Phat_J

Hey everyone,
As the title states, the passenger side heated mirror seems to have stopped working on my 2008 C350.
I recently had to replace the glass as it shattered while I was cleaning it (don't ask).
Anyways I got an exact used part replacement from eBay, installed it, and figured I was good to go.
The other night it got nearly freezing out while I was driving, and the driver's side mirror defrosted fine, but the passenger one did not.
I don't really know how I could test if it's the mirror part that's faulty, since it seems to only supposedly come on when it's cold enough out.
I read somewhere that possibly I'd have to turn on the rear defroster to enable both mirrors heating, tried that, made no difference.
When I got out of the car after, I touched the passenger mirror to see if it was warm, and it wasn't.
I know it's connected properly, but maybe there's a wiring issue somewhere I can't see.
How could I check it for current if it only comes on when it's cold enough? Or maybe there's a fuse for it?
Thanks!

Plutoe

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOp's you got screwed on a faulty chicom mirror

Phat_J

Haha it's an OEM part, identical to my original. But I'm not even sure if the old one has been working since last winter.

I tried connecting a DC wall plug to the shattered one to see if it would heat up, but it didn't. Maybe my plug doesn't produce enough amps, or else I'd take the new one off and try it connecting DC power to it too.

Plutoe

That's a real classic------my plug dosen't produce enough amps----are you serious---did you really by a mirror or maybe a fender that you think is a mirror.

Phat_J

Well, here's a picture of what they sent me in the package. So to test it, I connected the wires from the wall plug as pictured here. It's just not heating up, but I don't know why!


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In the background, you'll see the mirror piece of the broken unit which (at least last winter) was heating just fine. So I connected it to my wall plug and wire to see if it heats up. But nothing. The plug only outputs max 12v and 0.5 amps, so the heating element may not be faulty, just not getting enough juice or I'm not leaving it plugged in long enough. It's plugged in again now, I'll see what happens.

I suppose I could install the broken one again and drive around tonight to see if the car will heat it up.

Phat_J

So an update. The heating element in the newer mirror didn't seem to heat fully, just the bottom. My old cracked mirror's element heated okay when I left it plugged it in long enough.

I was reading on other forums about how people retro fitted an aftermarket heat pad to their mirrors.
It gave me an idea. Since I have a working heat pad, and an undamaged replacement mirror, why not attach the working pad to the good mirror.
So I baked them in the toaster oven on low to loosen up the glue. It took many 2 minute passes in the oven and some careful prying with plastic pry tools, but I managed to seperate the pads from the mirrors.
There's glue holding the pad to the mirror, and more glue holding the other side of the pad to the plastic frame.

Removing all the broken glass from the good heat pad sucked.

Then I glued the good pad to the good mirror, now it's put back on the car.




Now I just have to wait until it's cold enough out to test it. I will update with results!