Heated mirrors

Window sticker on our 99 A4 Jetta GL states that the side remote mirrors are heated, a no cost feature. The killer manual implies that the mirrors are heated only with the power package. Nice lady at VW says mirrors are heated, standard, but that they come on automatically and there is no identification that they are in fact, heated.
????????????

The are not "automatic." If they work like my NB, you put the mirror adjustment switch between the Left and Right. The heater stays on until you say otherwise. Don't drive around all the time with the heaters on, leave the switch on Left or Right when heat is not needed.

Maybe Jettas are different. If the glass feels very warm to the touch, the heaters are on. The heaters really work fast!

-mickey

That's a pretty dumb design if you can accidentally leave the heater on all the time. Personally, if I have power mirrors, I would leave the switch in the center position, just so they can't be accidentally be maladjusted.

The position of the switch on the door in a New Beetle makes it virtually impossible to "accidentally" move the switch, and pretty tough to do it deliberately. I've never had the problem you describe. It took me approximately 5 seconds of intense concentration to figure the thing out, and I've never had to think about it since.

-mickey

I have the power package, so the mirror adjustment knob must be in the centre position for the mirror heaters to come on. I also have the cold weather package; heated seats and heated washer nozzels. According to the owners manual, the nozzels heat up(and stay on) if the temperature drops below a certain point. I don't like the idea of NOT BEING IN CONTROL... .

Anyone with info on this?


DT 1999 Silver Jett GLS TDI

[This message has been edited by DT (edited September 04, 1999).]

And all this time I thought that the heated mirrors were turned on/off by the rear window defrost switch.

The book on my Golf also implies the mirrors work in conjunction with the rear window defrost switch. Now I'll actually have to get off my butt and go find out.

According to Mickey (he actually must read the instructions), I may have had my mirrors heating since I bought the car. No wonder Wisconsin has seemed so damned hot this summer. Dr. Piech, I apologize; this whole season has been my fault. Next time I put the tug in Lake Mendota I'll take you for a cruise....

This was addressed somewhere already. The heated mirrors work differently on different models.

On the Jetta GL there is no seperate control switch (the 3 pos knob). So they come on whenever you turn on the rear window defrost. On the GLS, you have the knob.

On a related topic - I measured the current through the rear window defrost fuse: It was about 28 amps. But, they have a 25amp fuse in there. You may want to keep a 30amp handy next winter. I did this because there was a problem last November with this fuse blowing. (I'll have to check the fuse socket numer)

On my Golf Y2k GLS I was told that the mirrors only get heated when the rear window defroster is on. I tried it on a foggy day to remove the fog on the windows and it worked great.

I also got the winter package to help stay warm in the winter

99.5 Golf TDI heated mirrors come on
when the rear window defroster is
activated.

This is a classic example of VW's famous owner's manual clarity. God love 'em, but something is always lost in the translation! My 2000 Jetta manual (designed to cover all models/engines/trim levels - and that's where the problem starts) is completely confusing on the mirror heaters. First of all, it says that some models have heated mirrors, and some don't. The owner/reader is left to guess which model he has with respect to this particular feature. Next, it says that the mirror heaters work in conjunction with the rear window defroster, or maybe not (again, guess which model you have). You can surmise that if your mirror joystick has a little defroster/heat symbol on it (my GLS does), that it must have something to do with the mirror heat when the switch is placed in that position. I duplicated Mickey's "feel the mirror" test, but it was inconclusive with an outside air temp of 85F. So, thanks to the owner's manual, I'm a bit confused, but will keep the mirror joystick in the L or R position until winter hits the heartland. My question is, is there a relay or something that cuts off the power to the mirror heaters above a certain temp - or do they run all the time when switched on?

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SeaDub!
2000 A4 Jetta GLS TDI
Silver/Gray

Dezlboy, what portion of the FM do you suggest I RT? Perhaps my index and table of contents are laid out differently than yours, but mine refers me to this: A reading from the gospel according to VWAG, Chapter 3.1, Verse 52:
"Heated outside mirrors. If you move the joystick to position [little heated defogger graphic], the mirrors will be electrically heated, regardless if the rear window defogger is on or not. In some models, when the rear window defogger is switched on, the outside mirrors (power outside mirrors*) are electrically heated at the same time."
Now I've never claimed to be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but damned if I can find anything in the above reading, or anywhere else the supplied literature, about temp/time operating limitations or parameters of the mirror heating subsystem. I've figured out there's on on/off switch, and that on my GLS there is no interlock with the rear window defogger or its switch. But that is everything I KNOW about this topic. The rest I'm trying to figure out (albeit not very hard). So, since I've nothing better to do tonight, my statements about VW's pathetic owner's manuals (though I must admit they are better than most) and my question stands!

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SeaDub!
2000 A4 Jetta GLS TDI
Silver/Gray

If you have the little defrost symbol in the middle, they are ON until you tell them to turn off. That's so you can leave them on during a warm summer rain and "burn" off some of the water while you're driving. (It works great, but leaves little scaly deposits behind.) I'm not sure about the ones that work with the rear defogger. If that is timed, so are the mirror heaters. I don't believe the rear defogger in my NB is timed, so maybe that stays on until told otherwise. (It's also nearly useless, as I recall from the brief late-winter experience after I bought the car. It takes forever to clear the frost, and by then I'm at work. But the mirror heaters would melt lead!)

-mickey

Dezlboy, your apology is absolutely unnecessary! It's great banter. You get my point on manual frustration. Probably the anal retentive pilot coming out in me. But silly little systems questions like that are frustrating when not completely explained. What's worse, now I think about it every time I look in the stupid mirrors! I have this wonderful forum to thank for that. I don't even want to start thinking about my first oil change yet - so many critical decisions!! Just wait till you get your TDI - see all the fun you'll have? Great idea on the strip thermometer. That might just do it. Meantime, here's hoping your Golf hits the dealer's lot today!

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SeaDub!
2000 A4 Jetta GLS TDI
Silver/Gray

Thanks for the posts on this subject. I do in fact have heated mirrors and they are, as suggested, activated by using the rear window defrost switch.

I'm not claiming this is the truth, but I had it explained to me that when the mirror knob (Jetta Gls+) is in the center position you have to push the knob rearward briefly for the timed circuit to come on.

Are other Jetta GLS/GLX owners saying that they have confirmed that the above is wrong and that the heaters stay on whenever the knob is in the center position?

Evan

I confirmed the other night driving home in the rain. On my 1999.5 Jetta GLS TDI, the knob has a heater indicator in the center position and when the knob is set in the center position, the mirrors are heated regardless of any other switches.

I turned my knob to the right mirror where it will stay until I really need the mirrors heated...


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1999.5 Bright Green Jetta GLS TDI

According to the 99 service manual, the heater is on when the defogger switch. Can the manual be trusted?

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2000 Black Jetta GLS TDI

We took out a 2000 Golf GLS TDI last w/e for a test drive. I had read about the heated mirror issue so tested it out on our drive. I initially thought that the position of the mirror switch actually might control the heat to the mirrors as it was in the L position when we drove the car and there was no heat to the mirror. I flipped it to the middle O position half expecting the mirror heat to come on. Nope! Next tried the defogger switch and bingo... heat to the mirror in approx 30sec. On this particular vehicle in Calgary, Canada, no doubt about it the rear window defrost switch operates the heated mirrors indendent of the mirror switch position (the same as it does in my '98 Pathfinder Chilkoot - and you wonder why i'm looking at a TDI??!!)

Mirror heating is on when the back defrogger is on on all MVP like Sharan, Alhambra and Galaxy.

I really don't mean to add fuel to the fire, but I just tested my 99.5 Jetta GLS. When I put the mirror knob in the middle position the mirror heat comes on REGARDLESS of the position of the rear window defogger switch. I tested this using a 'forehead' thermometer strip.

Apparently in it's infinite wisdom VW has made a couple of different versions of the heating circuit (sort of like the teathered fuel cap, some have it some don't).

I can also say that I can tell when the heated mirrors are active because I hear it on my AM radio. Another annoying feature!

Here's a test which is guaranteed to work: On a frosty morning, try the different methods until the frost melts. Make a note of which one worked.

-mickey

Confirmed (for me at least): MY2000 Silver Jetta TDI GLS: the heat comes on to the side mirrors as soon as the knob is rotated to the center position. No defrost button needed. My mirrir got pretty hot, and did not shut off in the 3 or 4 minutes I was testing it before I finished my drive.

Evan

My 1999 Golf GL has the heated mirrors, and is activated by the rear window defroster switch. However, my car came from the factory with the heating elements in the mirrors and the switch, but no wiring between the two!! Oh, well, I chose NOT to have the dealer tare the dash apart to wire it, and I'll live without. I did get the factory to pay for timing belt and tensioner parts!