Swapping rear view mirror in a 2004 LeSabre

[timmie88]

My dad really wants the compass in his LeSabre, which is a 2004 Custom with no add'l options.

I can pickup a used 2003 mirror/compass/onstar unit on ebay for about $40.

Does anyone know if there connectors will hook right up and it'll work?

Is there anything else I need to do?

How hard is it to take the mirror off the windshield?

thanks!

[oldsyd]

I have the same question. Anyone?

[Whoaru99]

Dunno about the connector, but if the mirrors are like they were in the "old" days, there is a tiny set screw to loosen right at the base of the mirror where it attaches to the windshield. Once you remove or loosen the set screw, it merely slides off the little mounting plate that is glued to the windshield.

[oldsyd]

Yep, the mirror looks like it will transfer mechanically, but what I'm concerned about is the electrical/data connection. I have the auto dimming mirror, but would like to replace it with the compass/temperature mirror.

I'm hoping the compass is entirely enclosed in the mirror, but I'm not so sure about the temperature sensor, would that be in a probe outside of the car?

[maxwedge]

Temp sensor is up in the grille area and there is a dedicated harness for all this, the mirror is just not an exchange for your old one.

[oldsyd]

Thanks, might be time to hit the junkyard!

[vrmlbasic]

How do you get information to the mirror on the windshield??

Does that mean that ya'll have a wire running down/inside the glass?

[Loekee75]

Originally Posted by vrmlbasic

How do you get information to the mirror on the windshield??

Does that mean that ya'll have a wire running down/inside the glass?

You would trail the wiring up above the headliner and over towards the front pillar. Trail down (behind the plastic pillar cover of course ) through the dash, and through an opening in the firewall. More time consuming than it seems!

[vrmlbasic]

I have to agree with you--way too much work for too little reward....Especially since my car isn't designed for these features anyhow.

About the compass mirror, why not just get an aftermarket one that has a compass built in that doesn't depend on wiring from the car?

**And while I know how cool the temperature sensors are (when I was a kid I thought those trip computers in the car were sweet, but we never got one, and now they don't make them ), you could always just use a thermometer, or the Lame Fix, and look at those LCD/Bulb animated signs that tell the time and temp as you drive down the road.

[pcmos]

I just took a quick look at the wiring diagram for these mirrors, it looks to me like you can swap your standard mirror for one of the auto dimming, compass mirrors and you should only have to connect power and ground for the compass to work. The compass it seems, is fully integrated into the mirror, it doesn't receive any signal from another source, getting the auto dimming function to work would be a little trickier. I wish I could come up with a good way to share info from my service documents on here, its just very difficult to post that much stuff. The mirror shows 5 wires total in the diagram which are, "Ground" "Automatic Day/Night Low Reference" "Automatic Day/Night Mirror Signal" "Backup Lamp Supply Voltage" and "Ignition Voltage". For the life of me I can't figure out why they would run a backup lamp supply voltage to the rearview mirror, unless it behaves differently in reverse or something. Essentially the compass should work when you connect the ignition voltage and ground lines, which is relatively easy, if your good with that sort of stuff. You could always take a gamble and buy one on ebay and then go back to your battery under the rear seat and simply test it by connecting positive and negative to the apropriate pins on the connectors, you should see the compass work. Usually those mirrors integrate all the compass logic and everything into the mirror unit. As I look closer the connector should be a 16 pin connector on the newer onstar mirrors, most of the pins are for the auto dimming function or for onstar. I have no idea why it would need a backup lamp supply voltage, I'll have to think about that more. Adding Onstar is a lost cause, you'll never be able to do that if you don't already have it, its so integrated its virtually impossible. The autodimming function is a maybe, you would have to be pretty clever with this stuff to get that working, its taking a signal from something else, probably a module somewhere, I didn't bother tracing it for now. My recomendation would be to use an autodimming compass mirror from a LeSabre before they had onstar, like my model year 2000 or 2001. The connector and wiring is much simpler with only 7 pins on the connector, all the onstar stuff is gone, and the mirror should still mount the same way. On the older mirrors 2 of the 7 pins weren't used, the other 5 are the 5 wires I listed above.

[pcmos]

Are you guys positive that the late model LeSabres had mirrors that could display the temperature?? I know exactly how that system would have to work and I don't see anything in the wiring diagram that would indicate it was ever an option. The owners manual for the 2004 LeSabre also says nothing about it, and I know for a fact that my 2000 LeSabre has no outside temp display on the compass mirror. If the mirror could display outside temperature it would have to take that information from the vehicle network and so the mirror connector would show a "class 2 data" pin. Thats really the only way it could pick up outside temp information unless it had a sensor built in, which is highly unlikely. I wish it displayed temperature information, I think you only get that on the climate control module.