Joining the Gentex Club (1 Viewer)

[baggar11]

Snatched a Gentex 453 model mirror off ebay on Christmas day. Ended up grabbing it for $213 shipped, which included the 2 pigtail harnesses. 1 for the mirror and the other for the temperature sensor(also included).

Finally got around to wiring it up today. I needed a switched power for the mirror and another constant power for the homelink buttons. So I grabbed constant power and ground from the moonroof switch area above the headliner. But I was having issues finding a switched power source. So I snaked that wire all the way down the side and into the fuse box to tap off the turn signal fuse.

Mounting the temp sensor was pretty easy. The wires run from the mirror over to the drive side mostly hidden in the windshield molding and down the A pillar. Then through the firewall, out to the battery area and snaked around next to the front transmission cooler.

I used these wedges off Amazon to mount the mirror to the windshield. And this JB clearweld glue for adhesive. After the initial gluing, I held the wedge onto the windshield with some aluminum tape for about 60-90 minutes until it was good and solid.

I didn't have time to finish hiding the wires out the mirror before work, so I'll do that later. And I may take another stab at finding a switched power wire in the moonroof area again. But it works and it's nice to have an auto-dimming mirror with temperature.

 

[baggar11]

Apparently, there wasn't enough ambient air hitting the temp sensor where I had it tucked up and over by the transmission cooler. Seemed like it was getting to much engine heat. It would only read accurately on first start or after a minute or two of driving down the road.

So I ended up moving it to the very middle cross member under the hood latch. Working much better now. Temps are usually spot on or within +/- 1 degree from what the Goog's tells me. Which is pretty typical for the area I live in and local weather reports.

So far, the mirror has been great. Great addon for the Cruiser. I didn't think I would like the auto-dimm in the Cruiser as much as I do. But it really is nice for evening/night driving.

 

[pgmatt]

This is definitely on my list. Does the auto dimming work well? I have found some don’t respond well and I get glare.

 

[baggar11]

This is definitely on my list. Does the auto dimming work well? I have found some don’t respond well and I get glare.

It works great. Just as good as our newer vehicle with an oem gentex.

 

[Irish Reiver]

Don't suppose you remember the color codes of the cables and what went where? I picked up one last year but it has the computer button and about 10 wires. Need to figure out which ones I need.

 

[baggar11]

Don't suppose you remember the color codes of the cables and what went where? I picked up one last year but it has the computer button and about 10 wires. Need to figure out which ones I need.

I found wiring all over the place as far as color codes go, but the general pinout is the same. This page was pretty helpful.

White = power
black = ground
white/orange = acc
purple and green were for temp sensor