side mirrors defroster not working right?

[dorlow]

Ok, I have a 2004 Impala LS. My last car was an Old Aurora and it had side defrosters. The mirror had squiggley lines on it indicating it had built in defrosters. My 2004 Impala, I've read the manual and there's nothing in it saying it has the feature. I bought it new and nothing in the features list says it has it. But I've been driving the car for 8+ years, and everytime over the years, if the side mirrors are frosted, they stay frosted until I hit the defroster and give it a few minutes they are as clear as can be. So, I always figured they must've accidently added the feature to my car. It's worked well up til recently. Today, when I turned on my defrosters, my drivers side mirror cleared about half way and my passenger side mirror cleared just the very bottom.

Does anyone know how to fix it? Do I need to just replace the mirrors? I had another car in the past and the mirror came out of there and I had a terrible time getting it back in and I couldn't get all 4 arms on it in the back because I couldn't hold it while pushing the mirror in, so I'm not popping the mirror out of my car to see if I can fix it. I'm betting if I want it fixed, I need to just order new mirrors. Or is there something else I could check? Seeing it does seem to defrost a little, it tells me that the fuses should be fine, because a blown fuse wouldn't allow it to work at all.

Just wondering what other's thoughts are on this.

[sbagdon]

Four fingers? Most mirrors I've seen have a center gimble, and two fingers, (one for up/down, one for left/right). If it's heated, it'll have an electrical lead attaching to the back of the mirror. Used on eBay, looks like you can get the entire assembly for <$30. It's almost easier to buy the entire assembly, then try to remove/replace just the mirrror/backing (I've destroyed a random amont of mirrors/pivots/etc, doing the removal/installation of the mirror/backing).

[dorlow]

Originally Posted by sbagdon

Four fingers? Most mirrors I've seen have a center gimble, and two fingers, (one for up/down, one for left/right). If it's heated, it'll have an electrical lead attaching to the back of the mirror. Used on eBay, looks like you can get the entire assembly for <$30. It's almost easier to buy the entire assembly, then try to remove/replace just the mirrror/backing (I've destroyed a random amont of mirrors/pivots/etc, doing the removal/installation of the mirror/backing).

My wife's previous blazer one of the mirrors was falling off so I ordered a replacement off of eBay. During shipment one of the little clips on the back came off during shipment. I thought there were 4. I could get 3 of them connected but once I had 3 connected I couldn't get my fingers behind it to get the 4th hooked up. Maybe it was just two, but I swore there was 4.

[sbagdon]

Originally Posted by dorlow

My wife's previous blazer one of the mirrors was falling off so I ordered a replacement off of eBay. During shipment one of the little clips on the back came off during shipment. I thought there were 4. I could get 3 of them connected but once I had 3 connected I couldn't get my fingers behind it to get the 4th hooked up. Maybe it was just two, but I swore there was 4.

For most of the GM stuff I've seen, it's 2. The pain is, the hreaded rods are easy enough to break, yet almost impossible to find to replace. Not even sure the GM dealerships sell just the rods.