JDM Folding Outer Mirrors Walkthrough

[subaru_user]

My mirrors only have 9 wires and yours have 10, so our results seem to be different. Are they from the older style A-C 05-07 mirrors? Your vehicle only has 7 wires in an 8 pin connector, while your mirrors have 10 wires in a 10 pin connector. On the passenger side vehicle harness, what is this blue wire you speak of? Is it blue/green? You seem to have the proper connections made. Your JDM mirrors may need that extra power wire separate from each other for a reason.

 

Thank you for this, and well spotted.

 

Yes, exactly, I bought the folding mirrors from an older JDM car, then dismantled them completely and moved the folding motors into the 2008 USDM mirror housings.

 

It looks like all the connections in my car are identical to your chart, with the one exception of Pin 6 on the passenger side mirror.

 

I have Pin 6 noted as "pink-->blue", but your 2008 chart has it as "Red-->Blue/Green".

 

Your chart notes that Pin 6 is responsible for "Adj. Up/Down", and that's certainly my problem, because they are reversed.

 

Aside from my possible color blindness regarding pink and red, and the possibility of not noticing a green stripe in my "blue" wire, since all the other wires appear to be correctly connected, there really isn't another combination available here.

 

[edit - I now see that your 2005 chart shows that Pin 6 mirror wire as pink, so I'm not color blind, and that wire still connects to the Blue/Green wire on the car harness.]

 

There are only those two wires left if everything else is correct: one on the car harness and one on the mirror harness.

 

So they must connect to each other by process of elimination, since everything else is correct.

 

I don't think anything turns on the fact that the individual blue and red wires in the mirror harness have to be spliced together, before joining the single Red/Blue wire in the car harness. I didn't test it on the passenger side, but I did on the driver's side, and like Streetlegal said, if you only connect either the red or blue to the Red/Blue wire, then you only get horizontal movement or vertical movement from the joystick, but not both.

 

Everything works perfectly on the driver's side, and if the problem were in this splice, I'd expect the driver's side mirror to have reversed up/down functions too.

 

So I'm stumped here.

 

Anybody with a good grasp of the electronics at issue, please holler out.

 

If you are just moving the pins around and keeping the 10pin connector you need to splice the blue and red wires together otherwise only up/down or left/right will work. The blue and red wires seem to both be individual powers for either function.

 

So I soldered them together and then wrapped them up. Now I just need to run the wire for the folding motors and swap the switches in the dash around.

Edited July 10, 2017 by subaru_user

[Dade]

Thank you for this, and well spotted.

Everything works perfectly on the driver's side, and if the problem were in this splice, I'd expect the driver's side mirror to have reversed up/down functions too.

 

With any DC motor, it runs one direction with current flowing through the coil, and the opposite direction when the polarity is reversed.

 

Take a close look at both of the PDF's, one for 2005 and the other 2008. The Remote Control Mirror Switch matrix is completely different. Yes, you have to connect power to both the Blue and Red wires. The 2005 wiring diagram shows them connected anyway. The way the power flows through the 2008 switch however, is not the same.

 

An idea I would try would be to get yourself a 2005/2006 mirror adjustment switch. The pinout is the same, wires are already correct, but the switch is different. Did your JDM mirrors come with a switch? I'd be interested in knowing if anyone else is having this issue. I think you just need an A-C switch to match your A-C motors. Just the adjustment switch, not the folding or traction control or mirror heaters.

 

I'm also considering taking the D-F adjustment switch out to my A-C Legacy to prove this theory.

[Dade]

To better illustrate my point:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=252254&stc=1&d=1499729541

[subaru_user]

An idea I would try would be to get yourself a 2005/2006 mirror adjustment switch. The pinout is the same, wires are already correct, but the switch is different. Did your JDM mirrors come with a switch?

 

My JDM mirrors did come with a switch, and your hypothesis sounded so beguiling that I dug that switch out of the attic and tried swapping it for the 2008 joystick switch.

 

No joy. It performs exactly as the 2008 switch does.

 

So sad, it seemed like such an obvious solution.

 

Up and Down remain reversed on the passenger side mirror.

 

 

Any other ideas?

[subaru_user]

So while I was digging around in there anyway, looking for the reason the passenger mirror up/down was reversed, I thought I would connect the Easycar automatic folding module discussed earlier in this thread.

 

Some comments for anyone else attempting to add this thing to their folding mirrors.

 

HellShadow made a suggestion for tapping the ACC wire that I tried to follow, but there were two problems.

 

Installed The Module today and it's Bad Ass, here are some Pics. I Connected the Acc from the module To This Wire on the switch. the door lock/unlock wires to the passenger side inside the cabin by the door.

 

(Problem 1) The arrow in his photo of the ignition lock actually points to the wrong wire. On my 2008 car, that wire closest to the key is 12v+ constant, and it's actually the one beside it that has 12v+ only when a key is in the ignition lock. So the wire furthest from the key, is the one you want to tap.

 

(Problem 2) HellShadow gives no explanation of how to get the steering column covers off, just that photo of the ignition lock already exposed. The bottom cover is obvious, with just one Phillips screw and then you pull it loose from some locking tabs.

 

But the top cover is considerably harder to puzzle out. There are actually three Phillips screws that you have to find once the bottom cover is off, and one of them is buried behind the ignition lock and its wiring. Once the 3 screws are out, it lifts right off.

 

I attach a photo of the top steering column cover, upside down, so you can see the location of the 3 plastic pillars where the Phillips screws secure it.

 

And finally, I attach a photo of the door lock and unlock wires, hopefully to save someone time in multimeter probing.

 

This photo was taken at the driver's side kick panel, at the plastic grommet where the door wiring loom passes through, just as I was getting ready to solder.

 

On my 2008 car, the green with yellow stripe is the 12v+ lock wire, and the pink with the grey stripe is the 12v+ unlock wire.

 

You can see where I have separated that big connector block, and pushed the terminals for these two wires out, in order to give some room for soldering. That orange wire goes to the Easycar module (Pin 2, as shown in the schematic photo in HellShadow's post). You can see a blue and a green wire going separately out through the grommet, and those are what I used for the fold & unfold signal to the mirror motor itself.

 

Anyway, it's all done and works great.

 

Now if I could just figure out that reversed up/down passenger side mirror...

[B4LGT22]

can someone help me find the wire for the door locks and unlock to hook up my module to? I have an 07 so it should be the same as an 05-06.

[Bryan12690]

Has anyone purchased JDM folding mirrors without the heating option and installed l USDM heated glass to the JDM. (of course wiring is needed.)

Or has any one, swapped just the motor parts of the JDM mirror and used the rest of the USDM mirror?

05-07 LGT Btw

 

Maybe I over read it somewhere?

[Blink]

I’ve swapped the JDM power folding mechanism into USDM non-powerfolding mirrors with no problems. It’s a direct replacement.

[xt2005bonbon]

^good to know.

[SubOperator]

I’ve swapped the JDM power folding mechanism into USDM non-powerfolding mirrors with no problems. It’s a direct replacement.

 

What's the reason for doing so? All 2005-2009 USDM mirrors are not power folding, only manual. The JDM power folding mirrors are direct bolt-on though mechanically. Since wiring needs to be fabricated in either case, I am confused as to why one needs to disassemble JDM mirror to transfer mechanism into USDM casing.

 

I put JDM power folding heated mirrors on son's 2005 OB. It was direct bolt-on. Only wiring needed to be dealt with. You can see my post somewhere earlier in this thread (fall 2016).

 

Here : http://legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5537532&postcount=110

Edited December 22, 2017 by SubOperator

[xt2005bonbon]

Maybe because the other member got a good deal on somewhat destroyed mirrors but the mechanism worked?

[Blink]

I bought a set of 08-09 facelifted JDM powerfold mirrors because I liked the newer look. However, I discovered I disliked the turn signal repeaters (smaller with just 2 LEDs) and so swapped the mechanisms to keep my original mirrors.

[SIMO888]

the heated folding mirrors have an extra 2 wires which are non polarity from what ive been told by someone

[xt2005bonbon]

Finally bought myself some folding mirrors

[SubOperator]

Maybe because the other member got a good deal on somewhat destroyed mirrors but the mechanism worked?

 

That makes sense. I had to swap 05 LGT mirror to 07 Tribeca mirror, everything is the same except for base. It was pain in the butt since I had to disassemble the connector from LGT mirror, fish all the wires one by one through Tribeca's mirror base and then repin LGT mirror pins to match Tribeca's pin out.

 

I asked because in regular circumstances JDM BL/BP power folding mirrors are direct bolt on to USDM cars.

 

Now I got myself thinking about doing power folding mirrors on our Tribeca. Hmm....

[Blink]

Oh yeah, I forgot that I had to repin to feed the wires. A hassle for sure...

[xt2005bonbon]

I recently put JDM folding mirrors on 05 Outback Limited 2.5i. The OB had heated mirrors but no turn signals, and the 2.5i (non-turbo) mirrors are smaller then LGT/OBXT mirrors, so those were two main reasons - get larger mirrors and get turn signals on them as well. Used JDM mirrors are even cheaper at this point than USDM LGT/OBXT mirrors.

 

As a bonus this also brings convex mirror for driver side - my 05 LGT and wife's 07 SB9T were both converted to convex driver side long time ago with JDM parts.

 

I read through all the posts in this thread but the exact info on which signal goes on which pin on JDM connector was hard to figure out. I used my bench power supply to try some signals and got the up/down and left/right motors mapped but everything else was taking too much time to figure out plus I didn't want to risk ruining either JDM mirrors or my equipment.

 

I looked for wiring diagrams for JDM cars but those are like unicorns - they don't exist in this universe. But I was able to find that USDM 2012 Tribeca and newer do have folding mirrors option. So I found 2012 USDM Tribeca FSM with wiring diagram for Tribeca's folding mirrors. Good news is that USDM 2012 Tirbeca folding mirrors wiring matches JDM LGT folding mirrors pin to pin, and even wire colors are the same except for couple wires.

 

My JDM mirrors came with door connectors as well, so I had pigtails to solder my new wires to. I didn't want to cut/splice factory wiring or connectors on OB, nor cut JDM mirror connectors so I did the following:

 

- ordered some ready-made connectors on Amazon for DIY kits , female to female, ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GSE2S98/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 );

- used JDM mirror connectors and the female connectors I bought at Amazon to create an adapter harness to plug JDM mirrors into USDM door connector (no turn signal on it);

- made 2 4 wire harnesses to run for each door - 2 wires for turn signal, 2 wires for folding signal;

- made a 2 wire harness to run folding signals from left side to right side.

 

The female connectors from amazon cable were soldered to JDM pigtails. The size on female connectors allows them to be plugged directly into USDM door connector after USDM mirror is unplugged. I got lazy at the end and soldered the extra 4 wires for turn signal and folding directly to JDM pigtails even though I wanted to keep them connectorized originally.

 

Since 2.5i didn't have turn signals in mirrors I checked the wiring diagram for USDM Legacy/Outback and found that turn signals are present on the connectors on footwells where the door harness plugs in. So I cut the 2 of 4 wire harness I made short, found some JDM connector pins and hooked up turn signals into empty slots in OEM connector in footwells.

 

I am attaching both screenshot and PDF of Tribeca mirrors wiring, it shows both folding and non-folding options.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=241884&stc=1&d=1481163452

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=241886&stc=1&d=1481163452

 

LINK TO PDF of 2012 USDM Tribeca mirror wiring

 

Also pics of JDM connectors that I turned into convertion harness.

 

JDM Mirror (not door) connector:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=241887&stc=1&d=1481164564

 

 

2.5i vs GT mirrors:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=241888&stc=1&d=1481164564

 

JDM connector reworked into adapter harness:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=241889&stc=1&d=1481164564

 

 

JDM mapped into USDM via harness made, note 4 wires for turn/folding still not soldered...:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=241890&stc=1&d=1481164564

 

ALSO, found that USDM switch has the wiring for folding switch already, but USDM gets a filler cap instead of actual button with contacts... :

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=241891&stc=1&d=1481164564

 

Hope this helps.

 

Bumping this. Will follow your method. Just bought these female to female pins.. Carefully looked over your pdf FSM screenshots. The wire colors on the connectors of my rear view mirrors (i.e. connector D15/D5) do not match what is on your screenshots. So I'll just follow the number assignment instead of color. However, wire colors for connectors I6 and I78 do match what you showed. Will report later how it goes once I do the install.

[xt2005bonbon]

SubOperator, now that I think about it, why didn't you use male-to-female wires instead like this one? This would have avoided some soldering work no? Do you think the connections would come loose or something overtime?

[SubOperator]

SubOperator, now that I think about it, why didn't you use male-to-female wires instead like this one? This would have avoided some soldering work no? Do you think the connections would come loose or something overtime?

 

Couple of reasons. First I had a perfectly fine factory connector that came with the mirror itself, so I wanted to reuse that. Thinking was if I ever have to disconnect the mirror, then instead of disconnecting 12 individual connectors from mirror connector I just unplug the single factory one.

 

Second reasons was that I had to do some soldering anyway since the car I put these on is 05 NA OB without turn signals in door harness, so I knew I would have to run some additional wires anyway.

 

Third and final reason was that the connectors I used aren't *exact* fit, they do get on but are *tight*. They are the same on your link, I do have same set with different gender connector combos.

 

That does not seem to be a problem, car is running fine and mirrors work. even in -38C in Quebec they worked fine.

[xt2005bonbon]

I see.

 

I went ahead three weeks ago and soldered all of these wires to the plugs just like you did. Then I stopped and began to worry about the wires used to heat the mirrors. Problem is the wire gauge used in the kit I received is tiny. And I am afraid they'd get hot and melt or something while heating up the mirrors...

[SubOperator]

I see.

 

I went ahead three weeks ago and soldered all of these wires to the plugs just like you did. Then I stopped and began to worry about the wires used to heat the mirrors. Problem is the wire gauge used in the kit I received is tiny. And I am afraid they'd get hot and melt or something while heating up the mirrors...

 

Exactly. I had the same concern about the wire gauge in the set, so I actually undid the crimps on the connectors that I bought from Amazon, threw the wires away and soldered my thick wires to connectors without crimping them. Look at the bottom of my picture with BMWCCA Roundel magazine in the background, you'll see what I did. I did reuse plastic covers for pins of course.

[B4LGT22]

I'm trying to install my passenger mirrors. Just wanted clarification, the two brown wires and two gray wires from each the passenger and driver side come together and they go into the switch to open and close. Then also need to run a 12v and a ground to the switch. Is this correct?

 

I have wired it all up only for the driver side so far and I went to test it and it wouldn't fold. So I wanted to clarify with someone who completed this.

[utc_pyro]

So question, if the USDM has the connector but not he button on the switch, shouldn't the JDM mirrors be plug and play into a USDM car. Obviously you would still want to switch the mirrors but I am not understanding why you would need to do so much wiring.

 

Yes the JDM switch plugs right into the USDM harness. You need to add the four wires to the harness to make it work though. you can rob one of those from the existing harness if your car dosent have VDC (black-white stripe)

 

 

That is a JDM switch I added a USDM VDC button to.

 

Realistically couldn't i take the Base and folding motor out of the JDM mirror, put it into my usdm mirrors and plug everything in so I have heated and folding option. Maybe I have over simplified it.

 

Yes you can use the base. Or the JDM mirrors are adjustable enough to use them as is. The USDM plug on the door side is missing the fold wires, so all this wiring is to add those.

Edited May 9, 2018 by utc_pyro

[SubOperator]

I'm trying to install my passenger mirrors. Just wanted clarification, the two brown wires and two gray wires from each the passenger and driver side come together and they go into the switch to open and close. Then also need to run a 12v and a ground to the switch. Is this correct?

 

I have wired it all up only for the driver side so far and I went to test it and it wouldn't fold. So I wanted to clarify with someone who completed this.

 

 

 

Yes you need to provide power to switch. I grabbed + from the fuse panel right under the switch.

 

I suggest testing all functions on bench before tearing existing mirrors down and bolting JDMs on. Make sure everything works on bench before taking your car apart.

[Tschagfreebird151]

Smart, I am going to do that. I would have not thought of that before hand.