Auto Dimming Mirror & Overhead Console

[kastein]

30 bucks for the OHC is a very reasonable price, I've never seen lower than that at least at my local yard, and it's a u-pull-it. 30 for the headliner is probably hassle factor pricing i.e. "you asshole, that's gonna be a ton of work and you're gonna pay for it "

As long as they don't cut the wiring in the wrong spot, you should be fine. You might get away with offering the guy a couple bucks to sit on his ass and watch you while you pull it though? Not sure.

If you don't have the power doors/locks/mirrors (pick any one or two) you probably won't have the spot to plug the harness into anyways, so you'll be running custom wiring in the end. At that point it becomes MUCH less critical as long as you get ~6 inches or more of the cable where it plugs into the OHC.

 

[sjx40250]

Check that the vacuum display works. The one in my 92 pooped out. You can tell by dark spots on the display. If it is large, it might not work.

 

[kastein]

The dark spots (the silvery ones) are actually the "getter" compound used at the display factory to eliminate the last of the gases from inside the display after evacuation with a vacuum pump. The best way to check for a failed display is to see if the hair-thin cathode wires strung lengthwise across it are intact and to make sure that the phosphor digits on the back plate are not flaking. Also check for silvered streaks along the glass over each of the cathode wires... if they are present it's bad news.

The easiest way to check is to simply bring a 12 volt power source with you to the junkyard. Wire as follows:
Black, Yellow, Black/Green, and Blue/Violet connect to the negative side of the battery.
Pink, White/Black, Orange/Black connect to the positive side of the battery.

The display should show full brightness, if it doesn't turn on try pushing the buttons. The display should read OC on the temp side (means Open Circuit) and either a compass direction or CAL on the compass side.

The remaining two wires go to the temp sensor if you want to get really paranoid about checking functionality. Touching them together should result in the display reading SC (Short Circuit) after a few seconds, connecting to the sensor should result in a real temp reading.

EDIT: Clarification - DO NOT connect the wires one at a time! Clip all the grounds together and all the positives together into bundles, then connect them all at once. If you absolutely must connect the power ones one at a time, connect all the grounds at once, then connect the positives in this order: pink, white/black, then orange/black. Else there is a chance of causing permanent damage to the logic board components.

 

[stephenspann27]

Could I do it with a 9v battery you think?

 

[kastein]

Maybe... maybe not... it'll be dim if so and the test will be mostly useless. I'd bring a pair of 6 volt lantern cells personally.