Just bought a couple of maplight mirrors off ebay. Appear to be in great shape...plenty of pigtail left on the wiring harness...

One problem. There are 4 wires in the harness. 2 black I assume to be ground and a red one and what appears to be tan or badly faded white.

From reading searches it appears that one of them is on all the time when headlights are on to illuminate the radio/air controls while the other is switched for maplight purposes.

Would anyone happen to know which of the red or tan is for which purpose? I guess I could toy with it and figure it out, but thought maybe someone has the wiring diagram. I have an '88 GM wiring book and can't find it in there. And what would be a good splice point for them.....

Was also wondering if those mirrors were even available for '88???



Thanks for your time

 

The map light mirrors did not have one that stayed on all the time to illuminate the radio and a/c controls. There was a small light under the lip of the dash to the right of the center vents that served that purpose. It took a # 74 light bulb.

 

what is the purpose of the slot on the passenger side that appears to have a lamp under it and why the 4 wires then?


see pic

 

Hello Dual_88s,

Okay, I have the 89 GM service manual and I am looking at the schematic for the map lights right now. In my schematics, there are three wires that go to the maplights, They are wnite to pin "A", white/orange to pin "C", and black to pin "B". On my 89, the map lights come on when the door is opened along with the dome light. There are two switchs on the map lights so that I can manually turn each one on as needed. What car did mirror come out of? I have seen some mirrors in the firebirds that have an auto-dimming function that will automatically darken the mirror when a bright light hits it at night.

 

Don't know what they came off of other than a 3rd gen camaro. Got two of them froma guy i Vegas off Ebay..all the auction said was 3rd gen maplight.


hoping maybe someone here recognizes what year/option they are

and there is definitely 4 wires...2 black (assume ground)

you have a wiring diagram for yours? think I would like the lights to come on when door opens and/or when switch flipped....

want to put one in my 88 Sport convertible and my son's '88 IROC convertible

can you scan that page in and email it to me? 88iroc@comcast.net

 

Good morning Dual_88s,

I have a feeling those map lights may have come out of an 90-92 model third gen. I can find out later today and get back to you on it. Any way I have sent the information that you have requested to your e-mail box. enjoy!!!!!!!!!

 

I did the same thing to my 83. I pulled a rearview mirror with maplights from an 80's caddillac at the junk yard (exact same mirror) and added it to my car. I think I paid like $10 for it :P It also had 4 wires, and I have no idea what it needs 4 for. Take some spare wire, and connect 2 of the wires to the car battery. Now try and turn on the lights. If it doesnt work, try another 2 wires. Keep doing this until you find the positive and negative wire, then mark them with tape or something. Another one of the wires is to make the map lights come on when a door is open, or when the dome light is on. I'm not sure if this will be a positive or ground wire though. This may be what the other 2 wires are for also, it may actually use a separate ground and power for it. This wire should make the lights come on regardless if the switches are on or off. If you dont care about that part (I didnt), just wire the positive and negative up to the radio power (yellow wire for constant 12V, red for ignition). I ran my wires ontop of the headliner, then down behind the a-pillar trim piece, under the dash pad, then down to behind the radio. You can use fairly small wire, the lights don't draw much current at all. Hope this helps

 

Just for the heck of it, you'd be surprised as to how many parts from different GM cars will interchange. Why make separate parts for different cars if you don't have to? Here's my interior.

 

Say Ward, what has happened to the NTTGA.ORG web site? Tried it last night and couldn't open it.

Sent a 'request' for membership back in January/February time frame and never did get a response like it said I would.

 

I have the same mirror in my 92 rs and the rpo code is DC4. The slot on the passenger side is to light the radio and a/c controls when the head lights are on.

 

Do like ward said test the wires till you figure it out it will not hurt anything. I would assum the brown to be power with doors open. Red to be constant power to turn it on with the switches and the two blacks to be ground. Don't know why it would have two grounds though.

 

I am not sure whats up with our main website, I can't get into it either. Its been that way for a few days now. The forums still work though, try www.gmperformance.org/NTTGA/

 

stripped a little of the outer covering of the wiring harness...(looks kinda like heat shrink...but not).

Update on the wire colors.


1 Black
1 Tan
1 Brown
1 Orange with purple (?) stripe

 

Took a volt/ohmmeter to the thing. and traced the wires and the switch.

Brown wire goes to 12 volts from the headlight system and will turn on the little lamp that shines on the radio/air controls

Tan wire goes to the door jamp switch so it will get grounded when door opens and map lights will come on (but will not work when switch is flipped to on)

Orange wire goes to always hot 12V so lamps will come on when switch is flipped to on.

Black is indeed ground

thanks everyone
'specially you trickster for the wiring diagram...that combined with my hayne's and tracing the wires and documenting, I managed to work it out...NOW i just need to run the wire ,make the splices, and hook it up...