'11-13 M37 Mirror Fit for '11 M56x?

[Ilya]

Will a 2011-2013 M37 mirror with 13 wires fit my 2011 M56x? Not sure how many wires my mirror has as I haven't taken it apart.

My car has the following packages, if it matters:

Tech
Premium
Deluxe Touring

My outer shell on passenger side is cracked and I found a used mirror that is the same color, etc. but not 100% sure on the wires. Gemini tells me my mirror has 11 wires, but the used part has 13 wires.

EDIT: Also, the cover on the underside of the mirror that has a screw on it looks to be completely swappable - is that correct? The used one has some scratches but mine is in better condition. I just need the larger shell, really. If I could combine the two shells into one nice quality one for a cheaper price - that'd be perfect.

[VStar650CL]

This will give you a good idea of what's in there, it's an Armada mirror but the construction and disassembly won't be very different from your M. The top "helmet" covers aren't too hard to remove and swap, but anything that the folding motor harness goes through will be a bitc#.
anatomy-of-a-folding-side-mirror-t632236.html

I looked everywhere and the EWD's only show 11 wires for all the '11~'13 M's. There's only one diagram, the M37/M56 mirrors are identical. There are 4 wires for the position pots, 3 for the actuator, 2 for the folding motor, and 2 for the defogger. None of them show a turn signal LED. The only other thing I can think of is a puddle lamp, but I can't find any evidence for one in the diagrams. Maybe you can post pics showing which cavities the extra two go into?

[Ilya]

I wouldn't need to swap the helmet, so that's good, assuming the new one has all the same wires in the connector. Just the bottom piece that seems to unscrew.

I think I'm going to pull the trigger.

This is what the connector looks like on the one I want to buy:

[VStar650CL]

I can't tell if those positions in 1 and 13 are stuffed or if that's shadow, but the positions at the other end of the connector match up with what's in the EWD. So if the two extra wires are at the other end, if they're for something your mirrors don't have then they'll dead end when you install it. I'd say you're safe to use it.

[Ilya]

They do look stuffed to me but appreciate you poking at the EWD's.

[VStar650CL]

If those two connect in your car and you can find out what they're for, that would be excellent. The Armadas use the same connector and the puddle lamp wires are actually semi-separate because they don't travel through the folding motor, but they don't use those positions either, 1 and 12 are open. So I'm pretty stumped, I'm curious to know what they're for.

[Ilya]

Installed the mirror today. Confirmed the new one had two extra wires on the edge but had all of the same wires as my original mirror otherwise. Tested all up, down, left, right, reverse, fold functions and it worked great. Hard to test heat right now, but I assume it works.

Here's some photos comparing the plugs (new = left, old = right).



Old Plug:



New Plug:

[VStar650CL]

Found it. That mirror is actually off a '14 Q70 and the extra two wires are for anti-dazzle. The M's only had dazzle prevention on the rearview, the '14 Q70's had it for both rear and side. It was only used for that one MY, later Q70's had a different setup.

[Ilya]

Found it. That mirror is actually off a '14 Q70 and the extra two wires are for anti-dazzle. The M's only had dazzle prevention on the rearview, the '14 Q70's had it for both rear and side. It was only used for that one MY, later Q70's had a different setup.

Had to Google anti-dazzle . Didn't know that the later Y51's had auto-dimming side mirrors...cool!

[VStar650CL]

Unfortunately you can't make it work without the rearview from a '14 and some added wiring. The "smarts" were only built into the rearview, which then outputted an analog dimming level to both of the "dumb" side mirrors. However, no worries about leaving the wires in place, they'll simply dead-end harmlessly at your door harness.

[Ilya]

Yep, still cool to know this was a feature on the platform at some point. This thread may come in handy for anyone trying to figure out the wiring.

[VStar650CL]

It looks to me like the '15~'19 mirrors should also be electrically-adaptable to earlier models, although I can't speak for whether there are differences in mechanical fit. From '15 up they have additional wires for a turn signal and camera, but the basic wiring north of positions 7 and 19 is unchanged. The extra wires would again dead-end at the door harness connector on an M, so they're harmless to a retrofit. If you wanted to make the turn signals work, only one wire would need to be added (or spliced) at position 2 from anyplace in the turn circuit. Ground for the turn LED uses the existing ground on 19, so nothing else is needed.