DIY: HomeLink + auto dimming rear view mirror retrofit.

[Seans M3]

Has anyone tried to get a mirror with more functionality working in an E36? I picked up a Rover Discovery mirror that has compass and temperature as well as homelink and autodim. These features and others show up in BMW mirrors.

Compass I assume just runs off of the switched power, but temperature will need a sensor feed. Wondering if tapping the temperature feed to the OBD would work for the mirror, or if there is a wire harness similar to that listed that would provide the pigtails to tap...

Dont know if the Temp will work. I have a OEM mirror with the compass/home link/dim/clown nose. It has the pixles for the temp, but no way to switch between the compass & temp, so just the compass is lit. Would prob need to talk to a E9x owner to see if the temp works on these mirrors.

[drewsnodgrass]

does the pn: 51160001231 for the wiring loom include the rain sensor wriring?

[Seans M3]

does the pn: 51160001231 for the wiring loom include the rain sensor wriring?

No.

[drewsnodgrass]

No.

Happen to know where I could find the pn? I've tried looking on realoem, but either I'm looking in the wrong spot or I just can't find it.

[Cataldo]

I just realised that our 4 door 1994 320 doesn't have any wires to the mirror but my 1999 318is does...They changed the entry point for keyless in later models?

[Foxman09]

Your guys are really something. I have no skill to retrofit my Honda Civic 1.8VMT. I'd like to add a pair of rear view mirror to my vehicle. I found there are many Auto Rear View Mirrors online. But i can't decide which one to fit my car best. Here are two of them.








Any suggestions?

[MParallel]

Cataldo, you are right. If you have the FACTORY alarm, not dealer installed/approved, the remote receiver is inside the (dimm) mirror.

The FACTORY alarm doesn't have a seperate alarm module under the glovebox, but is integrated into the ZKE IV module (central body electrics) and car wiring loom.

I'm kinda in the same situation as of now. I didn't fit the homelink as I have nothing remote to control, but did fit the latest style compass mirror with the hidden display that also has a beautiful BMW-matching amber+dot matrix style display, not LCD style. This one also has the flat clownnose, which doesn't stick out like a sore thumb.

Anyways, the mirror is fully functional, except the remote control. Both my factory mirror and the compass mirror use 9 pins. My factory mirror even has 10 pins, but the factory connector only has 9 positions taken. So I do wonder what the extra pin would be for, as everything on it works (which is just remote receiver + dimm).

Now the question is: should the remote also work with a straight swap, should I swap wires, or should it work, but doesn't because the frequency doesn't match. My car is German and the mirror is from Germany, so it should be matching, unless BMW changed its Euro frequency (433mhz) although I sometimes see the mirror listed as 434mhz. Now I hope that's a "rounding off" figure.

In the worst car, I might try to open my original mirror, pull out the remote receiver part (if at all possible) and just install it under the headliner/front trim.

[Cataldo]

Ok,
so you got the mirror in but you got no keyless entry at the moment?

[MParallel]

Ok,
so you got the mirror in but you got no keyless entry at the moment?

That is what I am saying yes.

I think you're the one I had email contact with. You send me the excel sheet with a part of the pinouts.

[DaveAZ]

Parking sensors notify you with a beeping noise how far away you are from a wall or obstruction when you're parking...

Go to an ophthalmologist before resorting to this.

[honda67]

Hi MParallel, Cataldo,

I'm having the same problem as you two. My keyless stopped working when I swapped out the rear mirror. My bimmer is E36 1998 323i, Australian delivered.

I'm thinking of installing an aftermarket keyless entry. How can I wire such a kit in an E36 where the keyless receiver is not behind its glovebox? All the forum posts I came across so far tell me to open my glovebox. But this way obviously does not work for my car.

Any idea appreciated!

[themadrussian]

Glad to see people still keeping this thread active!

As far as the keyless entry thing, I don't really have much input, but I do recall in my research that the autodimming mirrors have some kind of strange link to the keyless - at least in the E36, certain mirrors are listed as applicable only for cars without the infrared keyless, or something like that. Not sure, honestly. Hope you guys get it solved.

[MParallel]

Finally tackled everything today! Compass mirror is fully functional, including the remote control.
That last was the hardest part, the rest is basically plug & play. Problem with new BMW's is how the remote works, or so I understand. Different inputs for opening/closing etc.

So to get this work, only one option was left. Remove the remote control unit from the factory mirror and place it somewhere under the dash. Then figure out what wires from the harness are going to the mirror part and what to the remote part. And hope they don't have shared wires (which they do!)

Here's some snippets of the project.

Open up the factory mirror. This is hard. The bezel hardly pulls off. I somehow managed to get it off and don't break any of the tabs.

Things is, I didn't dare trying it on the expensive and much harder to find compass mirror. The best solution would be to open up the compass mirror, switch out the new for the old remote module (if they are the same size, which I don't know either), close it up and hook everything up. Maybe I'll try that in the future. Saves lots of work.


Mirror opened, glass removed. This what you see is the remote control unit. The blue wire is the antenna.


Back of auto-dimm glass. Lots of electronics on this!


remote control unit removed.


To remove the wiring you have to take out all the pins on the black connector to pull the wires through. Make sure you write down which color pin is in what number position (or as I like to do, make digital pics of it).


The remote module fitted in a spare comb-connectors holder, switched upside down. A couple of small screws + bolts to raise it a little but, to protect all the electronics on the other side of the PCB.


And then fitted in the bowels of the dash. As I have lots of modules on mine, since I have nearly every factory option (and then some) I only had some space left under and right of the right glovebox vent tube.


And as the new style mirrors have different plastic covers, they also use a different style of grommet. So again, out with all the pins, feed them through the new grommet and put them back in the connector.



Now if you don't have a factory alarm (dealer installed/dealer approved) you already have the remote control in another location and you can just plug & play the mirror in. Oh well!

- I also ran 2 extra wires from the factory alarm led to the mirror for that über cool alarm led at the bottom of the mirror. That way you can see from far away that the car is armed (and so do others) so you don't have to get next to the car and look inside.
Gives me an extra space for a switch in front of the gearstick, although I don't have any options left to fit that would use a switch in that location.
Maybe I'll hook up both leds.

A (very) short clip of the alarm led hooked up, during the see-if-it-all-works process.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DysRedQuSA[/ame]

And last but not least. After fitting the remote control unit so low, I noticed the RC reception was much less than before. So I took a long strand of wire and lengthened the original antenna and routed it back up alongside the A-pillar back the the other mirror (not hooked up of course). Reception is now back as it was, maybe even better.

[Cataldo]

Spot on mate!
tryting to do mine now.

Almost broke the casing...kinda stuffed it a bit with my screw driver. Got it off in the end.

***EDIT***
So where to from here? This mirror has autodim, clown nose and homelink. So, If I just plug the new mirtror in then everything is fine and all works except the remote control. So lets say I put it in the dash somewhere, the harness that plugs in to that, where does the other end of that go to? So can you tell me which wires do what? I've opened up both my mirrors and there's no receiver in the new one from what I can see. I've got the homelink module, autodim strapped to the back of the glass and the little board piece for the LED. As far as I'm aware, the newer BMWs (post e36) don't go through the front mirror anymore. Any help would be great. Thanks mate.

[MParallel]

Spot on mate!
tryting to do mine now.

Almost broke the casing...kinda stuffed it a bit with my screw driver. Got it off in the end.

***EDIT***
So where to from here? This mirror has autodim, clown nose and homelink. So, If I just plug the new mirtror in then everything is fine and all works except the remote control. So lets say I put it in the dash somewhere, the harness that plugs in to that, where does the other end of that go to? So can you tell me which wires do what? I've opened up both my mirrors and there's no receiver in the new one from what I can see. I've got the homelink module, autodim strapped to the back of the glass and the little board piece for the LED. As far as I'm aware, the newer BMW's (post e36) don't go through the front mirror anymore. Any help would be great. Thanks mate.

Mine doesn't have the homelink, so I can't say anything about how many wires control that module.

If you check my last pic. That's all the wires that are now in my new mirror, the rest is in the remote module plug (I fitted the same exact plug to the remote pins).

So that's:

Pin 1: Blue/yellow (reverser signal)
Pin 2: not used on new mirror
Pin 3: white/violet (switched +12v)
Pin 4: white/violet (switched +12v)
Pin 5: Not used
Pin 6: not used
Pin 7: Red/Brown - yellow stripes (I think this is constant +12v but not 100% sure)
Pin 8: Alarm led +12v (new wire)
Pin 9: Alarm led ground (new wire)
Pin 10: Mirror ground (this one is both used on the mirror and remote module as the ground wire, so you need to double this pin).

The rest of the wires from the 10-pin harness are in their original positions in the remote module connector.

[DaveAZ]

So to get this work, only one option was left. Remove the remote control unit from the factory mirror and place it somewhere under the dash.

At this point I would have bought a non-mirror homelink from ebay for $20.00 instead of gutting the mirror. There is no point is spending a large amount more for a mirror with homelink inside it if you are going to fight to get it open (risking breaking it) and then gut it.

This also leads me to think that a mirror without homelink is a better option if going with the newer mirror that you used.

I'm glad you were able to make it work, but this approach cost more and also took much more time and effort than going with a cheaper and easier route for similar functionality.

[Cataldo]

I know stuff all about electronics. Are you saying that the only live wires going to the new mirror is
1
3
4
7
8
9
10

And wires
2
5
6
10
Go to the remote control module?

I've got a euro spec model. Do the wires go down the passenger side a frame? I don't have a sunroof. And when you say you need to double pin 10 you mean you just need to cut in to it so it goes to both devices?

[MParallel]

At this point I would have bought a non-mirror homelink from ebay for $20.00 instead of gutting the mirror. There is no point is spending a large amount more for a mirror with homelink inside it if you are going to fight to get it open (risking breaking it) and then gut it.

This also leads me to think that a mirror without homelink is a better option if going with the newer mirror that you used.

I'm glad you were able to make it work, but this approach cost more and also took much more time and effort than going with a cheaper and easier route for similar functionality.

Not sure I understand. I don't have Homelink, never had it and don't have it now.

That's why the new style mirror I got it the version without Homelink.

So basically all I added was a compass and alarm led. But I love it. The new mirror just looks cool and the base is covered with 2 big plastic covers, making the whole mirror look more chunky, like in the later BMW's.

Cataldo: yes. Although I never cut any of my factory wiring, Scotch-Lock in a wire. So I can always undo everything I change.

Even all the work I did the last few days, I can totally reverse everything.

[8eights]

I love my Homelink Mirror, Nice upgrade in my opinion.

[DaveAZ]

Not sure I understand. I don't have Homelink, never had it and don't have it now.

That's why the new style mirror I got it the version without Homelink.

So basically all I added was a compass and alarm led. But I love it. The new mirror just looks cool and the base is covered with 2 big plastic covers, making the whole mirror look more chunky, like in the later BMW's.

Cataldo: yes. Although I never cut any of my factory wiring, Scotch-Lock in a wire. So I can always undo everything I change.

Even all the work I did the last few days, I can totally reverse everything.

Sorry about that, I misunderstood "remtote control" to mean homelink, like garage door remote. I am used to calling the function you are discussing "keyless entry." I didn't realize the mirrors caused an issue with keyless entry. Now it sounds more like it became a lot of added hassle just for the clown nose to blink.

[MParallel]

Sorry about that, I misunderstood "remtote control" to mean homelink, like garage door remote. I am used to calling the function you are discussing "keyless entry." I didn't realize the mirrors caused an issue with keyless entry. Now it sounds more like it became a lot of added hassle just for the clown nose to blink.

The clownnose was the easiest part. Well actually the compass and dimming was as it functioned right away. The clownnose (actually I have the later type mirror with the flat led) is just hooking up the + and - to the original led wiring.

The keyless entry receiver is in my old mirror, so I had to take that out. Not all that hard, just takes a few days to get everything done.

[DaveAZ]

That is freaky. Of my (5) E36's I only had one with a viper, and it had its own reciever behind the glovebox. None ever had a wired mirror. I know convertables are funky, but is your car an E36, or am I even further confused based on the OP title?

It is always difficult for me to quantify the time spent on car projects. Sometimes it is necessity, other times it is a labor of love, and there are times that I need to prove to myself that all those years of automotive classes and my career in engineering can be applied on a personal level.

I spent 9 hours this weekend with a fellow mechanic as we changed a ring and pinion in an M3 diff to a ratio I desired. I feel much more personally satisfied than if I spent $1300.00 for the same result, but I question why it took 9 hours- LoL. At least I am confident that it is done correctly. I can't say if I'd have the same satisfaction over installing a mirror, but deciphering electronics without a how-to is usually much more of a brain-teaser than pure mechanical parts are.

[MParallel]

That is freaky. Of my (5) E36's I only had one with a viper, and it had its own reciever behind the glovebox. None ever had a wired mirror. I know convertables are funky, but is your car an E36, or am I even further confused based on the OP title? ...

My car is Euro-spec, as I'm from the Netherlands and the car is German import. So it can't be more German spec than that.

It has option #302 which is the remote alarm option. This is the factory fitted alarm, which many people claim to have, but don't realize they have a dealer installed/approved alarm.

With the latter, the alarm module is usually on top of the panel below the glovebox, which has everything integrated there, including the keyless-entry receiver.

Now with the factory alarm, everything is integrated in to the main wiring loom and there is no separate alarm module, but totally integrated in the ZKE module (Central Body Electronics). With this, the keyless-entry receiver is build into the mirror.

It also has a hidden alarm siren not just put plain in sight under the hood and also different style and locations of the microswitches.

With this alarm, you also don't have a separate alarm fob next to the key, but an integrated one.

This is my key:



There's the open and close button, which also arms/de-arms the alarm and a 3rd button to remotely turn on the interior lights.

I don't even know if this factory alarm option was ever offered in the USA.

Behind my glovebox you can see this:



The large module with the 3 connectors on it, is the ZKE (IV) module. If you look at the middle connector, you can see the connector is purple, but the socket is yellow. That's with the integrated alarm. On cars with dealer installed/approved alarms, the connector will be yellow as well.

And yes, my car is definitely an E36.

[DaveAZ]

I am always amazed by the differences between US spec and Euro spec. I usually wind up feeling short-changed, if not upset. Some of us spend small fortunes to install Euro-spec options ino US spec cars, and I am guilty of this, too.

Thanks for clarifying. Now I understand why I was completely confused. Your situation is unique in this thread.

Have you been to Curacao? My wife was born and raised there. We have a lot of friends who are surfing in Holland right now in the Domburg classics.

[honda67]

My car is Euro-spec, as I'm from the Netherlands and the car is German import. So it can't be more German spec than that.

And yes, my car is definitely an E36.

Fantastic write-up. Thanks MParallel! It has been a hassle of my bimmer for a while. But I should turn it into a joy soon