Interior Mirror/Compass Issue

[JackO]

Hi all,

Sorry for the long-winded story........

Last year I bought a 2010 Focus SEL with 8,000 real miles!!! Had the body damage repaired, and my wife and daughter have been driving it with only one problem: they both HATE the auto-dimming interior mirror. So I popped the mirror off, and replaced it with an aftermarket manual dimming unit. They're happy now...but I did lose the compass.

So I have two questions for any experts out there:

1 - I'd like to get the compass back. I didn't cut any wires, so there's no permanent damage done. Is there any sort of transducer or other part that I could splice in that would work to restore the compass?

2 - Is there any other function(s) that I've lost that I'm still blissfully unaware of?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

JackO

 

[MKIIIRS]

Shouldn't be any issues. The autodimming feature uses the mirror's power so you can't disable that without losing power to the compass feature. The only way I can think of is to take the mirror apart and disable the dimmer assembly.

 

[JackO]

More complicated than I thought....

Thanks for the reply. Turns out there's more in that mirror. The Bluetooth microphone is in there too, and you totally lose the BT when there's no mic.

I put the auto mirror back in the car, and told my wife and daughter to live with it........or don't drive at night.

Jack

 

[hotfocus]

Thanks for the reply. Turns out there's more in that mirror. The Bluetooth microphone is in there too, and you totally lose the BT when there's no mic.

I put the auto mirror back in the car, and told my wife and daughter to live with it........or don't drive at night.

Jack

Adding a piece of black tape to the auto dim sensor should disable it.

 

[JackO]

Adding a piece of black tape to the auto dim sensor should disable it.

My problem is that it doesn't dim enough. Actually I'm thinking of the front-facing sensor. In traffic, the approaching cars make the sensor think it's daylight. So the mirror never dims and the SUV behind me blinds me. A piece of tape on the front might help. Maybe.

Interestingly, a friend of mine has a VW with a shut-off switch on the auto mirror.

Thanks tho,

Jack