Wiring Help Needed: JDM Folding Power Switch into USDM 240SX

[Veen]

Well, my regular mirror adjustment switch for the power mirrors finally crapped up. It no longer adjusts the mirrors left and right, and it won't adjust the right mirror half the time. However, plugging in an old switch box into the car revealed the motors are just fine. I can't use that box though, since it's cracked and looks ugly.

Luck would have it that a friend had a JDM switch he no longer needed, so I managed to score it. It came with the switch, the option for the power folding mirrors (Which I'll snag when I find a good price for them in Super Black), the plug from the JDM car, and a bunch of wires that were cut about 6" down from the plug.

There are 9 wires: purple/white, blue, blue/red, black, yellow/black, yellow/blue, AQUAMARINE , green/black, and red. I couldn't get a good enough look at the standard USDM harness, but I seem to remember there were seven wires, most of them teal or some variant thereof.

Now like I said, I got this mainly because it was next to free, and I need another control box. My goal right now is to splice the wires so that the directional adjustment square works, and the L/R rocker works. I also would like to get the extra wires that control the power folding option over to the doors, waiting to be spliced into that harness when I get those mirrors.

What I can't find, however, is a guide as to what wires do what, and where I should splice/solder each wire to. Can anyone help out with that? I've had a bit of experience with wiring up tachs and dash lights and whatnot, I just haven't ever had an issue like this where the wires aren't color coded.

Any help would really be appreciated, as I hate having to manually move my mirrors, and I hate having car parts sitting around that I'm not using.

Edit: Before it comes up, I know for the folding mirrors that they'll come from a JDM car, and the mirrors will have the wrong concave for LHD. After I buy them and before I put them on, I'm going to pull them apart and do a custom job to see if I can make the regular USDM glass fit, or transplant the motors over or something. I spend a lot of time parking in rather tight spots and visiting drive-thrus, and have already banged the mirrors a couple times, which is why I want the power folding ones. It has nothing to do with style, just pure functionality.
Modified by Veen at 8:08 PM 4/22/2005

[nismo521]

Hey. I just got through doing the same thing. I plugged the USDM harness into the JDM switch and the left/right rocker and the adjustment thing works too. The only thing left to do then is compare the USDM and JDM harnesses and see where the extra 2 wires are. Then push those 2 pins out (you can make a pin removal tool out of a paperclip, LMK if you need help w/ that part) and put them in the same holes in the UDSM harness. I then ran the two extra wires up to the stereo location, where I spliced them into the stock amp wires on the stereo harness since I'm not running the stock amps anymore and those wires go straight into the doors . I haven't mounted the mirrors yet b/c I'm trying to do the same thing w/ fitting the JDM folding stuff into the USDM housings. I'll make a post w/ a walkthrough when I get it figured out so everyone else can benefit.

EDIT: Oh yeah, the two extra wires on mine were the blue one and the "aquamarine" one

[Veen]

Maybe I got this from a slightly different year, but the USDM plug does not fit into the JDM switch.

Ok, here are some pictures. Front and back of the switches. JDM on left at first, then right. Staying with the "top" to the front of the picture.

USDM plug, from behind, top of the plug to the top of the picture.

USDM plug, rotated 180. This is the bottom of it.

USDM plug, from front, top of the plug to the top of the picture.

JDM plug, from behind, top of the plug to the top of the picture.

JDM plug, rotated 180. This is the bottom of it.

JDM plug, from front, top of the plug to the top of the picture.

Obviously I'll have to route existing wires into the JDM plug, but which wires go where? That's what confuses me. Also, do you just stick a paperclip through the front of the plug to push the pins out?

Edit: Nismo, you're sure the pure blue and aquamarine wires were the extra ones? Also, what happens if I do what you did and just run no amp with a regular 250W stereo? Hardly any volume for sound?
Modified by Veen at 6:39 PM 4/23/2005

[nismo521]

Yeah, your JDM switch definitely isn't the same as mine. Mine looks just like the USDM switch, only w/ the extra rocker for open/close. If you're still running the stock speakers and/or stereo, you need the factory amps hooked up. But if you're using an aftermarket head unit and speakers, those wires should have already been disconnected and are free to use for the mirror switch. I'm pretty sure that switch is from an S14, so I'll look up the wiring diagrams for the folding mirrors and see if I can find out what you need to splice.

[Veen]

The odd part is the dimensions for the switches are the same, as are the markings on the switch. It fits in perfectly in the slot on my S13, which is really damn odd. Either way, if it's that similar, then I guess it should just be a wiring issue. Thanks for the help on finding out what to splice and all for me.

[nismo521]

Here we go, this is actually pretty simple. All of the coloring on the USDM and JDM switch wires match, with one exception. The light green wire on your JDM plug corresponds to the blue wire w/ white stripe on your USDM plug. All other wires match up to the same color between harnesses. This should leave the red and the green w/ black stripe unmatched. These will be the wires for the fold function. Now, to remove the wires from the connector, you will need a pin removal tool, you can either buy one, or make one by sanding down the end of an unfolded paper clip into a chisel point. Next you need to unlock the connector.

Locked:

Unlocked:

Now, look in the front side of the plug (the part that plugs into the switch), and you should see a small plastic tab holding each pin in the connector (should be on the inside of the rows of pins). Push you pin removal tool under the tab and bend it down. Then grab the wire from the back of the plug and pull. The wire should come out easily. If not, try pushing the tool in a little further or putting a sharper point on it. Short movie here. After that's done, all that's left is to move the wire to it's new home in the JDM connector. Once all wires are moved to the JDM connector, lock it and you should be good to go. LMK how it works out.

[Veen]

Wow, what do you know? They DO match like you said. Now I just need to splice the wires in sometime tomorrow. What I think happened was I got a switch that came out of one of the "S13's" made in like 1997 or so that mostly uses the S14 wiring.

One last favor, would you mind taking a picture of your actual switch box so I can see what it looks like? I want to see if there's any noticeable differences, so that people looking for one of these things can notice if they're getting an actual S13 box with the S13 plugs, or the "S13" box with the S14 wiring.

Edit: Whoops! For the red and green/black wires, which wires in the stereo compartment of the console you you reccomend I splice them into? Also, those will match the colors of the wires from the mirrors, right?

[nismo521]

I'll grab a pic of my switch tomorrow after the sun comes up. I also need to take a look at the wires that I spliced into. The wires from the switch and the wires from the mirrors will be the same color, but the ones for the stereo amp will be a different color.

[colies97~240sx]

the easiest thing to do is splice in the wiring from your stock mirror wiring harness to the jdm switch wiring and run two wires from the left mirror and two wires from the right mirror to your center consol an connect them up, ill see if i can get my hands on the wiring diagram so you can see which wire goes to which. i have it done but unfortunately my mirrors were busted, so they are all wired up but they dont work im trying to find a new set.

[nismo521]

Okay, what I did as far as wiring. If you're not using you factory front amps, there will be a blue wire and a light green wire on the factory radio harness. These correspond to a blue wire and a light green wire in each door, on the harness for the factory amp. Chances are, if you have aftermarket speakers, you've cut this harness, but the wires are still in the door. Just hook the corresponding wires in each mirror to the wires that match up on the switch and you should be good to go. If you've hooked it up backwards (mirrors fold when you switch to unfold), just reverse the wires at the stereo harness. This method saves you the headache of running the wires across the dash and through the door jambs

[Veen]

Another stupid wiring question just to confirm I'm not about to **** my sound: If I pull the door panel off, those two colored wires should be in there, leading FROM the amp, and just hanging down in the open, right? And the only wires going to the speaker should be from the aftermarket head unit?

Also, the amps are those black boxes right under where the armrest is on the door panel, right?

[nismo521]

No, the two wires should be coming from the door jamb, and may be tied off somewhere or hanging into the open. The amps are actually in the speaker enclosures if the stock enclosures are still in there. The wires going to the speaker should be Blue/White and Blue/Yellow on the driver side and Brown and Brown/White on the passenger side. There should be 3 unused wires in each door if the amps are disconnected, Blue, Light Green, and Black. The Black is just a body ground for the factory amp, which is why I used the Blue and the Light Green.

Also, as promised, here is a pic of my switch:

You can see the differences in the two switches pretty easily. So for anyone who wants an easy time wiring the new switch, this is the one you want to go with.

If you're still confused on getting the wires into the doors, I'll get some pics of it next time I have some time to take of the door panels. It'll prolly be Tuesday at the earliest.

[Veen]

Nah, I think I should be able to tackle this. And yeah, that's a pretty huge difference there. Next time someone wants to do this, I'm reccomending they make sure they get the right switch. Well, off to the garage to screw with the wiring!

I also love the grime collection you've got down there. I don't think I've seen a 240 without it.

[nismo521]

You think that's bad, you should see under the center console. I swear the girl who owned this car before me spilled a freakin' 2 liter coke down there.

[fayceoff]

Can anyone offer assistance on this topic? I have an 89 S13FB with power NOTHING, but I want to add the JDM power folding mirrors. How much of a PITA is it gonna be? Break it to me gently...