Auto Dim Review Mirror with Homelink - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

One of the most gratuitous mods I have made on my 2001 Boxster was replacing the manual review mirror with an auto dimming type that has a Homelink transmitter integrated into the mirror housing. Why Porsche failled to include such a "basic" convenience part that even econoboxes have as standard equipment, is a whole other thread. OK, back to business. Parts List 1 "previously owned" small auto dim mirror with Homelink transmitter on ebay for $20.00 + S&H (most likely from a econobox, mine was from an Axuim) 1 "puck" glass mount (available from any corner auto parts store) $5.00 10 feet of 22ga stranded primary wire (one red & one black) $5.00 1 Fuse tap $6.99 3 Crimp on wire connectors 1 Crimp on ring terminal (for ground) Remove your old manual Porsche mirror by grabbing the base of the mirror with Channel Locks (with plastic tubing stretched over the jaws to protect the mirror finish) and twisting 90 degrees counter clock wise. Save old mirror to sell on ebay. Unfortunately, the mirror mounts are not compatible, so the old Porsche "Puck" will remain attached to your glass. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO REMOVE THE PUCK, unless you wish to purchase a new windshield. Hold your new auto dim mirror up to the right side of the Porsche "puck" and verify location for placement for replacement "puck" to glass. I found it helpful to orient the mirror so that I could see out between the roll bars while sitting in the drivers seat, then have an assistant mark the center with a "dot" from a "Sharpie" on the out side of the glass as a reference mark for later. Take the mirror down and replace, having your assistant verify the "dot" on the outside of the windshield is still centered on the mount clips. Once happy with the clearance of the mirror and alignment, it is time to apply the adhesive. You only get one shot at this and the only correction is a replacement windshield. Follow the instructions for prepping and gluing the puck to the glass. Once dry, slide the mirror over the puck. Disconnect your battery. Run a length of 22 ga wire from the pigtail on the back of the mirror up under the top of the windshield trim on the driver’s side. Remove the two torx bolts that hold female striker plate (for the roof) to the windshield frame. Carefully route the wires in the channel near the glass to avoid pinching them and creating an electrical short. Tighten down the torx bolts and verify you have not pinched the wires. Now continue to route the wires across the top of the windshield frame. Continue down the left side of the windshield frame to the dashboard. Route the wires in the trim edge of the dash back to the door and tuck inside the rubber trim at the door to the kick panel by the fuse box. Find an appropriate location and secure the ground wire (black) to the metal frame of the car under the dash. Reconnect your battery. Locate a non-critical fuse (not ABS, CPU, etc..) and pull the fuse. Using a multi tester verify there is no current present with the key "OFF" but there is current present with the key "ON" (AKA: Accessory). Crimp on your fuse tap to the red wire. Be sure to correctly insert the fuses in the proper location in the tap. Insert the fuse tap in the proper terminal of the fuse box. Turn the key on and shine a flashlight at the mirror (pointed at the photo cell in the glass) and verify the mirror darkens. Move the flashlight and the mirror should return. Also verify the function of the Homelink transmitter by holding one of the buttons down, the light should illuminate. If not, check the wire for bad connections, and the fuse. If the fuse is blown, check to see that the wire is not pinched and grounding out at the striker plate. If all is well, it is time to program the Homelink transmitter. http://www.homelink.com/ Enter the information requested and enjoy the power of opening your gated community gate, garage door, and any other Homelink compatible devices from the seat of your Boxster. You'll also appreciate the now absent blaring lights form the Suburban that climbed up your bumper at the stop light, on your next night out. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Auto Dim....................................

Thanks for the great writeup! After doing a bit of research, an even more feature-laden option would be to get a universal unit from Gentex which would include the Homelink, autodimming lights, map-lights, mood-lights, temperature and compass. It can be had in different colors as well : Amber, Deep Blue, Green, Purple, Pontiac Red, or Red. From the Gentex site, I found a link http://www.mitocorp.com/flash/homelinkautodimmingmirrors.htm Obviously it's a bit pricier than the option above, but it would be sweet

good write up! got any pics walk through or the final result?! Thanks!

So if the Porsche puck uses a different mounting system, are there other cars that also use it? Like maybe VW? I wonder if I source an Audi dimming mirror or VW if it would work with the stock puck location?