No thanks to the selfish members who have done this already and failed to provide comprehensive details despite the high level of interest, I installed LED mirror turn signals this weekend. Here's how I did it...
Time: 2 hours
Difficulty: Moderate
Supplies:
Flathead screwdriver
Torx scredriver
Wrench
16-18 gauge wire (approx 40-50 ft)
Coat hanger (or your favorite wire snaking tool)
Electric tape
T-tap connectors (4)
Splicing connectors (4)
Step 1: Disassemble the Mirror
a) Begin by popping off the mirror from it's gimbal. To do this push the mirror "down and away" from the car and pull from the top corner closest to the car. The plastic ball-and-socket should then dislocate. There are two fat plastic rods also connected to the mirror which control it's position - do NOT pull them off. With the mirror off its gimbal you'll be able to see the clips for the front cover behind it.
b) Remove mirror cover. Using a screwdriver push the clips for the front cover through their holes and pull on the cover from the frontside. Frankly, this is where you can just go all-out and yank that cover off since you'll be throwing it away anyhow, so broken clips are no sweat. With the cover removed you'll quickly realize that snaking the wires through the door is going to take some more work.
c) Take mirror off it's hinge. Do this by removing the three screws under the mirror assembly. (Requires torx screwdriver, boo.) With the mirror off it's hinge you'll see the path your wires will need to make.
d) Remove inside door trim near mirror. This mostly rectangle piece of plastic simply pops off with some force. Don't worry, there is just one clip and it is pretty durable, so just yank.
e) Unbolt the mirror from the door. After you remove the trim per the previous step you'll notice three bolts. Unbolt them and pull the plastic trim from the outside.
With these steps complete you'll see how you need to route the wires into the door.
Step 2: Route Wire to Car Body
This step is straightforward. With the mirror disassembled run 16-18 gauge wire from the mirror the door and down to the rubber conduit where all other wires lead to the car body. You can easily tuck the wire behind the door trim between the mirror and the conduit. Note: You'll need to route two sets of wires from the mirrors to the car body (the green wire coming out of the LED mirror has been incorrectly referred to as the ground wire, but you definitely need to connect it).
Step 3: Route Wire to Headlights
Now you have a choice. Ideally you should route the wires into the cabin, through the firewall, and into the engine bay. I tried this but decided it was way too much grief to snake the wires through the firewall with all the other wiring. So I took an easier route...
At this point your wires should be routed through the rubber conduit between the door and the body of the car. If you look closely at the door jam you'll notice that you can simply snake the wires just behind the front quarter panel all the way to the engine bay. You can quickly do this using a coat hanger or something similar. Conveniently your wires will emerge within a foot of the headlight.
Step 4: Tap Wires into the Turn Signal
We know which wires we need to tap into thanks to Int3grity. The easiest way to identify them is to look for the bright white wrapped wires (I think there are 5 or 6 wires bundled). You can tap into the red and black ones at any point using the t-tap connectors. Connect the male connectors (they should come with the t-tap connectors) to the wires you ran into the engine compartment, and then plug them into to the t-taps.
Step 5: Attach LED turn signal
Using your favorite splicing hardware, attach the green and white wires from the LED to the wires you ran into the car. Before splicing you'll want to test your turn signal on to determine the correct wire pairing.
Step 6: Tape-off Wires and Reassemble Everything
You'll need to tape the loose wires along their path from the door to the engine compartment for good measure. Then reassemble everything. The final step should be snapping the LED and mirror cover into place.
Time: 2 hours
Difficulty: Moderate
Supplies:
Flathead screwdriver
Torx scredriver
Wrench
16-18 gauge wire (approx 40-50 ft)
Coat hanger (or your favorite wire snaking tool)
Electric tape
T-tap connectors (4)
Splicing connectors (4)
Step 1: Disassemble the Mirror
a) Begin by popping off the mirror from it's gimbal. To do this push the mirror "down and away" from the car and pull from the top corner closest to the car. The plastic ball-and-socket should then dislocate. There are two fat plastic rods also connected to the mirror which control it's position - do NOT pull them off. With the mirror off its gimbal you'll be able to see the clips for the front cover behind it.
b) Remove mirror cover. Using a screwdriver push the clips for the front cover through their holes and pull on the cover from the frontside. Frankly, this is where you can just go all-out and yank that cover off since you'll be throwing it away anyhow, so broken clips are no sweat. With the cover removed you'll quickly realize that snaking the wires through the door is going to take some more work.
c) Take mirror off it's hinge. Do this by removing the three screws under the mirror assembly. (Requires torx screwdriver, boo.) With the mirror off it's hinge you'll see the path your wires will need to make.
d) Remove inside door trim near mirror. This mostly rectangle piece of plastic simply pops off with some force. Don't worry, there is just one clip and it is pretty durable, so just yank.
e) Unbolt the mirror from the door. After you remove the trim per the previous step you'll notice three bolts. Unbolt them and pull the plastic trim from the outside.
With these steps complete you'll see how you need to route the wires into the door.
Step 2: Route Wire to Car Body
This step is straightforward. With the mirror disassembled run 16-18 gauge wire from the mirror the door and down to the rubber conduit where all other wires lead to the car body. You can easily tuck the wire behind the door trim between the mirror and the conduit. Note: You'll need to route two sets of wires from the mirrors to the car body (the green wire coming out of the LED mirror has been incorrectly referred to as the ground wire, but you definitely need to connect it).
Step 3: Route Wire to Headlights
Now you have a choice. Ideally you should route the wires into the cabin, through the firewall, and into the engine bay. I tried this but decided it was way too much grief to snake the wires through the firewall with all the other wiring. So I took an easier route...
At this point your wires should be routed through the rubber conduit between the door and the body of the car. If you look closely at the door jam you'll notice that you can simply snake the wires just behind the front quarter panel all the way to the engine bay. You can quickly do this using a coat hanger or something similar. Conveniently your wires will emerge within a foot of the headlight.
Step 4: Tap Wires into the Turn Signal
We know which wires we need to tap into thanks to Int3grity. The easiest way to identify them is to look for the bright white wrapped wires (I think there are 5 or 6 wires bundled). You can tap into the red and black ones at any point using the t-tap connectors. Connect the male connectors (they should come with the t-tap connectors) to the wires you ran into the engine compartment, and then plug them into to the t-taps.
Step 5: Attach LED turn signal
Using your favorite splicing hardware, attach the green and white wires from the LED to the wires you ran into the car. Before splicing you'll want to test your turn signal on to determine the correct wire pairing.
Step 6: Tape-off Wires and Reassemble Everything
You'll need to tape the loose wires along their path from the door to the engine compartment for good measure. Then reassemble everything. The final step should be snapping the LED and mirror cover into place.
