sideview mirrior

[jfirios]

Does anyone have a problem with mirror drift? my passanger mirror tends to drift upward making me constantly have to re adjust it. is that possibly a motor issue or a switch in the door issue?

[Rich]

Have not heard of this being a common D problem.

Most likely it is the switch causing the mirror motor to intermittently wind up the mirror. Or funny wiring/terminals at the switch?

Troubleshooting ideas:
1. Remove Fuse #9 (mirrors and Rear Defog). Check for drift. Any drift would then be non-electrical.
2. If it's electrical and it's happening with the mirror-select switch in the driver-side-mirror position then slide it to the passenger-side-mirror position and check again for the problem.

[sdg3205]

Mine does this as well. No clue why.

[jfirios]

just add it to the list of things to check out. Planning on installing little blue leds to light up under the door handle inside the car. Just have to figure out how to get the wireing run.
Give it a little modern car look to go along with all the other lights I have in the car now. :)

[ccurzio]

just add it to the list of things to check out. Planning on installing little blue leds to light up under the door handle inside the car. Just have to figure out how to get the wireing run.
Give it a little modern car look to go along with all the other lights I have in the car now. :)

Not a bad idea since I've had to try and describe to people how to open the door at night, but I would recommend dimmed white LEDs instead of blue. It'll look a lot less tacky.

[Rich]

....Planning on installing little blue leds to light up under the door handle inside the car. Just have to figure out how to get the wiring run....


You might be interested in checking out the feasibility of using the (unused) mirror heater wire in each door. The door end of it is easy - where to access the feed end of it might take some sleuthing. Have not read all of the posts in the other thread linked below, but there might be something for you.

http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?4224-What-Is-This-Plug

[DMC5180]

just add it to the list of things to check out. Planning on installing little blue leds to light up under the door handle inside the car. Just have to figure out how to get the wireing run.
Give it a little modern car look to go along with all the other lights I have in the car now. :)

Not a bad idea. I'm always having to show first time riders how the open the Passenger door. Ninety Percent of the time, they hit the Lock rocker and that's in daylight. I wish Designers at Lotus would have put in a little marker (symbol) or something that would indicate the door handle. Even the Lock rocker position (who looks at an obscure panel light for that kind of thing). Most cars have a Orange flag that is readily visible when the mechanism is in the Lock position and the words LOCK/UNLOCK.

[jfirios]

i didn't know the side mirrors had heaters in them. i was freaked out when i accidentally discovered the mirrors actually fold in. I didn't know cars in the 80s had that. I though i broke the mirror. If you hook the LED up to that wire, wouldn't the light be on all the time?
I would like blue because of all the other lights in the car are blue.

[Citizen]

Mine does this as well. No clue why.

+ 2

Also no clue why, except that it is probably physics (mechanical) rather than electrical. I know it is not electrical because I have been disconnecting the battery after each run, and the mirrors seem to be off a little bit by the next time I run the car.

I have just been putting up with it, no real plans to address it.

Thomas

...

[Rich]

i didn't know the side mirrors had heaters in them..... If you hook the LED up to that wire, wouldn't the light be on all the time?

The side mirrors do not have heaters in them - unless you add the heaters. The yellow or yellow-white wires are there, reportedly part of the door harness in anticipation of mirror heaters. Had the factory ever fit such mirror heaters and rest of the wiring been in place then the mirror heaters would probably have cycled on with the rear window defog circuit. Not on all the time.

For you to put them to use as part of your door latch light circuit you will have to repurpose them - assuming you can verify that those "mirror heat" wires are fed by any wire upstream of the door harness in the roof or can fab something up and connect your circuit whatever circuit you plan to use for interior LED lighting. Have not researched that mirror heat wiring myself. That other thread link in Post #6 may have some useful tidbits for you.

[Rich]

i didn't know the side mirrors had heaters in them..... If you hook the LED up to that wire, wouldn't the light be on all the time?

The side mirrors do not have heaters in them - unless you add the heaters. The yellow or yellow-white wires are there, reportedly part of the door harness in anticipation of mirror heaters. Had the factory ever fit such mirror heaters and had the rest of the wiring been in place then the mirror heaters would probably have cycled on with the rear window defog circuit. Not on all the time.

For you to put them to use as part of your door latch light circuit you will have to repurpose them - assuming you can verify that those "mirror heat" wires are fed by any wire upstream of the door harness in the roof or can fab something up and connect your circuit whatever circuit you plan to use for interior LED lighting. Have not researched that mirror heat wiring myself. That other thread link in Post #6 may have some useful tidbits for you.

[DrJeff]

I'm in the process of installing mirror heaters. The wires for the mirror heaters (assuming they are the unused wires by the mirror harness) are white/green and are shown on the color wiring schematic. They also provide power to the mirror position switch and motors. I haven't written the project up yet, but it's on the to-do list.

The white/yellow wires terminate in each door, however according to some other posts the other ends terminate in the roof box. If I were selecting just to power some LEDs in the doors I'd probably use these wires so that you leave the white/green wires for mirror heaters or for door poppers (the other common use). The only down side is having to get into the roof box are route the white/yellow wires to some where useful like to the center console (IIRC white/orange is the side lights wire).

[SS Spoiler]

What would happen if you made replacement door mirrors of polishes stainless. It would then be easy to attach heaters to the back. You could also drill a series of holes along the outer edge and mount some LED's behind to blink with the side markers. I wonder if the passenger side could be bent to a convex shape.......Feel free to steal the idea.

[Bitsyncmaster]

What would happen if you made replacement door mirrors of polishes stainless. It would then be easy to attach heaters to the back. You could also drill a series of holes along the outer edge and mount some LED's behind to blink with the side markers. I wonder if the passenger side could be bent to a convex shape.......Feel free to steal the idea.

That's a good idea. Bet someone with some time and a hammer could do it. Would be nice to have and English wheel.

[Rich]

What would happen if you made replacement door mirrors of polishes stainless. It would then be easy to attach heaters to the back.

The polished stainless would need to be flat enough and stiff enough to achieve and maintain optical-level flatness, something very easily done with thin float glass that mirrors are made from and yet not be so heavy that it flops down or vibrates on the articulating mirror-steering yoke inside the housing when the car's moving - over a bumpy road.

It is no more difficult to add a sheet heater element to the back of a mirror than it is to attach such a heater to metal. The trick is finding the heater element that fits - and fully sorting the rest of the wiring beyond the door.
Someone out there says they have done it? Such a project could be a whole new thread.

Teaser: LINK to potential source of aftermarket mirror heater grids (http://www.burcoinc.com/products/other_products/redi_heat_grids/)

[outatym2001]

Someone out there says they have done it? Such a project could be a whole new thread.

Yes, heated side view mirrors were at one time available but are not now. Please read post number 4 and post number 28 in the thread below.

What Is This Plug?
http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?4224-What-Is-This-Plug

I couldn't find my receipt for the replacement side view mirror glass with the heating element attached on the backside. Don't know where that receipt is as I have all of my other receipts. I installed them over a year ago.

Please see my post number 4 in the thread below and look at picture MirrorSideView(7).jpg

Getting the side view mirror back on
http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?2452-Getting-the-sideview-mirror-back-on