OK, now that cooler weather is here I noticed my driver's side mirror isn't defrosting. Passenger side is fine. Rear window defroster is toast--I checked it for voltage at the contacts and continuity and it's good. Probably the fingers in the middle glass, but I digress.

So looking at the mirror tonight I also noticed the puddle light isn't coming on.

What are the odds it's just a loose connection? Mirror still works as far as adjustments and the fold-in feature works fine.

Any experience with these?

Thanks!

 

Does the turn signal on the mirror work or not? If not, you likely have an open ground circuit as it is common to the heater, puddle and turn signal lamps. The various motors in the the mirror assembly have their own dedicated circuits.

A loose connector at (or going to) the mirror might be a concern.

 

Yes, the turn signal indicator in the mirror still works.

I guess I am going to have to take the interior panel off and use a volt/ohm meter on each pin to figure out the connector.

 

I'd start by inspecting the wiring where it goes through the boot between the A-pillar and the door. Could be broken wires.

 

To follow up, I took the door panel off and inspecting all the wiring to the mirror. Everything was intact and the harness was plugged into the mirror just fine.

Decided to pull the trigger on a new mirror at Carparts.com. In spite of ordering during the holiday season, it arrived very quickly and I had it on Jan 30th. Jan 31st was a nice day in KC so I pulled the door panel off again and installed the new mirror. It was too warm to test the mirror heat function, but the puddle light worked fine. The next morning we'd gotten a bit of snow and ice and I warmed up the truck and the mirror heater did what it was supposed to do.

I was really impressed with the web store at Carparts.com. For that mirror, there were many options and many of the other web sites weren't very obvious if the mirror was the correct one. At the Carparts.com web site I was confident I was getting the exact mirror I needed. Heated, puddle light, power fold, memory, turn indicator and chrome upper cap.