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Automatic day/night mirror

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Old 12-03-2001, 06:05 PM
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Car: 1986 Trans Am
Engine: 305 TPI
Transmission: Auto
Automatic day/night mirror

Does anybody know what the common problem with these things are? I have 3 and 1 in my car and they all dont work. I took one apart and found that the motor works and the LED lights up but nothing else. Do the sensors that measure the light and convert it to a electrical signal go bad? Any ideas or ways that u have fixed yours; send them my way please.

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Trans AM...The Muscle Car Lives
...Its just not at home at the moment...

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Old 12-03-2001, 06:26 PM
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Car: 1987 GTA
Engine: LS1
Transmission: 4L60e
I know mine works. When I had minimal tint on the back glass, it worked VERY RARELY. When I had the tint removed, it loved to move around at night and scare me. If you have dark tint (as I do now) forget about it working unless you put a flashlight to it.

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~3.1EyeCandy~
"The car that started my craze" -'92 Firebird 3.1 (A car sold)

My new baby: '87 flame red GTA 350 w'auto, ported and polished plenum, custom cold-air intake w/K&N, Hooker SuperComp Exhaust, Splitfire plugs, Hypertech Airfoil,
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THE GTA
Old 12-03-2001, 06:57 PM
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I tried the flashlight thing, zip
what are the 3 wires?
power, ground, and ????
Old 12-03-2001, 10:01 PM
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My guess is the three wires are power, ground, and either parking lights or headlights. You wouldn't want the mirror switching up and down during daylight hours.
Old 12-04-2001, 08:00 AM
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on my car I installed a Liquid Crystal one from a 1990 Buick. The green wire is to go to the backup lights. It will not "dim" when in reverse.

I can only assume that would be the purpose of the third wire...

If the wire went to the headlights or parking lights, then there would be need for only 2 wires, since you would get power directly from the headlight circuit.

thats what I think about that...

John

John

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87 Formula 5.1 TPI Auto Modified (Yellow/Black)

87 Formula TPI (5 Speed) Yellow/Gray STOCK

14.8sec 1967 Buick Riviera
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Old 12-04-2001, 08:44 AM
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Car: 1991 Z28
Engine: 350 TPI
Transmission: 4L60 automatic
What 3rdgens had this day/night mirror and what exactly is it?

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1991 Z/28 350TPI
1973 Camaro Z28(project)
member of the GULFSOUTH FIREBIRD/CAMARO CLUB (NEW ORLEANS)

[This message has been edited by 91Zman (edited December 04, 2001).]
Old 12-04-2001, 09:33 AM
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Car: 1987 GTA
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I've got a GTA and nosaint's got the sweetest TransAm (right next to 86fyr) on the boards. It might have been an option on other models though.
Old 12-04-2001, 09:35 AM
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woops...double post

[This message has been edited by 3.1EyeCandy (edited December 04, 2001).]
Old 12-04-2001, 11:05 AM
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I think mostly the GTA & the T/A had the optional automatic day/night mirrors. 7 I think it was only offered from like 85-89 or something like that.

What it is, there is 1 sensor on the front & one on the rear of the mirror that indicate the amount of light (photocells). When the front of the mirror senses there is no longer a significant amount of daylight then it allows the second sensor on the back side (mirror side) to tell the mirror to dim or not when there are lights behind you.

Thus there is no need to reach up & change the angle of the mirror when you have someone behind you with their lights on. Its automatic...

The ones (that I know of) available in the F-body in the 80's were controlled by some sort of solinoid, they would "flip" the mirror like any other rear view mirror.

I personally prefer the later ones on Cadillacs, some Buicks, the actually will slip right on our factory mirror block that s mounted to the windshield & there Liquid crystal, You can pick one up from alot of salvageyards for around $20-40. If you a car newer than 88 or 89 then you might have the curtsey lights on the underside of the mirror. There are those versions out there too. My mom's Roadmaster has one like that.

John

John

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87 Formula TPI (5 Speed) Yellow/Gray STOCK

14.8sec 1967 Buick Riviera
1990 Buick Riviera (driver)
83 Camaro
83 T/A
Old 12-04-2001, 11:12 AM
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Car: Met. Silver 85 IROC/Sold
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Transmission: T-5 (Non-WC)
Axle/Gears: Limited Slip 3.23's
I believe that the auto dimming mirrors were an option in 86-87.

JamesC

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Old 12-04-2001, 02:27 PM
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<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by JamesC:
I believe that the auto dimming mirrors were an option in 86-87.

JamesC

</font>
I have an auto dimming mirror. It has distance setting and the automatic dim switch. 87 camaro LT.

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1987 Camaro LT 5.0 V8

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Old 12-04-2001, 06:10 PM
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Car: 1986 Trans Am
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Thats all great but has any one ever fixed a busted one??
Old 05-24-2002, 09:04 AM
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Does anybody know how rare the adjustable distance auto dim mirror is? I´ve heard that they are very rare on a 3rd gen.
Old 05-24-2002, 09:40 PM
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if your car is a daily driver, get one of the electrochromic mirrors with compass & outside temperature display. e/c mirrors are much more reliable than motorized ones will ever be.

for some more technical mirror related info, see this thread:

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=107843
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