Interior rear view mirrors- who's the expert? Don Mc??

[Rigmaster]

I got my hands on 3 BMW rear view mirrors today to do some experiments with- and I'm trying to determine exactly what I have, and what is needed to retrofit them into an E34.

Two of them are definitely "self dimming" from E32's- but they are different from each other....the last one is from an E46- does not appear to be self-dimming.

Here are the description + numbers from each (numbers on the back of the plastic housing of each):

(E32's)
--------------------
#1- I E13 019444 I e13 02*3024
GNTX-102

This one has a round "eye" visible in the mirror on the upper right hand corner, also another "eye" on the backside (facing the windshield) on the right side. It also has a slider switch on the bottom of the front side with "OFF" "MIN" "MAX" and 2 arrows on it.

3 wires- 1 brown/orange stripe, 1 green/red stripe, 1 blue/yellow stripe


---------------------
#2- I E13 012417 Ie13 02*5732
GNTX-117

This one has a round "eye" visible in the mirror in the center- upper portion, also another eye on the backside just to the right of the mounting arm.

3 wires- 1 brown/orange stripe, 1 purple/red stripe, 1 blue/yellow stripe


---------------------------------------
(E46)
#3- I e1 02*0458
I E1 010458

This one does not appear to have any "eyes", the flat tab at the bottom typically used to dim the mirror is red plastic, and appears to light up (some kind of alarm light???).

5 wires- 1 brown, 1 red/black stripe, 1 blue/yellow stripe, 1 green/white stripe, 1 grey/black stripe + yellow dashes.

---------------------------------

They all have the same type of mounting base- they snap into the round piece that is glued to the windshield on E34's and most other late model BMW's.

Any info on these??

Thanks!

bret.

[Don McAdams]

I'm by no means the "expert" Bret :D

I had posted this question a couple of weeks ago & could not come up with anything- I was replacing my headliner & stumbled across a pre-wired harness for a R/V mirror along the roof line on my '95 525iT. I currently have an E65 electro-chromatic, with universal garage door opener & clown nose alarm light. I wired in (from the back seat- alarm brain) the wiring for the clown nose alarm light into the base of the mirror- Works awesome- just wish the flashing red was a tad brighter (but no biggie :D )

I posted a question if anyone had the wiring pinouts for the pre-wired harness (so I could figure out which wires were for the electro-chromatic) & re-route them into the E65 mirror base- wiring them up- Nobody replied, so I kinda gave up on the project for now & moved onto my new steering rack replacement for the E30 M3.....

I know they will all fit onto the mirror base, but not sure if function right- I plugged in the pre-wired harness I found into the E65 mirror & the EC feature worked! but it popped the fuse for the alarm!

Sorry Bret- wish I knew!! :(

[Kalevera]

Bret, what year is your touring again? The 3 wire version fits earlier cars -- my car and your wife's car, for example. Brown is ground, red is ignition, the other one = lights on.

GNTX = Gentex, an Irish company that mass produces these things for automobile conglomerates everywhere. GM/DC/Ford/Nissan...everyone uses them.

The "eyes" are photoelectric cells, which determine the difference between light exposure at the front of the mirror and the back of the mirror, adjusting the hue/tint accordingly. Little light up front + lots of light from the rear (aka - driver with the brights on behind you) = lots of tinting.

best, whit

[SharkmanBMW]

my e46 has the eye on front and back... on the front it for the rain sensor (according to the OM)
based on when it gets a distorted reflection from the water on the glass, it wipes automatically.

[Bill R.]

diagramhttp://www.bimmer.info/%7Ebill/Electrochromic%20mirror.jpg



And this is what the diagram for the E65 mirror looks like



http://www.bimmer.info/%7Ebill/E65%20mirror.jpg

[Johntee540]

I went through 3 Mirrors before I got the upgrade to work. The general Board Wisdom on other boards is that this is a plug compatible upgrade with the e32 mirrors. Do not try to use the e46 or the e39 mirrors as I have already spent the $$ to find out they dont work! :)

The e34 already has the wiring Harness (3 Wires) to plug into the e32 mirror including the Reverse Light function.

Newer e34s (94/95) with the Central Locking in the Mirror also have the same wiring harness functional. On these cars the Harness (Car side) has both the Mirror Function and the Alarm functions wired.

Here is the challenge:

My original Mirror had the board reciever for the Central Locking System/Alarm in it and when you remove it from the car you disable the security system/ CLS

How do I get the CLS /Security Reciever board into the 7 series mirror?

I disassembled both Mirrors. I gently removed the CLS /Security Board from the original Mirror. When doing this you need to remove the pins from the plug in order to get the wires through the Mounting neck and to remove the board intact. remember the pin positions in the plug. You will need these later.

Then - Open up the 7 series Mirror. You will need to find a place inside the 7 Serie Mirror for the additional board. I found that you will need to dremel out the inside the 7 series mirror to make things fit. Also will need a hot glue gun to embed the board and antenna wire.

Now - gently thread the wires through the neck of the 7 series mirror up to the Plug. Using your Pin Diagram you had from the original mirror - begin to insert the pins into the new plug. You basically fill up all the empty holes as I remember.

Now - plug it in and test all the functions such as Electrochromatic and Alarm. I test the EC Function by covering the sensor on the Front of the mirror and shining a flashlight into the sensor on the mirror itself.

Testing the alarm was simply using the key to open and close the locks on the car.

Interesting note - for the longest time my car would intermittently work wtih the Key remote. Now since I have moved the board to the new mirror it rarely malfunctions.

Hope this helps - JT

[Qsilver7]

Bret, the BMW part number for those mirrors should be located down inside the mounting base...you know, the "well" that fits around the metal thingy stuck to the windshield. If I remember correctly from when I discovered the pre-existing RV wire...the part number is split on two lines xx xx (top line) & x xxx xxx (on the bottom line)...(at least it was for the electro-chromatic mirror from my E38 and plain mirror from my e34).

If your eyes are getting dim, like mine...I had to shine a light down in there to read the part number.

My little experiment found that the EC mirror from my 97 e38 worked flawlessly when I hooked it up to the wire in my 95 525iT...but it shut down the (BMW/Alpine 3 button remote) keyless entry system. I could double lock with the key in the driver's door lock...but the keyless entry didn't work.

I'm with Don on this one...and I bet that if you use the EC mirror from the 1993-94 E32...that you should have no problem. (BMW part # 51 16 8 141 176).

The EC mirror from my E38 was (BMW part #51 16 8 238 066).

BTW, this same discussion has been going on over Roadfly's e34 message board. :D

Check behind your sunroof access panel and you just may find the wiring harness ready to hook up to an Electro-chromatic mirror...you just have to route it thru the headliner (in front of the rearview mirror):

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/7/web/739000-739999/739005_65_full.jpg

(wire going thru headliner)
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/7/web/739000-739999/739005_68_full.jpg

(EC wiring harness connects here to the electrical connector in the EC mirror)http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/7/web/739000-739999/739005_72_full.jpg

[Don McAdams]

Thanks a lot Bill for posting the wiring pinouts :) That should help me out!

I'll let you guys know what I find out :D

Thanks!