First off credit goes to
billm and
BiggBlunt for their previous walkthroughs. I just followed their directions and then took pictures of what I did to make this How To. If after doing this install you have any suggestions for changes to the walkthrough please let me know and I'll do my best to keep it updated.
This is designed to help you install heated side mirror glass on Mz3's so that they come on with the rear defroster, and also in installing LED puddle lamps in your mirrors.
The OEM glass with the heating elements is about $41 per side and only requires you to add wiring between the glass and the mirror side of the wiring harness plug as all the rest of the wiring is already present in the car.
* For another walkthrough check out
billm's
walkthrough.
I also installed a few LEDs in the bottom of the mirror mounts to act as puddle lamps when I unlock my doors. If you're not doing this then you can ignore those steps. I wired the LEDs as detailed in the
Lighted Door Sill Install. They come on when: I unlock the car, open a door, or turn off the ignition. For another look check out
BiggBlunt's
walkthrough.
* Mz3's with manual mirrors may not have mirror wiring run to the door, and the mounting hardware may be different from the power mirrors. Please check your car before buying. Also all info provided is from US spec Mz3's, and specs do differ from country to country.Parts needed:
Supplies:-Driver's side heated glass p/n BP8M-69-1G7
-Passenger's side heated glass p/n BP8M-69-1G1
-wire (approx 30")
-small spade connectors
-solder
-pack of diodes
-electrical tape/heat shrink
-small zip ties
-LED lights
-Lithium grease
Optional:
-barrier strip
-fork spade connectors
Tools:-phillips screwdriver
-T26 torx driver/bit ('07+ models and some '06 models)
-8mm socket/wrench
-mini flathead screwdriver
-soldering iron
-drill (dremel, etc.)
-3/8" bit
-wire cutters/strippers/crimpers
Difficulty:
1-3 if you're comfortable with taking things apart and know how to solder/work with wiring. 4-6 if you've never done any wiring but can follow directions and are willing to learn to do new stuff. 7-10 if you don't know how and can't follow instructions.
Disclaimer. This How To is for informational purposes only. I take no responsibility for any damage caused to your vehicle while you attempt this install. Be safe and have fun.
1.Start by removing your mirror from the car. Open the door and grab the top of the triangular panel housing the tweeter and pull down and towards the inside of the car. The bottom has a hook and will hinge slightly. Unplug the wiring harness plug and remove the three 8mm bolts holding the mirror to the car. Make sure to support the mirror since it will fall once the bolts are out.
from BiggBluntNow here's your mirror off of the car.
2.First remove the glass portion.
Note: If you live in a cold area make sure to let the housing/glass warm to room temperature before removing the glass, otherwise the flexing that occurs during glass removal may crack the stock glass. The glass is held on by three ball joints, one large center one, and a small one to the outside and to the bottom of the large one. Push the glass all the way to the outside (the motor will make popping noises but that's okay). Then grab the inside edge of the mirror and pull towards you to release the center ball.
Next push the mirror all the way to the inside and grab the outside edge. Pull back firmly to release the small outside ball. Once that's loose push the mirror up and grab the bottom edge. Pull back to release the bottom/last ball joint. Set the mirror aside.
This is what the mirror motor looks like without the glass
3.Next we have to release the white plug. Lift up the foam above the plug to reveal a little slot beneath a piece of black plastic. Insert a flat head screwdriver into the slot and push firmly down on the white plug while pulling the plug out to release the little plastic tab holding it in place. The black part does not move.
4.Flip the mirror upside down and pull the foam section from around the corner to run the wiring. Take care not to tear the highlighted sections. You don't have to fully remove it, just expose the bottom corner section.
5.Remove the triangular panel by prying up the corner with the bulge. Try not to pry from any other part as it could break the clip on the opposite side.
Remove the three screws under the cover and then pull to separate the two sections. They won't pull very far because of the wiring inside, but it will be enough to let you run wires through it. On '07 and newer models (and some '06 models) these screws are torx instead of phillips head.
6.Time to start running wires. Start at the white plug and run the wire between the pieces of foam to come out where the rest of the OE wiring is. Then run the wire through the channel towards the hinge section. Once through to the hinge run the wiring up through the tube with the springs.
Note: If installing thespeedline mirrors with the supplied wiring you need to run the wire starting from the glass side and ending at the white plug
If you're installing LEDs then repeat step #6 so you have two pairs of wires.
7.Now it's time to fabricate the new pins for the harness plug. Pull out your pack of diodes (it doesn't matter which ones you buy, just try to find ones that match the size of the pins in the plug) and cut the "legs" off of the diode. You need about an inch or so for each pin, but confirm the length by sticking it into the plug and matching the depth of the OE pins. Here's about how long I cut mine. If you're unsure then cut them long to begin with as you can always shorten them later.
All the pins cut and ready to solder. Strip off the ends of the wires and tin them with solder, then solder the pins onto them.
8.Now we insert the newly pinned wires into the white plug. We want them to come out of these two holes to match up with the green and black wires on the other side of the plug. To help the wires stay secure it helps to add a layer of shrink wrap around the end of the wire insulation and insert the wire into the plug far enough so the shrink wrap covered insulation is inside the plug..... basically there's less wiggle room.
Note: if using the wire supplied with thespeedline mirrors the insulation is thick enough that you don't need the heatshrink. This is a good time to gauge the length of the pins you have and trim them down if they stick out too far. Don't worry about aligning them perfectly right now as we can take care of that later.
If you're only installing the heated glass then skip to step #10.9.If you're installing LEDs then you can either insert more pins like I did or run a separate wire out like
BiggBlunt I used the two empty slots to add more pins.
10.Once all your pins are in and the lengths are correct zip tie all the new wiring to the existing wires to keep them from moving around.
11.Once done with that reassemble the two pieces of the mirror housing arranging the wires so they're not pinched anywhere in the process. Reinsert the white plug and replace the foam trim.
12.Trim off any excess wires on the glass end of the wires and attach mini female spade connectors onto the ends of the mirror wiring.
If you're only installing the heated glass then skip to step #17.13.On to the LED installation. I used 4-chip white superflux LEDs from
www.oznium.com. Determine where you want your LED to be placed and drill the hole to match your LED size. Test fit your LED to make sure it fits to your liking. The superflux's mount in a 3/8" hole, however I had to bore it out a bit to get it to fit very snugly. Mine ended up sitting slightly more flush than this once installed.
14.Once you're satisfied with the placement/fit apply some super glue the the sides of the hole and insert the LED. I also painted a bit of glue around the back of the LED once it was in place.
15.Now we run the LED wires behind the mirror motor to come out by the top of the tube with the spring. You may or may not have to remove the motor to do this. I was able to fish a wire behind the motor of one mirror and pull the wiring through, however I just couldn't get it to feed on the other side. Removing the motor however is as simple as unscrewing these three screws. Then just pull the motor forward slightly and run the wire behind it. Reattach the motor.
16.Connect the LED wiring to the wires going to the white plug and then tuck the excess wiring behind the black frame behind the motor.
17.Reinstall the mirror housing onto the car in reverse order of step #1.
18.Plug the heated glass into the spade connectors (it doesn't matter which plugs in where) and reinstall the glass to the motor.
If you want to test to make sure the glass heats up properly before installing the glass skip to step #23 for aligning the pins, then continue with the rest of step #18. I suggest lubricating the ball joints/holes with white lithium grease (or similar) as the new glass will not have any lubricant on it. Also if there's any debris on the ball joints this would be a good time to clean them off. If you do that
definitely reapply some lube. First connect the large center ball by pushing against the center. As hard as you have to push you'll feel like you're about to snap the glass in half but then you'll suddenly hear a loud pop and it will be connected. Do the same thing on the bottom and side for both of the small ball connectors. Make sure you're centered on the ball joints when you push and try not to put any force perpendicular to the cylinder the ball joints are on as that could break them.
From billm19.Now on to wiring up the car side of the plug. I initially opted to not run a separate wire from the mirror like
BiggBlunt did because I liked the idea of all the wiring being inside the factory plug. What I did was inserted new spring clips (from an old computer connector) into two of the empty spots of the car side of the harness. I later had some connection problems with my driver's side LED so I ended up wiring it the way
BiggBlunt did. Basically just run the LED wiring out of the mirror housing next to the white plug instead of stopping at the plug. Then just add a few quick disconnects to attach to the wiring you'll run into the car.
To line up with the pins I put on the mirror side of the plug I'm inserting the clips into these two spots. Just push the clips into the back of the slot and push it all the way in with a mini screwdriver. You can see the different shape of the new clips vs. the originals. Due to the shape I ended up angling the pins upward a bit so that instead of going into the hole like on the other slots they push against the top of it.
20.From here we get the joyful job of running the LED wiring into the car and to a power source. The first thing to do is remove the inner door panel. Remove the two phillips head screws behind the door release and the door handle respectively. Then pop the "bowl" from the door release out of the door. Next we pop the panel loose by pulling towards the inside of the car to release the tension clips. There are clips all around the side edges and bottom, and a few around the center. Once all of these are loose the whole panel will slide upwards out of the window channel. Note: Don't pull the top towards the inside as it must slide upwards. Once the panel comes free disconnect the various harnesses from the switches in the panel and set it aside.
21.Next we run the wire through the boot. I have an explanation in one of the posts further down this thread
HERE. There was a picture I found on the forum but it's apparently gone bye bye. Once you've run the wiring through the plastic plug you need to reattach the boot. There are some better instructions courtesy of
XCEL28 HERE, and some even better ones from
Jeba HERE. If I remove my door panels again anytime soon I'll take some newer/better pictures to cover these steps.
22.Once you have the wires inside the car you can either run them directly to your power source (in this case the maplights), or you can run everything to a central location. What I did was mounted an eight position barrier strip on the base of the gear shift under the plastic paneling.
I ran the wiring from the map light following the lighted door sill walkthrough (see above)
down the driver's side A-pillar to one side of the barrier strip, and then connected the wiring of each mirror LED to the opposite side. I used the upper portion of the barrier strip to wire up my interior blue LEDs (See
THIS thread for details). I decided to wire things this way as I wanted to minimize the amount of wiring up in the headliner, and it made a convenient way to consolidate all of the LED wiring. Plus if I decide I want to add something else later it's simply a matter of screwing the wires on to the appropriate terminals.
23.Now is when you take the time to make sure all of the pins are aligned properly. The diode legs are pretty bendable so you should be able to easily position them with a small flathead screwdriver. While adjusting the pins you might accidentally push them back into the mirror's plug. If so just pull them back out with a pair of pliers and continue adjusting. If you followed the shrink wrap/insulation inside the plug suggestion earlier this should be less likely. Reinsert the plug and test everything out, and make sure the little orange piece on the bottom isn't sticking out keeping the plug from going in. I initially tested them off my drill battery, but once I wired them up it's very clear that they're amazing lights. Once both were installed it easily lit the area around my car in my garage, and I can imagine them being just as, if not more, useful when parking in random places. Here's the mirror on the car with the LED installed as well as some lighted pictures..
Installed LED photos below.
