4th Gen/General Mirror Installation on 3rd Gen

[Sweersa]

Awesome thread. I scratched my passenger side mirror a bit getting too close to a wire fence, and it got me thinking.

How much dimmer are the puddle lights in the 4th gen mirrors? I like how ridiculously bright the stock puddle lights in my '05 are. Do they take the same bulbs? If so, I guess a simple bulb swap would work unless the lamps are different.

 

[jcpahman77]

If you add heated mirrors to an X that didn't come with them, how do you get them to work? Are they controlled with the rear window defrost?

Ok, I broke both of my mirrors backing into my garage (this is why I can't have nice things), my truck is a 2003 XLS and I went to the local salvage yard to get new mirrors. I had read this thread before and was hoping to get 4th gen mirrors but they were out. What I ended up with were third gen mirrors with puddle lights and heat; originally my truck had neither. I installed them and right away the puddle lights work, I even noticed they only work when the ignition key is off which I think is kinda cool, anyway, I can't get the heated function to work. I know the mirror selector switch needs to be in the middle or neutral location and the rear defrost switched on. I've done that and nothing, no heat. I guess it's possible that both mirrors have broken heat elements but I'm wondering if there is a way to test this.

 

[Joe in NY]

Ok, I broke both of my mirrors backing into my garage (this is why I can't have nice things), my truck is a 2003 XLS and I went to the local salvage yard to get new mirrors. I had read this thread before and was hoping to get 4th gen mirrors but they were out. What I ended up with were third gen mirrors with puddle lights and heat; originally my truck had neither. I installed them and right away the puddle lights work, I even noticed they only work when the ignition key is off which I think is kinda cool, anyway, I can't get the heated function to work. I know the mirror selector switch needs to be in the middle or neutral location and the rear defrost switched on. I've done that and nothing, no heat. I guess it's possible that both mirrors have broken heat elements but I'm wondering if there is a way to test this.

Take a multi-meter to the plugs with defrost on and check the resistance of the mirror elements.