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If a mod could add this to the "FAQ/Howto section", that would be great. This information currently does not exist over there (or I wouldn't have written it). Thanks
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Follow this guide at your own risk , I'm not responsible for your screwups and have put warnings in place where I think someone could screw something up.
So, I finally sat down this weekend and took pictures and wrote up text explaining how to replace your autodimming rearview AND the rain sensor for those MKIV cars that are equipped with it.
A point to be clear on: SWAPPING AUTODIMMING MIRRORS EQUIPPED WITH RAIN SENSORS IS NOT THE SAME AS STANDARD MIRRORS. When I posted about doing a writeup on this, there was no shortage of assclowns coming in to tell me "OMG, someone already DID a writeup on this upgrade!"
It's different. Trust me, I've worked on both types of rearviews.
The major point of difference between the autodimming rearview and the regular rearview is simple - the base is completely different, and the autodimming rearview slides down off the base while the regular rearview twists off their respective bases.
This writeup will explain how to replace both your rain sensor and your rearview should the monochromatic fluid burst in yours as it did mine - this has happened to several people... a pic is at the end of this thread for reference.
So, to get started, I just want to post some part numbers as best as I can and show a dissection of the R32 rearview/rain sensor setup in full.
First off, this is the rearview fully assembled with the rain sensor intact, for your reference:
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Make a note of the white bundle attached to the top of the mast that hides the wires. This routes all the wires and mounts the wires to the inner roof of your car. There is a better shot of it in these dissection pictures - one from far away and a closeup:
![]()
![]()
There are six wires total - three for the autodimming mirror and three for the rain sensor. As you can see from the dissected pictures, starting from left to right we have this layout of parts, I will list them with what looked to be the part numbers as printed on the inside - some of these part numbers MAY have been superceded in ETKA and all of them are for a BLACK rearview setup. The last three digits of the part number (01C) denote the black color and will be different for beige or grey mirrors:
* White wire tray "conduit" :: 1J0 971 615-AR
* Black wire channel cover, one half (with tab, as shown) :: 3B0 857 594 01C
* Black wire channel cover, other half (no tab) :: 3B0 857 591 01C
* Black mirror base cap, driver side :: 3B0 858 547 01C
* Black mirror base cap, passenger side :: 3B0 858 548 01C
* Black autodimming rearview :: 3B0 857 511 C 01C
* Mirror wiring (3 wires + connector? not sure) :: 4B0 971 833
* Rain sensor wiring (3 wires + connector? not sure) :: 4D0 972 643
* Actual rain sensor :: 1J0 971 411 A
All of these parts are available from 1stvwpartsdirect and their parts catalog will pull them up (I checked all of them). The trim pieces are $5-10 each, the rain sensor is around $150 and the rearview is around $200. Undergrund VW parts sells everything listed above, assembled, as a kit, for around $125 if memory serves correctly.
Anyway, here is how to replace things:
First, here is the assembled rearview on the mirror. Notice the plastic conduit piece is backwards (thank you, previous owner
![]()
).
![]()
For the first step, you will need to remove the plastic trim pieces. Easiest way to do this is to squeeze the seams (front and back) of the trim pieces and they will pop apart. Here is an example:
![]()
Next, pull down the wire connector from inside the rearview and pull it apart. It takes a little force to pull it apart without tools - if you look closely on the side of it, there is a little square, this is a "catch", sliding a skinny flathead in here will push the tab down that sits in here holding the connector together, making it a lot easier to pull the connector apart.
![]()
Once that connector is undone, you can take off the mirror by sliding it down towards the dash - if yours is stubborn like mine, I found a nice little trick - give the mirror base a very slight twist while pushing down - be careful not to force it down and smash the mirror into your windshield
![]()
Here's a picture of the base and the mirror sliding off of it:
![]()
After doing this, the rain sensor should pop out. As you can see of mine, the housing to protect the PCB from shorting out is missing - yours will probably look different, and you may need to slide it up towards the headliner to remove it from the mirror base. When reassembling, you will notice a small notch in the mirror base for it to fit into.
![]()
Once you've gotten this far, you can follow the directions here to remove your overhead lighting console. This is only requires removing three screws, so I didn't bother taking photos. Long story short: Pop off the cover for your sunroof controls, it just pops out when you catch an edge on it. Next, fold down the addition visor piece just between the overhead light and windshield, then remove the single screw holding it in (+ head screwdriver). Next, pop off the overhead light cover by pulling it down from the windshield side and sliding it out. Remove the two screws holding it in (+ head screwdriver). Once you drop out the overhead light console, you should see the ass-end of the white wiring loom as shown in the 2nd or 3rd picture above, as shown here:
![]()
There is no easy way to explain how to get this out and I couldn't quite figure out how to do it "properly". This will give a breakdown of how I did it - Be very careful, there is a thin metal edge around the circumference of the headliner...DO NOT bend it all out of shape.
* Locate the two wire connectors for the mirror and rain sensor power. They are attached together by a plastic piece which is fastened to the inner roof. Slide this plastic piece off of the inner roof, then separate the two connectors from it using a small flathead screwdriver.
* There are three pins that hold this white wire tray to the inner roof. The first one is literally between the two screw holes that held the overhead light in palce - draw a fictional line between them - that is #1. The other two are in the section that looks like this <>. Basically, they are at the farthest point, like this <:> the dots represent the location of the two pins. If you pull slightly at the white tray, you should be able to see this.
* I took a screwdriver to bust the connectors out. I could not find any other way to get them to come out and the replacement piece I had from UndergroundVWP had the rivets attached still, so I didn't care.
* Once the white tray is free of the inner roof, slide it out...I found it easiest to pull it out towards the rearview, it didn't seem to want to pop out from the overhead console hole.
To reassemble, you should be able to just follow this tutorial in reverse.
This is what a "blown out" rearview looks like. I am lucky this thing never leaked out any of the oily monochromatic fluid contained in the mirror.
![]()
Here's a gratuitous pair of pics of my car just because I love it. I recently rewired a lot of lighting crap in the front, threw new clears on the bumper and the fenders, lowered the car with a Koni Sport kit ... pics speak for themselves
![]()
![]()
![]()
Hope this helps someone. If anyone wants to host these pics for me, I'd appreciate it
![]()
Modified by shifty.org at 6:37 PM 8-26-2006
Follow this guide at your own risk , I'm not responsible for your screwups and have put warnings in place where I think someone could screw something up.
So, I finally sat down this weekend and took pictures and wrote up text explaining how to replace your autodimming rearview AND the rain sensor for those MKIV cars that are equipped with it.
A point to be clear on: SWAPPING AUTODIMMING MIRRORS EQUIPPED WITH RAIN SENSORS IS NOT THE SAME AS STANDARD MIRRORS. When I posted about doing a writeup on this, there was no shortage of assclowns coming in to tell me "OMG, someone already DID a writeup on this upgrade!"
It's different. Trust me, I've worked on both types of rearviews.
The major point of difference between the autodimming rearview and the regular rearview is simple - the base is completely different, and the autodimming rearview slides down off the base while the regular rearview twists off their respective bases.
This writeup will explain how to replace both your rain sensor and your rearview should the monochromatic fluid burst in yours as it did mine - this has happened to several people... a pic is at the end of this thread for reference.
So, to get started, I just want to post some part numbers as best as I can and show a dissection of the R32 rearview/rain sensor setup in full.
First off, this is the rearview fully assembled with the rain sensor intact, for your reference:
Make a note of the white bundle attached to the top of the mast that hides the wires. This routes all the wires and mounts the wires to the inner roof of your car. There is a better shot of it in these dissection pictures - one from far away and a closeup:
There are six wires total - three for the autodimming mirror and three for the rain sensor. As you can see from the dissected pictures, starting from left to right we have this layout of parts, I will list them with what looked to be the part numbers as printed on the inside - some of these part numbers MAY have been superceded in ETKA and all of them are for a BLACK rearview setup. The last three digits of the part number (01C) denote the black color and will be different for beige or grey mirrors:
* White wire tray "conduit" :: 1J0 971 615-AR
* Black wire channel cover, one half (with tab, as shown) :: 3B0 857 594 01C
* Black wire channel cover, other half (no tab) :: 3B0 857 591 01C
* Black mirror base cap, driver side :: 3B0 858 547 01C
* Black mirror base cap, passenger side :: 3B0 858 548 01C
* Black autodimming rearview :: 3B0 857 511 C 01C
* Mirror wiring (3 wires + connector? not sure) :: 4B0 971 833
* Rain sensor wiring (3 wires + connector? not sure) :: 4D0 972 643
* Actual rain sensor :: 1J0 971 411 A
All of these parts are available from 1stvwpartsdirect and their parts catalog will pull them up (I checked all of them). The trim pieces are $5-10 each, the rain sensor is around $150 and the rearview is around $200. Undergrund VW parts sells everything listed above, assembled, as a kit, for around $125 if memory serves correctly.
Anyway, here is how to replace things:
First, here is the assembled rearview on the mirror. Notice the plastic conduit piece is backwards (thank you, previous owner
For the first step, you will need to remove the plastic trim pieces. Easiest way to do this is to squeeze the seams (front and back) of the trim pieces and they will pop apart. Here is an example:
Next, pull down the wire connector from inside the rearview and pull it apart. It takes a little force to pull it apart without tools - if you look closely on the side of it, there is a little square, this is a "catch", sliding a skinny flathead in here will push the tab down that sits in here holding the connector together, making it a lot easier to pull the connector apart.
Once that connector is undone, you can take off the mirror by sliding it down towards the dash - if yours is stubborn like mine, I found a nice little trick - give the mirror base a very slight twist while pushing down - be careful not to force it down and smash the mirror into your windshield
After doing this, the rain sensor should pop out. As you can see of mine, the housing to protect the PCB from shorting out is missing - yours will probably look different, and you may need to slide it up towards the headliner to remove it from the mirror base. When reassembling, you will notice a small notch in the mirror base for it to fit into.
Once you've gotten this far, you can follow the directions here to remove your overhead lighting console. This is only requires removing three screws, so I didn't bother taking photos. Long story short: Pop off the cover for your sunroof controls, it just pops out when you catch an edge on it. Next, fold down the addition visor piece just between the overhead light and windshield, then remove the single screw holding it in (+ head screwdriver). Next, pop off the overhead light cover by pulling it down from the windshield side and sliding it out. Remove the two screws holding it in (+ head screwdriver). Once you drop out the overhead light console, you should see the ass-end of the white wiring loom as shown in the 2nd or 3rd picture above, as shown here:
There is no easy way to explain how to get this out and I couldn't quite figure out how to do it "properly". This will give a breakdown of how I did it - Be very careful, there is a thin metal edge around the circumference of the headliner...DO NOT bend it all out of shape.
* Locate the two wire connectors for the mirror and rain sensor power. They are attached together by a plastic piece which is fastened to the inner roof. Slide this plastic piece off of the inner roof, then separate the two connectors from it using a small flathead screwdriver.
* There are three pins that hold this white wire tray to the inner roof. The first one is literally between the two screw holes that held the overhead light in palce - draw a fictional line between them - that is #1. The other two are in the section that looks like this <>. Basically, they are at the farthest point, like this <:> the dots represent the location of the two pins. If you pull slightly at the white tray, you should be able to see this.
* I took a screwdriver to bust the connectors out. I could not find any other way to get them to come out and the replacement piece I had from UndergroundVWP had the rivets attached still, so I didn't care.
* Once the white tray is free of the inner roof, slide it out...I found it easiest to pull it out towards the rearview, it didn't seem to want to pop out from the overhead console hole.
To reassemble, you should be able to just follow this tutorial in reverse.
This is what a "blown out" rearview looks like. I am lucky this thing never leaked out any of the oily monochromatic fluid contained in the mirror.
Here's a gratuitous pair of pics of my car just because I love it. I recently rewired a lot of lighting crap in the front, threw new clears on the bumper and the fenders, lowered the car with a Koni Sport kit ... pics speak for themselves
Hope this helps someone. If anyone wants to host these pics for me, I'd appreciate it
Modified by shifty.org at 6:37 PM 8-26-2006
