Heated Rearview Mirrors Finished (2 Viewers)

[SeanAndHis80]

How hard was it to get in behind Relay Block #1? I am looking at using the empty relay socket on the bottom right for the heater elements (I already have a relay that fits it). It's still too cold to be pulling on wires and plastic connectors though.

Not too bad - I was in and out in an hour. It is a tangle of wires and in undoing them you need to take the time to put them back neatly so the kick panel goes back in nicely. It's a great time to do the Pin7 mod - but I see you have already done it. There is a factory ground point behind the kick panel as well which made the grounding easy. The relay block unbolts with two nuts and comes out easy for access.

 

[96r50]

Thanks for the info. The ground point you mention is the one I plan on using for the mirror grounds since there is one on each side of the truck right where my wires come in.

 

[SUMOTOY]

Not too bad - I was in and out in an hour. It is a tangle of wires and in undoing them you need to take the time to put them back neatly so the kick panel goes back in nicely. It's a great time to do the Pin7 mod - but I see you have already done it. There is a factory ground point behind the kick panel as well which made the grounding easy. The relay block unbolts with two nuts and comes out easy for access.

Sean - Great write-up!
FYI point of reference.... I have 5 audis in my driveway, all with factory Heated Mirrors. All of them are run off the (single) Rear Window Defogger Relay - power out post. Post 1991, the RWD is a timed out relay. Prior year cars had the heated mirrors active as long as the Rear Defogger switch = relay was on. As my daughter drives an 86 Audi coupe with this system still fully functional, I see no reason why it won't work fine wired that way in the 80.

IME these heaters rarely fail, but the connections to the circuit board behind the mirror do get pretty nasty over time.

Thanks for the write-up.

Scott J
94 FZJ80 Supercharged

 

[SeanAndHis80]

Thanks for the great feedback everyone. The new wiring has worked out just fine with no drain on the battery at all. I had the chance to get some ice off of the mirrors this morning and the elements handled it easily. Until now all I was able to do was clear some condensation - which also worked just fine. I am happy with it and consider it finished.

- Of course I'll gladly help anyone through it if they have questions.

 

[BMAN]

Nice writeup.

Totally off topic but, you don't happen to have the envelope still do ya? There wouldn't happen to be a name on that stamp with the picture of the dude on it?

 

[NLXTACY]

Any long term reporting for this? I have the shaky mirror going on so wanted to do all my mirror mods at one time

 

[firetruck41]

I did mine a few months ago, got the heat pads from the same guy. Do NOT use a razor blade along with the solvent to remove the sticker/tape off the mirror, just use the goof off, or something similar. Because of the fine scratches, I got a new mirror lens (aftermarket, does not fit perfectly) and a new heater pad, as the first pad tore when I tried to remove it to reuse it. The adhesive is very strong. The new pad I got has a dead spot in it, though 75% of it still works. I am not complaining about the pad at the price, but I think I will get new OEM mirror lens and another heat pad and redo. I did the passenger side correctly, and it works great.

 

[96r50]

Mine have been great so far this winter. I ended up wiring them into the rear defrost relay output so they all come on with the one switch. As I mentioned before, I put the mirror glass/backing plate under hot water for a couple minutes which softened the backing plate and the adhesive so it was easy to get it apart. I cleaned up the old adhesive with acetone IIRC.

 

[RichElliott]

Awesome write up!

Any long term reporting for this? I have the shaky mirror going on so wanted to do all my mirror mods at one time

How about also adding LED blinkers inside the mirror housing while you are at it?

I'm thinking of a variation of this:
Muth Mirror Systems, LLC - Car and Truck Signal® Mirror Kits
(Not made for LC before 1998)

I think the LEDs could maybe just be along the far outside edge of the lip that holds in the mirror. The LEDs would need to be bright, but place far enough back that they would not be visible in the day time.

 

[Itchy Sides]

Any one try this addition since then? Results?

I've found similar heat elements on eBay and also what appear to be knock-off heated LC mirrors. Would be great if they really were OEM.

 

[skiater]

Anyone have a link to the heating pads?
The original link is not working.
Really would like to do this mod.

Skiater.

 

[asutherland]

Anyone have a link to the heating pads?
The original link is not working.
Really would like to do this mod.

Skiater.

Ditto.

 

[Jrob80]

I found this: http://www.muthco.com/epapers/21000931.pdf by google'ing heated mirror kits.

 

[skiater]

Eventuall found them on ebay.
Search, mirror heat grid.
Came up with a few, one of the sellers is out of Poland.
He has different sizes, price is very reasonable.

Skiater.

 

[finderscuba]

I wish there were larger sizes available when I bought mine. I just get a small area melted at first.

 

[Itchy Sides]

Ski- Like I had said, there's a few on eBay but different shapes than the 80. Dunno if you saw the heated mirrors on there that are for an 80...am not too confident about them since there is no country of origin or much other info listed about them...But, if they did, and if they were of good quality, that would be such an easy job to do...

 

[Timpanogos Slim]

Thanks guys - It has been a goal to add something back to the community (other than silver star) - I have a few more in the works.



I am not too concerned with the heat of the summer as the mirror is mechanically held in by the backing plate as well as having adhesive on it. The passenger side mirror was held in by foam tape - and the bond was pretty weak. I didn't post the drivers side - it had obviously been replaced at some point more than 7 years ago when I got the cruiser. It had some sort of adhesive on it that was still very sticky even after all of these years. The mirror mastic is also supposed to never completely harden. Should any issue arise I will certainly post back.
View attachment 299727

I found the same goo on my driver side mirror. I washed it off and used some different DAP adhesive that, eh, I'm not real concerned about since as you say it's mechanically held in the backing.

I bought the 6 x 3.75 size from the polish seller on ebay (search for "universal mirror glass defogger") and i think that the 6.3 x 4.2 size will fit too. the 7.6 x 4.2 i think would be too long.

while i was in there i discovered that my shaky mirror isn't the same shaky mirror as other people have, but i think i can fix it with zip ties. Right now I'm waiting for epoxy to cure on the boss at the bottom of the mirror actuator where you attach it to the mirror frame.

 

[Timpanogos Slim]

Update 2

Warning: The wiring that I did in post #6 caused serious battery drain - follow these directions instead...

So I did what I should have done in the first place and downloaded the EWD. The connection points I used were pre-relay and not wires to the rear defroster element. Even though I tested for current drain - I now believe that some current was getting through the illumination circuit as a result of the connections I made.

So... In the EWD it showed that the relay for the defroster was in the left kick panel. In the schematic - I can see I need to tap off of pin 2 from the defroster relay to make this work. This is a blue wire with a yellow stripe. The ground then can simply be grounded to the body (and possibly inside the door if one so desired - but I would double check the doors ground itself with an ohmmeter if I were to do this.

in a 94 this wire is blue with a green stripe.

the window motor body is probably a good ground point in the door.

 

[NLXTACY]

Here is my install plus a couple of other mods while I am there. Good to know about the wiring because I am about to embark on that portion: https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/ho...other-useless-mods-to-waste-your-time.820706/

 

[Timpanogos Slim]

On second thought, just use a ground stud in the kick panel.

Running the wires between door and kick panel sure is a pain in the buttocks.