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Did the guy sell me the wrong mirror switch?

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  • #1

    Did the guy sell me the wrong mirror switch?

    I've got a Y2k Bug.

    I went to the main VW dealership in Kansas City (Cunningham Volkswagen), looking for a replacement mirror switch. The guy at the counter informed me that they have replaced the switch with a newer version. That was about a year ago. I finally got around to replacing the broken switch with the new one, but it will not work. It does not light up like the old one did and it doesn't control the mirror adjustment either. I plugged it in properly on the backside of the switch. All of my fuses are good. Did the guy sell me the wrong switch?

    Here's a picture of the original:


    and the new one:
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: Did the guy sell me the wrong mirror switch?

    I think that the new one supports automatic folding mirrors, so if you don't have that feature, it may be the wrong one.
    KR
    Porsche 991 Carrera S

    Comment

    • #3
      Re: Did the guy sell me the wrong mirror switch?

      Originally posted by Kor
      I think that the new one supports automatic folding mirrors, so if you don't have that feature, it may be the wrong one.
      The guy told me that it would not look the same, but that it would work the same. He said that the extra switch position just wouldn't do anything. The problem is that none of the other switch positions do anything either.

      Do these switches have processors in them or are they just contacts and wires?

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: Did the guy sell me the wrong mirror switch?

        Its just a switch, are you sure its properly connected?

        Perhaps to complete the circuit the 4th position also needs to be connected somehow. Its hard to say why it wouldn't work without seeing the wiring!
        KR
        Porsche 991 Carrera S

        Comment

        • #5
          Re: Did the guy sell me the wrong mirror switch?

          I replaced the old style with the new style and didn't have any problems. Way to gouge the piss out of the plastic though :P Just take it back and get them to give you the old style since they are cheaper too.
          Name: Brent
          His: '04 TDI Golf Mods: None If it's smoken it ain't broken
          Family: '15 Jetta Sportwagon
          Fun car: '92 Blue Karmann Crabby Cabby Mods: Coils, front and rear swaybars, LED interior lights and some other old things.

          Comment

          • #6
            Re: Did the guy sell me the wrong mirror switch?

            Originally posted by Stonewall
            Way to gouge the piss out of the plastic though :P
            I was going to say... Get the chainsaw out!
            Like Type 2's? Visit my blog!

            My posts and comments written here on this forum are on my spare time and are my personal opinion(s) and are not the opinion(s) or policy of my employer nor are they proven to be accurate. Use advice at your own risk.
            You dig sucka?!

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            • #7
              Re: Did the guy sell me the wrong mirror switch?

              I replaced mine aswell, its the new style and working fine....

              Comment

              • #8
                Re: Did the guy sell me the wrong mirror switch?

                Originally posted by Stonewall
                I replaced the old style with the new style and didn't have any problems. Way to gouge the piss out of the plastic though :P Just take it back and get them to give you the old style since they are cheaper too.
                Ha! Yeah, once the first gouge was there, it no longer seemed important to be super careful getting the old switch out. It took some serious prying to get that thing to come loose! I've not run into anyone that could tell me how to get that thing out without just applying enough horsepower, so I doubt that I can get this one out in resellable condition. To get the old one out, I tried the trick of drilling a hole into the center of the switch, running a sheet metal screw into that hole and pulling on it with Vicegrips while holding the retaining bezel back. That never worked. It might have been better if the weather was warmer. Don't know... I finally ended up prying on the switch housing while my wife pulled on the Vice Grips. I'm surprised we didn't end up breaking the bezel too.

                If you know of any tricks for getting those things out, I'd love to know what they are.

                Comment

                • #9
                  Re: Did the guy sell me the wrong mirror switch?

                  Taking it out it is simple, pull the door skin off and push it out. No really pulling the door off is easy and shoudn't take more then 5 minutes. There are lots of how-to's on the VWvortex, if you can't find them let me know.
                  Name: Brent
                  His: '04 TDI Golf Mods: None If it's smoken it ain't broken
                  Family: '15 Jetta Sportwagon
                  Fun car: '92 Blue Karmann Crabby Cabby Mods: Coils, front and rear swaybars, LED interior lights and some other old things.

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    Re: Did the guy sell me the wrong mirror switch?

                    I've got the manual window cranks. How do those come off?

                    What I've been able to tell from other how-to's is that you start at the bottom of the door and work your way up. There are also some screws hidden by the flat cover that goes over the interior door handle. If you know of a good how-to set of instructions, I'd be interested...

                    You're right about the how-to's on VWVortex. That's where I read about the sheet metal screw trick. There seems to be a fair amount of disagreement on whether it makes sense to disassemble the door. Some people act like "no big thing, you just pop the thing out". There was no just popping it out in my case. It took every bit of strength I had to get that thing out without doing more damage than I did. I think that some people must have retaining bezels that don't hold the mirror switch as tightly as mine does. From what I can tell, I'd have a hell of a fight with the parts even if I come through from the backside. It would take a lot more than a simple "push" to get a switch out of my driver's side bezel.
                    Last edited by SparkE!; 03-03-2005, 11:46 AM.

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Re: Did the guy sell me the wrong mirror switch?

                      You have power mirrors yet manual windows? What model car do you have? I didn't even know they made that combo. I would look for a little wire spring behind the handle. Bart maybe able to chime in since he has manual windows.
                      Name: Brent
                      His: '04 TDI Golf Mods: None If it's smoken it ain't broken
                      Family: '15 Jetta Sportwagon
                      Fun car: '92 Blue Karmann Crabby Cabby Mods: Coils, front and rear swaybars, LED interior lights and some other old things.

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        Re: Did the guy sell me the wrong mirror switch?

                        I've got the GL model (I think). It was the cheapest model of Y2k bug. It doesn't have cruise control or vibrating heated gearshift knob either. ... not that there's anything wrong with that.

                        Comment

                        • #13
                          Re: Did the guy sell me the wrong mirror switch?

                          I took the old mirror switch apart. Besides a geometrically elegant arrangement of switch contacts and springs, it had 2 right angle surface mount LEDs and a 1/4 watt surface mount 220 ohm resistor. No other electronics at all. I was worried that there might be some processor or something that had to communicate before power was applied to the switches. Since there are no "intelligent" devices, I'm left with the conclusion that they sold me a bad switch.

                          By the way, the connector pins are just staked into the connector body and the PC board that forms the switch contacts is just swaged onto the pins. There is no solder that connects between the connector pins and the PC board! That seems like a bad design to me. I realize that it gets around the European and Californian no lead solder initiatives, but there are better ways of attachment than simply bending the pins and pushing them into holes that are intially too small. In my opinion, if you choose to do without solder, you should electroweld to join the elements in the current paths. Otherwise, you should use one of the new no lead solders or one of the conductive epoxies that have become available in recent years. After seeing the inside of this switch, I realize why VW has a reputation for having intermittent electrical problems.

                          Comment

                          • #14
                            Re: Did the guy sell me the wrong mirror switch?

                            Wow mirror switch. luxury......
                            mine are good old hand ones.....
                            Steve
                            2002 Golf TDi
                            Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant, and she fell on me. Then it wouldn't seem quite so funny.

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