i scored me the below mirror for 20$,,, a little back ground on them below.
anyone know a reasonable soltution to what temperature probe to buy to make the outside temp active.???
Background:
Late model ford crown victoria lx's are avaliable with an auto-dimming rearview mirror with compass. Ford's high-end luxury cars such as the lincoln continental are avaliable with dimming side mirrors as well. It is a nice feature at night not to be blinded by bright headlights behind you, and you'll likely forget how well the mirror controls headlight glare until you drive a car without the feature.
Early autodimming mirrors used an electric motor to physically move the mirror up and down to control glare. Recently autodimming mirrors have switched over to using electrochromatics which has no moving parts. There are two big manufacturers of EC mirrors: Gentex and Donnelly
There are multiple sources for electrochromatic mirrors including:
• From your local Ford Dealership as a Dealer Installed Option (DIO)
Part # Description
XF2Z-17700-AA Electrochromic Mirror Kit with Electrical Harness
With Compass, With Temperature Display
F6AZ-17700-AC Electrochromic Mirror Kit with Electrical Harness
With Compass, Without Temperature Display
This might help you, if you are able to recognise the sensor - http://www.ebay.com/itm/D1A8-FORD-Expedition-Durango-COMPASS-TEMPERATURE-TEMP-Auto-Dim-Rear-View-Mirro-/321322765374?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4ad0544c3e&vxp=mtr. I guess, that Ford didn't use more, than two or three different sensors over time, so if you find a newer car, it might be there.
PS: Don't you have another one? :evilgrin:
I've thought about adding one of these to my Thunderbird. What's stopped me is that I can't figure out a way to mount the auto dim headlamp sensor to the mirror.
I've got a couple of these auto-dimming mirrors sitting around. I put one in the wife's Fusion, and one in my T-Bird (though I only had one pigtail, so hers works and mine doesn't). They have a compass module in them that goes bad, so whenever I pull one I save it. The wiring pigtail is like $40, but every once in a while the bodyshop totals out a car that I can snag one from.
The shop got it to work on mine, no issues whatsoever…car's buried right now but I'll go out later and try to get some pix.
yeah,, my son's birdie previously owned by a member here "PRIVATEER", he posted a whole topic on it.
The auto dim sensor is mounted to his just fine.
as in for sale,, none that I know of,,,
my son has one of these in his car.
are you wanting one?
So where typically were these temp sensors located on the car such as the Vic's ect so I can call the bone yard and / or go over and c00ch it up.
Well then if it works fine I'll snag one from a junkyard car. I'm more interested in the outside temp sensor than anything else.
Here you go:
(http://www.coolcats.net/ximages/photocell01.jpg)
(http://www.coolcats.net/ximages/photocell02.jpg)
(http://www.coolcats.net/ximages/photocell03.jpg)
As for the temp sensor, mine's in behind the grille. It's about a 10' harness to it.
I used a temp sensor from a Chev Blazer when I installed the Explorer overhead console in my T-Bird. It mounts to the hood latch support. I think you'd be pretty safe using the sensor out of any GM or Ford with the same feature from the same era, as those mirrors were all made by the same company. The sensor cost me $5 with about 6" of pigtail from a pick-and-pull
You can see it in this pic (with the loom on the wire harness). The header panel was removed here