Power Side View Mirror Conversion?
 

Good morning all!

I was curious as to whether or not power side view mirrors from a late-90's XJ could be made to work on my '91 with manual mirrors (has that little knob thing that is supposed to wiggle the mirror around but neither side works anymore). I'm wondering if the later models (possibly even heated) are basically stand alone systems with no tie-in to the ECU or anything. Do the motors extend into the door at all or are they all sealed into the mirror itself?

If it could work, I'd mount them up and run the wiring to the little adjuster switch and mount that in one of the existing a-pillar trim pieces.

Thanks for any input!

They bolt right up. The wiring is independent of the ECU. I did mine over 3 years ago but if I remember correctly, the switch needs a constant connection, a ground and then wires up to both mirrors.

You will need to fish the wires through the door boot and be careful not to damage the other wires.

As for the heated mirrors, I would think there needs to be a power connection to a separate switch as the defrost function on the dash is vacuum controlled and wont have voltage to send to the mirror. Maybe connect it to the rear defrost switch so you have a timer.

I like this! Awesome idea and thank you for your help!

Yes, I've done this, but with 97+mirrors on early XJ which is slightly more complicated. I may be slightly wrong, but I think you need to run 3 wires to each mirror and they originate from the center console where the switch is installed. The switch then needs a 12V power wire and ground. I guess it's up to you whether you want the power to be switched with the key or not.

As for heated mirrors, IIRC the factory wiring ties into the rear defrost. That's what I did and it works fine.