For the guy who also had the dimming mirror failure. . .

[Debra Co]

Yep, what you described is happening to me. It's been a week since I posted.
The dim section no longer looks like a Jesus Fish. The midsection of the fish
has disappeared and now, it's shrunk to a small circle on the right and a small
oval in the middle. Soon, it will shrink down to nothing and I'll be left with
a regular mirror. Very annoying!

 

[JoeZZLevy]

Yeah; I figure that a seal is failing, and that the liquid crystal layer is
drying from the outside toward to the center.

If you want to replace it: these mirrors often show up on eBay, and wind up
selling for about US$ 100. I never really liked the autodim feature, so I
replaced mine with a manual day / night mirror (also found on eBay) for
about US$ 10.

Either way, the replacement takes only a few minutes. There's nothing wrong
with your wiring harness; you can reuse it with a new mirror. Just make
sure that what you buy uses the same base (glued to the windshield).

Joe remove double-zeds to reply
(e-mail address removed)

 

[pickle]

Yeah; I figure that a seal is failing, and that the liquid crystal layer is
drying from the outside toward to the center.

If you want to replace it: these mirrors often show up on eBay, and wind up
selling for about US$ 100. I never really liked the autodim feature, so I
replaced mine with a manual day / night mirror (also found on eBay) for
about US$ 10.

Either way, the replacement takes only a few minutes. There's nothing wrong
with your wiring harness; you can reuse it with a new mirror. Just make
sure that what you buy uses the same base (glued to the windshield).

You can get a manual day / night mirror with the compass?
I'd like to get one to replace my auto dimmer. Just not impressed with
it. I sometimes wonder if it works at all. Very little diff when I
turn it off.
Mine is an 04 OBW. Not even 6k on it yet.

 

[Debra Co]

Thanks, I may do just that (get a mirror on eBay and hook it up myself).

 

[mulder]

The mirror Subaru uses is made by Donnelly. If you look around on Ebay
and elsewhere you can find a similar model that also includes an outside
temperature readout in addition to the compass, so you can take this
opportunity to upgrade. Since it's basically the same mirror the wiring
harness is the same and install is a plug-in AFAIK (so long as you
already have the OEM mirror or a car that is prewired for it) with the
exception of having to install the temperature probe and run the wire
for it.
Just be sure to get the "camlock" mount which is what Subaru has. Other
mounts won't fit.