Wiring your auto dim mirror
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 348
Congratulations on your purchase of your auto-dim mirror! With proper maintenance, your auto dim mirror will provide you with years... blah blah ok enough :P
Here are the steps I took to install the wiring harness for the Gentek/Nissan auto dim mirror. Running and installing the wires shouldn't really take over 30-45 minutes (worst case). If you're experienced, you can probably knock it out in 15-20. I've written these instructions pretty basic just in case someone installing it might not be familiar with wiretaps, etc.
The instructions are long, but only because I'm giving you a LOT of detail. The wiring installation is pretty simple.
Things you'll need:
* a wire tap (you can get these at Radio Shack)
(red size works great)
* pair of normal pliers
* a wire tie/twist-tie and/or electrical tape
* (optional) wire strippers or scissors
* flashlight
* socket set or other to remove hex nut
(sorry I don't remember the socket size)
* a cold beer
If you are planning to attempt to remove the mirror yourself (not personally recommended), start there. It'll give you a little extra room to run the wire along the windshield, but you can do fine with the mirror in place.
(Step 1.) A-FRAME PILLAR COVER. Remove the plastic driver side a-frame pillar cover. Be gentle. The plastic clips are fragile, but it comes off very easily with a little pulling. I started at the top, then you can gently pop the rest of the clips off with a bit of pressure. After all the clips are off, pull the piece up and out from the dashboard. Lay on the side.
(Step 2.) DROP THE WIRING HARNESS. There are two ends, one with a female plug (this goes to the mirror), and the other with wire ends and a ground wire. From the top of the dashboard where the a-pillar is, drop the wires down to the floor board. You may find it helpful to bend the wires over and twist-tie or tape them all together (it will make them fall down a bit more easily without getting hung up on other wires).
(Step 3.) GROUND WIRE. The grounding wire (usually black) needs to touch metal on the car. I found the easiest location to be right behind the parking brake release lever. You'll see a hex nut right above the plastic kick panel; that's a great target. Your ground wire may have a metal wiring loop. (In order to use that you'll need to remove the entire hex nut.) I found it much easier to just cut the metal grounding loop off and strip away about 1/2 to 3/4" of the insulation at the end of the ground wire. By doing this, you only need to loosen the hex nut, twist the wire together and wrap it around the screw behind the hex nut (easier to place the insulation to the left side of the screw and wrap the exposed wire clockwise around the screw). Then tighten the hex nut.
(Step 4.) POWER WIRE. (Usually the red wire). Remove the fuse box cover and locate the cigarette lighter/accessory fuse. Then look behind the fuse box. Directly behind the cig. lighter fuse, you'll see 2 orange wires with a solid black stripe and two silver dots. Take the TOP wire (that's the one is protected by the fuse). Looking at the wire tap you'll notice 2 tunnels -- one tunnel goes through, and the other is stopped by a plastic guard. Place the orange/cigarette lighter wire through the side that goes through, close the wire tap with your hands (but do not lower the staple or lock it). Take the power (red) wire from the mirror wiring harness and slide it in the other tunnel of the wire tap until it stops (make sure it's the side where it will be under the metal staple. Take the pliers and push the staple through the wires. Do not lock it just yet.
If you have a multi meter or test light, you may want to turn the ignition to ACC or ON and test the female plug to make sure the crimp made good contact with the wire and that power is getting through. If not, you'll test it later when you plug it into the mirror.
You'll notice that your wiring harness may have extra wires. Some wiring harnesses will have two same colored wires (green on mine). That's for the temperature sensor and is used for the Gentek mirror with that feature (otherwise, they're not used). The other is for a "reverse inhibit". The reverse inhibit wire is for turning the auto dim feature of the mirror off when the car is in reverse. Not having a garage, I don't have much use for this feature, so I haven't spent the time to track down a wire that will be hot when the car is in reverse.... I'll save this for a future project
If your new mirror is NOT mounted to the glass yet, go to step 6 to test it first, then come back to step 5 to run the wire. If your new mirror is already mounted to the glass, proceed with step 5.
(Step 5.) RUNNING THE WIRE. Take the female plug that will go to the mirror and measure enough (plus a *little* extra) to hang down from the opening in the roof cover to the mirror. You do not need to pull the roof cover off. You should be able to pull enough away from the roof to wedge the wire up there. Take it slow and BE CAREFUL pulling on the roof if either the old mirror or new mirror is in place -- you don't want to have your hand come crashing into the mirror and applying force to the windshield that might crack the windshield. You're going to do this all the way across the windshield to the driver side pillar.
If some parts are really tight, you should try to do as much as you can using only your fingers. If you really get caught, you can try one of these two things:
1) take a flat head screwdriver and wedge it between the roof and cover near where the wire is, push in lightly. That should be enough to give you room to slide the wire in
or 2) take a towel and wrap it around the end of flat head screwdriver. Use that to gently push the wire in between the roof and the cover.
At the pillar you can run the wire along side the other wires. You may want to attach the wire with wire wraps or just wedge it in there. If the mirror is mounted to the glass, plug it in. If there is excess wire by the mirror, you can push it up through the opening in the roof cover above the mirror.
(Step 6.) TEST THE MIRROR. Turn the ignition to ACC or ON. The green light on the front of the mirror should light up (it's a dim light, so if it's daytime, you'll need to look very closely).
If it doesn't light, it most likely means your wiretap isn't making good contact. Try applying more pressure with the pliers. If that doesn't work, you may need to remove the wiretap. Check to see if the staple pierced the insulation, and then replace it with another wiretap. Check to make sure your ground wire is firmly attached to the screw.
Once the light is on, if it is daylight outside, find the small hole on the back of the mirror (facing the windshield). Cover that hole with your finger (that will fool the mirror into thinking it's night). The mirror should then pick up the sunlight in the sensor on the front/mirrored side of the mirror and begin to darken. If it's nighttime, cover the hole in the back, and turn the map light above the mirror on (that will simulate the glare of cars behind you.
(Step 7.) WRAPPING IT UP. Go the the wiretap, and lock it by bending the final piece over and locking it into place. The wiring harness may have a lot of extra wire. You can either use the wirewraps to twist it together up in the dashboard behind the fuse box, or somewhere along the a-frame pillar (behind the cover). You can also wrap it tightly in electrical tape to be neater.
(Step 8.) SNAP THE COVER BACK ON. Carefully slide the a-frame pillar cover back in between the a-frame and the dash. Line up the plastic clips with the slots and apply pressure and snap the piece back on. Snap the fuse box cover back on.
Kick back for a second, open the beer (if you haven't already) and admire your work!
Wait for nighttime, and then go driving around! If you just can't wait, drive around with your finger on the back of the sensor facing the windshield.
Enjoy! Let me know if you have any questions or if any of this is confusing.
[Edited by xydavid on 12-03-2000 at 03:19 AM]
Here are the steps I took to install the wiring harness for the Gentek/Nissan auto dim mirror. Running and installing the wires shouldn't really take over 30-45 minutes (worst case). If you're experienced, you can probably knock it out in 15-20. I've written these instructions pretty basic just in case someone installing it might not be familiar with wiretaps, etc.
The instructions are long, but only because I'm giving you a LOT of detail. The wiring installation is pretty simple.
Things you'll need:
* a wire tap (you can get these at Radio Shack)
(red size works great)
* pair of normal pliers
* a wire tie/twist-tie and/or electrical tape
* (optional) wire strippers or scissors
* flashlight
* socket set or other to remove hex nut
(sorry I don't remember the socket size)
* a cold beer
If you are planning to attempt to remove the mirror yourself (not personally recommended), start there. It'll give you a little extra room to run the wire along the windshield, but you can do fine with the mirror in place.
(Step 1.) A-FRAME PILLAR COVER. Remove the plastic driver side a-frame pillar cover. Be gentle. The plastic clips are fragile, but it comes off very easily with a little pulling. I started at the top, then you can gently pop the rest of the clips off with a bit of pressure. After all the clips are off, pull the piece up and out from the dashboard. Lay on the side.
(Step 2.) DROP THE WIRING HARNESS. There are two ends, one with a female plug (this goes to the mirror), and the other with wire ends and a ground wire. From the top of the dashboard where the a-pillar is, drop the wires down to the floor board. You may find it helpful to bend the wires over and twist-tie or tape them all together (it will make them fall down a bit more easily without getting hung up on other wires).
(Step 3.) GROUND WIRE. The grounding wire (usually black) needs to touch metal on the car. I found the easiest location to be right behind the parking brake release lever. You'll see a hex nut right above the plastic kick panel; that's a great target. Your ground wire may have a metal wiring loop. (In order to use that you'll need to remove the entire hex nut.) I found it much easier to just cut the metal grounding loop off and strip away about 1/2 to 3/4" of the insulation at the end of the ground wire. By doing this, you only need to loosen the hex nut, twist the wire together and wrap it around the screw behind the hex nut (easier to place the insulation to the left side of the screw and wrap the exposed wire clockwise around the screw). Then tighten the hex nut.
(Step 4.) POWER WIRE. (Usually the red wire). Remove the fuse box cover and locate the cigarette lighter/accessory fuse. Then look behind the fuse box. Directly behind the cig. lighter fuse, you'll see 2 orange wires with a solid black stripe and two silver dots. Take the TOP wire (that's the one is protected by the fuse). Looking at the wire tap you'll notice 2 tunnels -- one tunnel goes through, and the other is stopped by a plastic guard. Place the orange/cigarette lighter wire through the side that goes through, close the wire tap with your hands (but do not lower the staple or lock it). Take the power (red) wire from the mirror wiring harness and slide it in the other tunnel of the wire tap until it stops (make sure it's the side where it will be under the metal staple. Take the pliers and push the staple through the wires. Do not lock it just yet.
If you have a multi meter or test light, you may want to turn the ignition to ACC or ON and test the female plug to make sure the crimp made good contact with the wire and that power is getting through. If not, you'll test it later when you plug it into the mirror.
You'll notice that your wiring harness may have extra wires. Some wiring harnesses will have two same colored wires (green on mine). That's for the temperature sensor and is used for the Gentek mirror with that feature (otherwise, they're not used). The other is for a "reverse inhibit". The reverse inhibit wire is for turning the auto dim feature of the mirror off when the car is in reverse. Not having a garage, I don't have much use for this feature, so I haven't spent the time to track down a wire that will be hot when the car is in reverse.... I'll save this for a future project
If your new mirror is NOT mounted to the glass yet, go to step 6 to test it first, then come back to step 5 to run the wire. If your new mirror is already mounted to the glass, proceed with step 5.
(Step 5.) RUNNING THE WIRE. Take the female plug that will go to the mirror and measure enough (plus a *little* extra) to hang down from the opening in the roof cover to the mirror. You do not need to pull the roof cover off. You should be able to pull enough away from the roof to wedge the wire up there. Take it slow and BE CAREFUL pulling on the roof if either the old mirror or new mirror is in place -- you don't want to have your hand come crashing into the mirror and applying force to the windshield that might crack the windshield. You're going to do this all the way across the windshield to the driver side pillar.
If some parts are really tight, you should try to do as much as you can using only your fingers. If you really get caught, you can try one of these two things:
1) take a flat head screwdriver and wedge it between the roof and cover near where the wire is, push in lightly. That should be enough to give you room to slide the wire in
or 2) take a towel and wrap it around the end of flat head screwdriver. Use that to gently push the wire in between the roof and the cover.
At the pillar you can run the wire along side the other wires. You may want to attach the wire with wire wraps or just wedge it in there. If the mirror is mounted to the glass, plug it in. If there is excess wire by the mirror, you can push it up through the opening in the roof cover above the mirror.
(Step 6.) TEST THE MIRROR. Turn the ignition to ACC or ON. The green light on the front of the mirror should light up (it's a dim light, so if it's daytime, you'll need to look very closely).
If it doesn't light, it most likely means your wiretap isn't making good contact. Try applying more pressure with the pliers. If that doesn't work, you may need to remove the wiretap. Check to see if the staple pierced the insulation, and then replace it with another wiretap. Check to make sure your ground wire is firmly attached to the screw.
Once the light is on, if it is daylight outside, find the small hole on the back of the mirror (facing the windshield). Cover that hole with your finger (that will fool the mirror into thinking it's night). The mirror should then pick up the sunlight in the sensor on the front/mirrored side of the mirror and begin to darken. If it's nighttime, cover the hole in the back, and turn the map light above the mirror on (that will simulate the glare of cars behind you.
(Step 7.) WRAPPING IT UP. Go the the wiretap, and lock it by bending the final piece over and locking it into place. The wiring harness may have a lot of extra wire. You can either use the wirewraps to twist it together up in the dashboard behind the fuse box, or somewhere along the a-frame pillar (behind the cover). You can also wrap it tightly in electrical tape to be neater.
(Step 8.) SNAP THE COVER BACK ON. Carefully slide the a-frame pillar cover back in between the a-frame and the dash. Line up the plastic clips with the slots and apply pressure and snap the piece back on. Snap the fuse box cover back on.
Kick back for a second, open the beer (if you haven't already) and admire your work!
Wait for nighttime, and then go driving around! If you just can't wait, drive around with your finger on the back of the sensor facing the windshield.
Enjoy! Let me know if you have any questions or if any of this is confusing.
[Edited by xydavid on 12-03-2000 at 03:19 AM]
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