On the Ford homelink mirror (and I'm basing this on the one I just received and installed from 05stangkc) there were three leads, a black lead with white stipe, a black lead in the middle, and a black lead on the right. When I first talked to Kevin about this the only instructions he could find on Ford's intranet was for a non-homelink mirrir. While he was out trying to get me the right instructions I decided to experiment a little. What I determined was as follows:

1. The center black lead is the ground (the Ford harness has a circular lug installed on that lug from the factory)

2. The black lead with white stripe (connectors tinned copper) connects to a switched +12v source and provides power to the compass and undim functions

3. The other black lead (connectors tinned silver) connects to an always on +12v source and provides power to the homelink circuitry in the mirror.
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Martimus - interesting findings - mine were different - the Subaru mirror is identical to the Ford unit (both made by the same company) only I found the blackw/white wire powers all the mirror functions (inc. Home Link) as all functions worked w/o the (non ground) solid black wire being connected......and I do like the idea that with the ignition off my Home Link is disabled as well.....that's why I figured the solid black + wire must be for the compass memory or something since it does need an always on power source and didn't appear to control anything obvious.....I would like to have clearer instructions on what each wire does though as both sets of instructions were vague......please post any additional findings...thx!

 

I hear ya... I first tried installing a locally purchased Subaru homelink miror (officially for a WRX) but ran into two problems (well actually three). First the mirror was HUGE compared to this Ford homelink mirror. Second the mirror was bad (I could not get it to power up under ANY circumstance). And third the local Subaru dealer was run by a bunch of yahoo's (I asked for a replacement and they said it was on back-order and they didn't know when they'd get any. I then asked for assistance trying to troubleshoot the mirror and they said they couldn't help. I finally asked for a refund which they got around to sending me two WEEKS after receiving the bad part).

In my testing of the Ford mirror I first installed just the ground wire and the black/white +12v lead. What I found was that the green undim light came on and the compass started working. When I tried resetting homelink it did absolutely nothing. I contacted homelink and they suggested that it might be a wiring problem. I then tried connecting just the black +12v lead and shazam the homelink would now reset (I got the red blinking light when I pressed both the homelink 1 and 3 buttons for 20 seconds). At this point homelink was now worked but my compass and undim didn't work. I then tried splicing the two +12v leads together and all functions now worked.

My final change was to re-crimp female connectors (I found right angle connectors at Auto Zone) to each +12v lead and connected the black/white to a +12v switched source and the black-only to an always-on +12v source. At this point everything works and my homelink is available with or without the ignition being on. At this point Kevin (05stangkc BTW Thanks again Kevin!!!!!) sent me the proper manuals and I verified that this was consistent with Ford's recommended installation procedure (manually by the way was speciflcally for Ford p/n 4L3Z-17700-AA which is the Ford homelink mirror with compass).

 

So we have diff mirrors :scratch: I had thought they were the same unit.....does yours have the 3 Home Link buttons (on the left side) with the green/red LED (sort of in the middle) then the "auto dim" power button and finally the Compass power button on the right? Even my Ford instructions (same part# you inc. above) show the same picture as the mirror I have..... Perhaps the WRX mirror is different than the Subaru mirror for thier other vehicles....

 

So we have diff mirrors :scratch: I had thought they were the same unit.....does yours have the 3 Home Link buttons (on the left side) with the green/red LED (sort of in the middle) then the "auto dim" power button and finally the Compass power button on the right? Even my Ford instructions (same part# you inc. above) show the same picture as the mirror I have..... Perhaps the WRX mirror is different than the Subaru mirror for thier other vehicles....
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Yea they're definitely different mirors. Mine is configured just like yours (homelink 1, 2, and 3, auto dim power button, and compass power button) but their are definitely different variations based on my experiences with the Subaru and now the Ford mirrors.

 

In Peet's post (#16) the mirror in the link says it's only for the Legacy & Outback. Maybe that's the only one that's identical to the Ford Mustang version. Maybe the WRX version is different.

 

Very possible indeed... I got lucky (well sort of) when I found the Subaru WRX homelink mirror. I had called four dealers and this was the ONLY Subaru homelink mirror in all of Phoenix. As it turned out the mirror itself was about 30% bigger than the Ford mirror, the wiring harness had three conductors, one jumper, and a gray and white plug. Oh well...

It ended up costing me more but my homelink mirror is now installed, working like a charm, and my Mineral Gray doesn't have to deal with me monkeying around in the passenger side fuse box anymore. Somehow I suspect the car deserves a couple of nanners for putting up with me the last few days...

 

Very possible indeed... I got lucky (well sort of) when I found the Subaru WRX homelink mirror. I had called four dealers and this was the ONLY Subaru homelink mirror in all of Phoenix. As it turned out the mirror itself was about 30% bigger than the Ford mirror, the wiring harness had three conductors, one jumper, and a gray and white plug. Oh well...

It ended up costing me more but my homelink mirror is now installed, working like a charm, and my Mineral Gray doesn't have to deal with me monkeying around in the passenger side fuse box anymore. Somehow I suspect the car deserves a couple of nanners for putting up with me the last few days...
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Martin - your stang is indeed a lucky steed to have an ownerlike you I think perhaps we do have the same mirror and the WRX mirror must be diferent - mine came with the Legacy/Outbck instructions.....all is working well and thanks for your input!!!

 

So what is the low cost source to get the mirrors with homelink, compass AND temp? I would be willing to do away with homelink (for now anyway) just for compass and temp.

 

Roamer - here is the link that Peet included above: http://secure.cartsvr.net/catalogs/catalog...&showprevnext=1

Well that didn't work - I never did figure out how to copy a link and make it work - but check out Peet's link above - they may have the temp model as well.

 

Hi folks. Sorry been away.

The mirror itself is physically identical to the ford one (that is Subaru's) with one big difference. the extra wire on the Subaru mirror is the disable trigger not a constant on. It is designed to hook up to the reverse lights - this way when you put it in reverse and trigger this line, you turn off dimming. The thinking is you are in a garage and need to see backing out.

Hope that helps!

P

 

Martin - your stang is indeed a lucky steed to have an ownerlike you I think perhaps we do have the same mirror and the WRX mirror must be diferent - mine came with the Legacy/Outbck instructions.....all is working well and thanks for your input!!!
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My stang is simply tolerant of a hack like me. But thanks nonetheless for the kind words!

 

If I buy the mirror Peet posted, do you think my local Subaru dealership would install it? Or even my Ford dealership?

Just how hard is it to install? If it was reasonable to have one of the dealerships install it, I’d rather go that way then mess around with wires.

 

The Mazda6 version of the auto-dimming Homelink mirror is exactly like the Ford mirror. You can get the version with the compass for $225 here:

http://www.mazdastuff.com/product.cfm?ProductID=1987

 

I think I'd rather buy from Subaru for $192.

 

I suspect you'll run into flack from either dealership. The Subaru dealer I spoke to didn't seem too happy when I mentioned where I was planning to install the first mirror I got. Fortunately there was a different guy at the parts desk when I returned it otherwise I suspect they might have tried to block my returning the defective mirror.

In terms of Ford I would suspect they wouldn't want to install a non-Ford mirror for liability reasons. Now a third alternative might be to contact a local stereo/accessories store. They might be more willing to do the install for you.

 

Based on Martimus experience above, you might want to reconsider that. The Mazda mirror is virtually identical to the one Ford sells for the Stang and should be a drop-in plus as he also stated, the Subbie mirror is huge compared to the Ford mirror.

Personally, I'd rather give my money to Ford (via Mazda) rather than to GM (via Subaru).

 

Based on Martimus experience above, you might want to reconsider that. The Mazda mirror is virtually identical to the one Ford sells for the Stang and should be a drop-in plus as he also stated, the Subbie mirror is huge compared to the Ford mirror.

Personally, I'd rather give my money to Ford (via Mazda) rather than to GM (via Subaru).
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How do you figure the Subaru mirror is huge in comparison to Ford's? From every indication it's the exact same unit - albeit with different logic (ford has power after ignition off, subaru has dim defeat on reverse). Yes the unit is bigger than stock - thankfully! (LOL that stock mirror was almost worthless).

That having been said, the ford mirror itself is not plug and play. I have the ford manuals and they REQUIRE that you wire the mirror using a fuse power splitter. No different than what you'd have to do with the other branded units. The difference may be that the ford mirror comes with a longer pigtail so you don't have to add wire.

Now then, looking at the mazda pic and having lived with the Subbie mirror now for almost a month - I can say they are the same thing. Not sure how the size thing came into play - unless somehow you bought a different subaru unit than the one I did - always a possibility.

P

 

Because Martimus said it was bigger in a previous post.

 

Because Martimus said it was bigger in a previous post.
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The Subaru mirror I was able to get my hands on WAS bigger. It was, however, a mirror intended for a WRX rather than the Outback mirror that Peet had been working with. As I've never seen the Outback mirror I can't speak for its size but I suspect it very well may have been a different sized mirror. Installing the Ford mirror was no more difficult than installing the Subaru mirror.

When I attempted to install the WRX mirror I sliced the 6-inch long Subaru wiring harness in half, soldered longer wires onto it, and ran the newly extended harness down to the fuse box. I used fuse take-off adapters to allow me to piggy-back the connections onto existing fuses (I had purchased an "Add-a-line tap" but ended up not using it).

When I installed the Ford mirror I simply ran the factory harness down to the fuse box and connected the hot leads using the same fuse take-off adapters.

The one concern I had, and still have, with using either the take-off adapters or the add-a-line tap is that both seemed to prevent me from easily replacing the cover on the fuse box. As such I simply put the cover in a safe place and replaced the cover on the kick panel.

 

Well I was going to have it added at dealer, but they wanted like 500.00 total installed. I said that's ok. I added bluetooth cell kit instead and wheel locks, and ashtray kit. 500 for a mirror with some gadgets, you must be crazy.