05 Aviator mirrors on 03 Limited | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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05 Aviator mirrors on 03 Limited

1996EB

2007 Sport Trac V8 Limited
Joined
May 11, 2012
Messages
263
Reaction score
52
City, State
Windsor, ON
Year, Model & Trim Level
07 ST Limited 4.6L 4x4
I installed Aviator mirrors on my 03 Limited. They are physically easy to install, but the wiring is not easy. I already had power/heated/puddle lamps, but I gained the signal lights from the Av. I had to compare wiring diagrams from both vehicles and perform bench testing. There are also extra wires on the Av mirrors for the link to the memory seats. My vehicle has memory seats, but there is no way to tie in the memory function when installing on the Ex. They function perfectly, but the wiring is really a PITA. Tapping the signal light circuit on each side was easy.
 

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And the donor vehicle...
 

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are the mirrors better for driving?

These mirrors on the explorers are way too small. I can't see anything... Was thinking of trying to get some 250 mirrors haha.
 






I agree that the original mirrors are too small, both in function and appearance! I've only had them on for about a week. I'm still getting used to the different view that these ones offer and determining the best position to adjust them to. I feel that they are an improvement, but depending on what your exact issues are with the originals, you may also want to consider the 4th gen mirrors. I do like having the amber turn signals in them. This is definitely a safetly feature too. Amber turn signals are safer than red ones...there has been research done on that. I also put LEDs in the puddle lamps and they are super bright- you can't really see that in my photo, there was too much other background light. All in all I'm very happy with this mod, but wiring diagrams for each vehicle, bench testing with a 12V source and a multi-tester (of course) + patience are a must!
 






looks nice!! wish i had the patience to do the conversion. the looks are justifying, i just hate any work that involves removing the interior door panels including replacing the stock speakers lol thats why i love older cars. so much easier to work on.
 






Thank you! It's a distinctive look, as not many people has tried this mod. The door panels aren't too bad to get off, just a couple of things to watch out for that are detailed in the sticky about 4th gen mirrors on 3rd gens. The more difficult part is the wiring, but ensuring that I got both ends of the Av connector made this a little easier. Thanks again, I appreciate the compliment!
 






those look great! Ive been trying to decide on mirrors that I want to replace mine with, I love the squarer look. I had thought of just going with 4th gen ones but I am really liking these..
 






Thank you! I do like the look and the added signal light capability. I had also considered the swap to 4th gens. I know that it would have been a lot easier to wire those in, but I'm happy I did it this way. BTW, the field of vision takes some getting used to. I have been driving 2nd and 3rd gen Explorers for several years and switching to these mirrors in the same vehicle really "feels" different. I'm still making minor adjustments for the best view of the road, as I have only had them on for about 2 weeks. The mirrors also have a "cover" on the front part. It's usually body color and I believe that it's removable, if you wanted to paint them. I was fortunate to get mirrors with the gloss black cover, so I'm not going to paint them as they match nicely with the B pillars on the vehicle and the tinted windows.
 












2005 Aviator power mirrors wiring diagram.
 

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2003 Explorer heated and power mirrors wiring diagrams
 

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Some additional notes, driver's side mirror:
 

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Some additional notes, passenger side mirror:
 

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Here's an easy way to route the signal wires. Just make sure that they are protected.
 

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I have an 05 Ex Xlt, I've been contemplating making the switch to the Aviator mirrors. Is there Already a wire for the mirror turn signal in mine since it's an XLT? I don't want to buy them and then not have the mirror signal work
 






You won't be pre-wired for signal lights. You just need to tap into the signal light circuit and run an additional wire through your door to reach the mirror. You can see how I did it in the underhood pics. I tapped into the front signal lights. Also, if you didn't already have heated mirrors, you would need to tap into the rear window defroster circuit to make the heat function work.
 






Any chance you know or have diagrams stating what wire do what on the aviator?, currently in the middle of this swap and i can't read wiring diagrams to save my life
 






Got a great deal on as set of Aviator mirrors off of Ebay and when i got them in the mail they were the same color as my body paint(or at least very close).
Just installed the mirrors today and was surprised when I got the door panel off to find only 3 wires on my factory mirror plug. Basically I just put them on without hooking up any of the electrics for the time being.
First Picture is my factory plug.
Then a couple of views.
 

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[MENTION=204391]1996EB[/MENTION], on the Explorer, the up/down (violet) is one wire and so is the left/right (green.) As I understand, depending on the direction of current, they move different directions. I'm not sure how the "common" (yellow) wire comes into play.

On the Aviator, the up is pink, down is white w/pink, right is green and left is a white w/green wire. 4 individual wires.

How'd you convert the Explorer 2(+1?) wires to the Aviators 4 wires?

I tried jumping some wires on my Aviator mirrors but couldn't get them to move. I can get the turn and puddle lights to work though.

On a side note, I don't have the defrost mirrors, but the connector at the mirror (wiring harness) is plumbed with the defrost wire. It's just missing the pin at the mirror.
 



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Okay, I really wish that I had made additional notes at the time, but I didn't anticipate much interest in this mod. I found some notes on what I did for the driver side mirror only. I am also posting a pic of the wiring for the driver side mirror, when I had it open. This was a very tedious and frustrating mod when I did it, but I am happy with the results. The mirrors do work- heat, puddle lamp, signal, power functions. The one strange thing is that on the driver side my up down functions are the reverse of the switch. When I tried to correct it, I blew the fuse. The wiring was still a mystery, so I "undid the correction" and have one function that is opposite from the switch- not a big deal- I don't adjust them very often anyway. Here are my notes from the drivers side only. I had both ends of the Aviator connector, so I cut out my Explorer connector and used the complete Av connector. All wire references are colors coming out of the Av connector, splicing into my Ex wiring harness. Also, remember that my Ex is an 03 Limited, already with puddle lamps and defrost. Your colors may vary. Grn/wht- signal, Red/blk- not used, Grey- not used, Blu/wht- not used, Red/wht- not used, Blue to Blue- (up/dn), Red to Red- (L/R), Grn/mauve- Grn/mauve (defrost), Blk/blu- blk/blu (puddle), Black- black, and the tricky one Yel/orange + yel/blu - yellow ...you can just see this in my attached pic. The passenger side was basically the same with whatever the corresponding wires were- I have no notes for that side. This worked for me, but again these color codes are 05 Av and 03 Limited- may be different for other years and model.
 

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