Neither my auto headlights, nor my auto wipers work. With the wipers in the "Auto" position, they will swipe once when the ignition is turned on, but they do not operate when water gets on the windshield. With the headlights placed in "Auto" mode they are off and remain off regardless of ambient light. Before I spend more money than was ever intended for such things, and replace the mirror, are there other things I should look at?

Thanks.

 

Brian I have no expereince with auto wipers, but auto headlights: The 1st question I always ask is do they ever light? Has to be either dark out or cover the light monitor / LED on back of mirror. Some of us with loose wire in turn signal stalk find the auto headlights light when wiggled or in the right position high beams / Low beams.

Can you ever get the auto headlights to flash on ?

 

I don't recall if auto lights and washers share a common signal wire to the switch (bet Lady Penelope has it memorized, he's good at this kind of stuff). If they don't it's probably unlikely a loose wire more likely to be a bad mirror.

just brainstorming while awaiting your comments.

john

 

Auto wipers are controlled by a separate sensor stuck to the screen under the mirror shroud. When mine came unstuck it stopped sensing properly. It took a windscreen replacement chap with the right sort of "sticky stuff" (forgive the technical term) about 5 minutes to fix it. (... and four and a half of those were holding the sensor in place until the sticky stuff held).

PS - there is a sensitivity knob on the back of the mirror for the auto-headlights - I don't know what happens if that is turned all the way down - it may be worth turning it up to see if it changes anything.

 

Mine had a wiring issue in the stalk. Lights worked on "lights" but not on "auto". I believe there are threads on this solder joint problem.

 

JohnKen - Thanks for your reply. No. Although the headlights work in all other modes, playing with the stalk while in auto mode, and flipping back and forth into and out of auto mode doesn't get any headlight reaction. Auto mode is simply in-operative.

 

Christ - Thanks for your reply. I will pull that shroud and see if the sensor has loosed itself. I have never noticed a sensitivity knob on the back of the mirror. I'll check to see if my 2002 has such a feature, and if it does I'll play with it for a bit. Thanks again.

 

if it helps, the sensitivity knob is turned clockwise from a perspective of facing the mirror to increase its sensitivity. essentially towards the right seat. this will make the lights turn on in less dark conditions such as rain or overcast.

 

Hi Brian
I went through the Auto Headlight saga a while ago and ended up with an answer of sorts, I removed the overhead console that contains the wiring connectors for the mirror. It just pulls off but mine was ridiculously tight. Touching the yellow/blue connector to earth with ign on and lights on auto the lights came on. This proves all the wiring through the switch etc and indicates that the sensor is faulty. I decided to just live with mine till I came across a replacement mirror, which I didn't so I still just switch them manually.

Good luck.
Pete

 

Thanks Pete. I will dive into this Saturday and see if the grounding as you suggest provides any new wisdom. Thanks!

 

it is an Acura mirror, not very expensive. there is also a company that refurbishes them. check the archives for the info.

 

Moderator, maybe Pete's post validating the wire colors for the test could go into the stickies? I

I posted this year's ago, but it was just passing info along from another website. I never saw any one verify it through a live experiment before. Now thanks to Pete it is confirmed.

this issue comes up often enough. His test is a lot easier than pulling the steering wheel off.

Note on that topic: yesterday I confirmed that one can get to the solder board for the auto headlight switch behind the steering wheel without taking the upper shroud or lower shroud and balance off. Just disconnect battery and pull steering wheel . T27 star bit to unscrew horn pad & air bag; 15mm socket to unbolti steering wheel. (Figure this will help on future searches)

Pete, thanks for the post. It'll help many folks IMO .

John