JDM Folding Outer Mirrors Walkthrough

Understood about the differences, we are using the same term "base". It's not necessarily "correct" to do it any particular way they are just different ways to handle the difference in LHD and RHD adjustment range. Older vehicles like my 01 Lexus tend to be the same way as the old Impreza, the angle of the base is different, though a direct bolt on to swap bases in the case of Toyota which made it easy. The newer style tend to mean you have to take the whole mirror apart and build it back up as a LHD folding mirror with some parts from each. I do wonder if it is a cost thing that would make them change they way they handle L vs RHD, or did they change because the styling people couldn't handle having side mirrors at different angles. My passenger mirror folds in quicker than the driver's on my Lexus due to the angle difference and thus lesser distance traveled, and that just won't do LOL.

On the 05-07 mirrors the entire mirror is the same except for the adjuster motors, the LHD vs RHD ones have different spacing that mount them at different angles.

 

I wish I'd seen this a week ago before I put my new mirriors in .

 

The stock adjustment range worked for me, but the look a bit "off". Mainly the passenger side is too recessed and the angle is odd on the driver side. I presume I can swap over the adjuster motors from my stock mirrors? Or is it some sort of spacer bracket I can swap without changing the wiring again?

I wish I'd seen this a week ago before I put my new mirriors in .

 

 

 

The stock adjustment range worked for me, but the look a bit "off". Mainly the passenger side is too recessed and the angle is odd on the driver side. I presume I can swap over the adjuster motors from my stock mirrors? Or is it some sort of spacer bracket I can swap without changing the wiring again?

 

 

 

Off when open or closed? I'm assuming closed.

Off when open or closed? I'm assuming closed.

 

Off as the mirrors looks kind of odd. Nothing to do with the folding.

 

EDIT: DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO PROPERLY REMOVE PINS FROM THE BLUE SWITCH CONNECTOR?

I have a spare one, but can't for the life of me figure out how to pull them.

Edited May 11, 2016 by utc_pyro

As a side note, the button tops are annoying to get off

 

How exactly was this accomplished? I'm having trouble figuring this out, and I don't want to damage the button. Thanks!

I just picked up a set of these ... and I'm bad at wiring (this seems like a solid walkthrough though ... so we'll see). Judging by some of the discussion here ... I feel I can assume if all pins are accounted for on the JDM mirror harness (all slots have wires going to them) that they are heated as well. Or do I need to actually pull the glass and see if it has the heating element on the back to be sure? Edited September 9, 2016 by AutoXCivic

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.

 

Great post Streetlegal, thank you. The combination of the red & blue wires on the mirror harness works perfectly.

 

I'm using the 10-pin connectors too, on my 2008 USDM car. So I am re-pinning the car harness at the doors to use the JDM connectors.

 

My left mirror works perfectly, but I must have screwed up the pins for the right door.

 

The joystick works fine to angle the mirror glass left & right, but up & down are reversed on the right-hand door.

 

Annoying. Turn signal tests out fine, but weather is too warm to check the defog function. I am assuming it's fine, too.

 

So the only problem on the right mirror is the reversed up/down function with the joystick.

 

The next time someone has their passenger-side door card off, so it's easy to see the connectors, can you please post the wires' color-connections for the pins?

 

Even if you just have a stock USDM car and mirrors, with 7 pins, it would be helpful so I can tell what the original color combination was supposed to be stock, on the right side.

 

Right now I have this arrangement on the right mirror, that leads to a reversed up & down at the joystick:

 

(mirror) purple ---> (car) blue & white striped

(mirror) pink ---> (car) blue

(mirror) black ---> (car) yellow

(mirror) white ---> (car) blue & yellow striped

(mirror) blue & red soldered together ---> (car) blue & red striped

(mirror) black ---> (car) black

(mirror) green ---> (car) black

 

For the record, here is what works fine on the left side:

 

(mirror) purple --->(car) red & white striped

(mirror) pink ---> (car) red & yellow striped

(mirror) black ---> (car) yellow

(mirror) white ---> (car) black

(mirror) blue & red soldered together ---> (car) blue & red striped

(mirror) black ---> (car) black

(mirror) green ---> (car) red & black striped

 

Thanks in advance for any help fixing the right mirror pin arrangement.

Pink and purple are swapped left door to right door, but I believe that is for the LED adjustment motor. I noticed this when I re-pinned using the 10 pin connector. I still have to run two wires to each door, so I'll get pinouts and colors tomorrow for you.

 

What is this blue and red together stuff? I didn't have to splice anything and all the mirror functions work properly. I do have D-F mirrors though, so maybe it's an A-C thing? I have 9 wires available in my 10 pin connector.

 

EDIT:

I don't have a red wire. Blue for power only. LED's are green/white. Try swapping pink & purple.

 

EDIT2:

Ok, to quote a famous politician, "Let me be clear:"

The only things swapped left to right (driver to passenger) are the LED pins.

The A-C mirrors must have a different/extra power wire. My D-F mirrors only have 1 adjustment power wire, which is blue.

My driver's side JDM mirror has a pink wire for up/down, and a purple wire for left/right.

My passenger's side JDM mirror has a red wire for up/down, and a purple wire for left/right.

If you have both a pink and a red wire, you may have two power sources for adjustment.

If your vehicle has 7 pins in an 8 pin connector, you only have one power source for adjustment (Red/Blue).

If your vehicle has 8 pins in an 8 pin connector, you probably have two sources for power adjustment.

You should probably look at your vehicle and confirm this before ordering JDM mirrors, and confirm the number of pins in the mirror harness (9 pins or 10 pins).

Edited July 10, 2017 by Dade
Incorrect info

Thanks Dade, that would be great if you could confirm the color connections when you next lift your right door card.

 

I tried swapping a few pins around in trial and error, and educated guesses, but got some real spastic movements from the motor by doing that. Current color positions give no "spasticity", only reversed vertical controls, which I can live with temporarily.

 

So I'm kind of hesitant to just do the trial and error again, in case of permanent damage. I think I did swap the pink and purple around in one test, but because I re-pinned the car harness plug also, I'm not entirely sure about the car harness colors now going into pink & purple. Maybe I have more than one mistake. Turn signals work, but I can't test the heaters until it's colder.

 

I'd rather wait until you can look at your own connector and tell me for sure.

 

When you have a chance to identify which color in the mirror harness goes into which color in the car harness, I would really appreciate that. I stupidly wrote the color chart down for the left side, but not for the right side, before dismantling the car's connectors.

 

Because my JDM mirrors had the extra red wire, I soldered the red and blue mirror wires together as Streetlegal suggests above. Sure enough, when I had tested the mirrors before doing that, I only got either vertical or horizontal movement.

 

When the blue and red mirror wires are soldered together, it all works a charm ... but only on the left, because I screwed up something else on the right!

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.

2012TribecaMirrorSystem.pdf

Edited December 8, 2016 by SubOperator

Viewing on Tapatalk and I'm only seeing images really. So I'm assuming you ran two wires for the folding portion from one side of the car to the other so there are now 4 and you spliced them together for positive and negative which goes into the switch circuit?

 

I'm trying to power the mirrors directly with either 9v or 12v from the battery directly and they won't fold. Am I missing something here?

Viewing on Tapatalk and I'm only seeing images really. So I'm assuming you ran two wires for the folding portion from one side of the car to the other so there are now 4 and you spliced them together for positive and negative which goes into the switch circuit?

 

I'm trying to power the mirrors directly with either 9v or 12v from the battery directly and they won't fold. Am I missing something here?

Thanks for this. I know I subscribed but couldn't find it again for some reason. UGH!

 

anyway, How do I know if it has the heating option on my power folding mirrors or not other than taking it apart? Is there any type of wire coloring or wire difference? My JDM mirror have two additional black wires at the mirror connector

Don't you see a logo on the mirror itself? usually there should be a logo on it indicating it has the heating option

Don't you see a logo on the mirror itself? usually there should be a logo on it indicating it has the heating option

 

 

 

on the JDM set no. On the USDM set, yes. I'll run out to the car in a little bit. I need to get the electrical hooked up since we are painting the car at the end of this week

 

 

 

The bases were set to the closed position before they were set (why idk) and when the mirrors were pulled out they aren't fully extended so it flops around LOL

 

 

 

I will need to change to USDM mirror glass is my understanding since the JDM set is switched from the USDM.

 

 

 

I also need to fucken re-pin everything since I didn't account for the black wires. UGH!

 

 

on the JDM set no. On the USDM set, yes. I'll run out to the car in a little bit. I need to get the electrical hooked up since we are painting the car at the end of this week

 

 

 

The bases were set to the closed position before they were set (why idk) and when the mirrors were pulled out they aren't fully extended so it flops around LOL

 

 

 

I will need to change to USDM mirror glass is my understanding since the JDM set is switched from the USDM.

 

 

 

I also need to fucken re-pin everything since I didn't account for the black wires. UGH!

 

 

 

 

Don't swap your JFM mirror glass to USDM. one of benefits of running JDM mirrors is to have proper convex mirror on driver side.

Don't swap your JFM mirror glass to USDM. one of benefits of running JDM mirrors is to have proper convex mirror on driver side.

 

I drove around with it and it looks really weird to me. ended up swapping it last night. I need to wire in the folding since i figure out which wires were the correct ones LOL.

I drove around with it and it looks really weird to me. ended up swapping it last night. I need to wire in the folding since i figure out which wires were the correct ones LOL.

 

If you are going to pull your door cards and re-pin again anyway, could you please take note of the correct color combinations for the passenger-side adjustment motor. Dade was going to do so earlier in the thread, but never did.

 

I have my passenger (right) side mirror wired so that up & down are reversed.

 

It's a 2008 USDM car, with heated mirrors.

 

Right now I have this wire arrangement on the right mirror, that leads to a reversed up & down mirror angle for the joystick control:

 

(mirror) purple ---> (car) blue & white striped

(mirror) pink ---> (car) blue

(mirror) black ---> (car) yellow

(mirror) white ---> (car) blue & yellow striped

(mirror) blue & red soldered together ---> (car) blue & red striped

(mirror) black ---> (car) black

(mirror) green ---> (car) black

 

And just for reference again, the driver's (left) side all works perfectly, and so here is the color connection chart for the left side:

 

(mirror) purple --->(car) red & white striped

(mirror) pink ---> (car) red & yellow striped

(mirror) black ---> (car) yellow

(mirror) white ---> (car) black

(mirror) blue & red soldered together ---> (car) blue & red striped

(mirror) black ---> (car) black

(mirror) green ---> (car) red & black striped

 

Thanks much, iNfEk.

.

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.

 

How the hell did you pull off the buttons?

If you are going to pull your door cards and re-pin again anyway, could you please take note of the correct color combinations for the passenger-side adjustment motor. Dade was going to do so earlier in the thread, but never did.

 

I have my passenger (right) side mirror wired so that up & down are reversed.

 

It's a 2008 USDM car, with heated mirrors.

 

Right now I have this wire arrangement on the right mirror, that leads to a reversed up & down mirror angle for the joystick control:

 

(mirror) purple ---> (car) blue & white striped

(mirror) pink ---> (car) blue

(mirror) black ---> (car) yellow

(mirror) white ---> (car) blue & yellow striped

(mirror) blue & red soldered together ---> (car) blue & red striped

(mirror) black ---> (car) black

(mirror) green ---> (car) black

 

And just for reference again, the driver's (left) side all works perfectly, and so here is the color connection chart for the left side:

 

(mirror) purple --->(car) red & white striped

(mirror) pink ---> (car) red & yellow striped

(mirror) black ---> (car) yellow

(mirror) white ---> (car) black

(mirror) blue & red soldered together ---> (car) blue & red striped

(mirror) black ---> (car) black

(mirror) green ---> (car) red & black striped

 

Thanks much, iNfEk.

oh shit... LOL sorry didn't see this. I finished it and ended up swapping the grey and brown with the black and it was all good. I just put the car into the paint shop last week friday so when it comes back I'll update.

Can someone explain the four wires for the back of the switch itself?

 

I understand the brown goes to #11, gray to #12 for the folding wires from the mirror.

 

For the wires to #4 the 12v wire, where did people tap to get the 12v and the ground for #13?

Dade was going to do so earlier in the thread, but never did.

 

Better late than never right?

 

This is a complete breakdown of the wiring colors for the mirrors based on my 2008 spec.B with some facelift JDM D-F mirrors. These JDM mirrors have only 1 power wire for glass adjustment. Your JDM mirrors may differ. See the attached wiring diagram for confirmation.

 

[b][u]Connector	Pin #	Mirror Color	Harness Color	Function[/u][/b]
Driver (D5)	1	Green		Red/Black	Turn Signal +
Driver (D5)	2	Black		Yellow		Heater +
Driver (D5)	3	Blue		Red/Blue	Adjustment +
Driver (D5)	4	White		Black		Turn Signal -
Driver (D5)	5	Black		Black		Heater -
Driver (D5)	6	Pink		Red/Yellow	Adj Up/Down
Driver (D5)	7	Purple		Red/White	Adj Left/Right
Driver (D5)	8	N/A		N/A		N/A
Driver (D5)	N/A	Brown		N/A		Fold
Driver (D5)	N/A	Grey		N/A		Unfold
Passenger (D15)	1	White		Blue/Yellow	Turn Signal +
Passenger (D15)	2	Black		Yellow		Heater +
Passenger (D15)	3	Blue		Red/Blue	Adjustment +
Passenger (D15)	4	Green		Black		Turn Signal -
Passenger (D15)	5	Black		Black		Heater -
Passenger (D15)	6	Red		Blue/Green	Adj Up/Down
Passenger (D15)	7	Purple		Blue/White	Adj Left/Right
Passenger (D15)	8	N/A		N/A		N/A
Passenger (D15)	N/A	Brown		N/A		Fold
Passenger (D15)	N/A	Grey		N/A		Unfold

 

Please note: The turn signal wires are swapped driver to passenger. They are probably wired backwards inside the mirror housing or something. This matters because they are LED's, and won't light up at all if the polarity is reversed. The heater wires don't matter if they are swapped (they're both black in the mirror).

USDM 2008 Mirror Wiring.pdf

Edited July 10, 2017 by Dade

If you are going to pull your door cards and re-pin again anyway, could you please take note of the correct color combinations for the passenger-side adjustment motor. Dade was going to do so earlier in the thread, but never did.

 

I have my passenger (right) side mirror wired so that up & down are reversed.

 

It's a 2008 USDM car, with heated mirrors.

 

Right now I have this wire arrangement on the right mirror, that leads to a reversed up & down mirror angle for the joystick control:

 

(mirror) purple ---> (car) blue & white striped

(mirror) pink ---> (car) blue

(mirror) black ---> (car) yellow

(mirror) white ---> (car) blue & yellow striped

(mirror) blue & red soldered together ---> (car) blue & red striped

(mirror) black ---> (car) black

(mirror) green ---> (car) black

 

And just for reference again, the driver's (left) side all works perfectly, and so here is the color connection chart for the left side:

 

(mirror) purple --->(car) red & white striped

(mirror) pink ---> (car) red & yellow striped

(mirror) black ---> (car) yellow

(mirror) white ---> (car) black

(mirror) blue & red soldered together ---> (car) blue & red striped

(mirror) black ---> (car) black

(mirror) green ---> (car) red & black striped

 

Thanks much, iNfEk.

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.

Edited July 10, 2017 by Dade
Spelling

How the hell did you pull off the buttons?

 

Tiny screwdrivers or picks. There are small clips at the side of each button. The buttons pull off forward away from the switch. It's tough to do without breaking them. Just be patient, I got it eventually.

To be thorough, I looked over the 2005 wiring diagram for A-C lights. See attached. There are 8 pins, two for power adjustment.

 

[b][u]Connector	Pin #	Mirror Color	Harness Color	Function[/u][/b]
Driver (D5)	1	Green		Red/Black	Turn Signal +
Driver (D5)	2	Black		Yellow		Heater +
Driver (D5)	3	Blue		Red/Blue	Adjustment +
Driver (D5)	4	White		Black		Turn Signal -
Driver (D5)	5	Black		Black		Heater -
Driver (D5)	6	Pink		Red/Yellow	Adj Up/Down
Driver (D5)	7	Purple		Red/White	Adj Left/Right
Driver (D5)	8	Red		Red/Blue	Adjustment +
Driver (D5)	N/A	Brown		N/A		Fold
Driver (D5)	N/A	Grey		N/A		Unfold
Passenger (D15)	1	White		Blue/Yellow	Turn Signal +
Passenger (D15)	2	Black		Yellow		Heater +
Passenger (D15)	3	Blue		Red/Blue	Adjustment +
Passenger (D15)	4	Green		Black		Turn Signal -
Passenger (D15)	5	Black		Black		Heater -
Passenger (D15)	6	Pink		Blue/Green	Adj Up/Down
Passenger (D15)	7	Purple		Blue/White	Adj Left/Right
Passenger (D15)	8	Red		Red/Blue	Adjustment +
Passenger (D15)	N/A	Brown		N/A		Fold
Passenger (D15)	N/A	Grey		N/A		Unfold

USDM 2005 Mirror Wiring.pdf

Edited July 10, 2017 by Dade