calibrating my compass".

 

Just leave it on "C" and just drive your normal routes, it'll calibrate eventually. Seriously. Mine did after less than an hour of driving around running errands.

 

just go around the rotary three times...

 

you have to do a backwords inverted donut followed bya jturn and a narly burnout.

 

C for Canada mayby?, have you been travelling in my forbidden country?!

 

I hate to drudge up an old topic but could someone looking in their 03 manual and tell me how to force the mirror into Calibrate mode? I bought a mirror and it installed and works fine but it always displays north. Maybe page 2-8?

 

Unplug it for a few mins? Or reset the zone?

Manual is here:

http://www.courtesyparts.com/pdf/2003-Nissan-Maxima.pdf

 

Thanks Puppetmaster. I actually found the answer I think. The manual doesn't mention it but if you press and hold the COMP button down for 10 seconds or so it'll force it into calibration mode, then you drive in circles (as the manual mentioned)

I'm just adding this to the thread in case someone else runs across this in a search as I did.

 

3 circles at 5mph? ..too bad the max's turning radius is of a semi truck..

 

I have to tell a quick story related to this, I have a friend that had a Chevy Blazer and the overhead compass read "OC". Which was an error code for open circuit. She thought that it meant that she was in Orange County. And as that is where she lived she never thought anything different, until I drove her car and pointed it out and that we were in another county at that point. Sorry, had to share this story as all the posts reminded me of that story.

 

Haha true that!

Umm can you replace the mirror without the compass, with one that has a compass?

 

Yep, I just did it the other day, plugs right in.

 

hahaha i hate the dam turning radius on the max. its embarrassing when I have to get into a tight parking spot.

 

Where did you get yours from?
Have you ever ripped the e-break to slide the car around and fit it easier? lol i have!

 

nah the only time I ripped the e brake was when I was playing in the snow in a school parking lot near my house. nobody was there except a few friends.

 

i need to tighten my e-brake... how do you do that again? thread hijack sorry!!! lolz i tried tightening the screw on the lever itself, and its still not super tight.. is there another bolt/nut you have to tighten in the back?? in that case ill just keep it as it is..

speaking of brakes.. is it just me or do Hawk HPS don't provide good braking power when cold, cuz i remember having my car sit for like an hour, and i tried to torque brake my trans, and my car would slowly edge forward :|

damn double thread hijack