Mirror Compass Calibration

I'm pretty positive this compass is shot. I drove around in one of the most expansive/desolate parking lots in town in circles looking like an asshole. The compass when I reset it reads "11" (which I assume is the region it should be according to the map in the GM manual). It holds that for about 5 seconds while I start driving around in circles and then eventually just says N or NW. Sometimes it will go to W... I did it twice and each time I drove in over five circles... That's it. What a POS...

DEMonte1997 wrote:

I'm pretty positive this compass is shot. I drove around in one of the most expansive/desolate parking lots in town in circles looking like an asshole. The compass when I reset it reads "11" [/u](which I assume is the region it should be according to the map in the GM manual). It holds that for about 5 seconds while I start driving around in circles and then eventually just says N or NW. Sometimes it will go to W... I did it twice and each time I drove in over five circles... That's it. What a POS...

I have some good news, and some bad news:
It may turn out that you are an asshole, but the mirror isn't a POS.
From what you describe, you're not holding the buttons long enough to get to the correct mode...

Is this the mirror that uses the map light buttons to enter the calibration/variance modes?
If so, my (semi) trusty GM eSI database says that for a '99 Intrigue, you are describing the variance procedure:

* Press and hold both map lamp buttons until a numeric value between 1 and 15 is displayed (approximately 5-8 seconds).
* To select another zone:
----Press the right map lamp button to increase the zone number.
----Press the left map lamp button to decrease the zone number.
* After selecting your zone number, the display will show a compass heading after approximately 5 seconds.


However, the calibration procedure is:

* Simultaneously depress and hold both map lamp buttons until a "C" is displayed (approximately 10 seconds).
* Release both buttons.
* Drive the vehicle in circles at a speed of less than 5 MPH (8 km/h) until the "C" is replaced by a proper vehicle heading


If this doesn't sound like your mirror, or this procedure doesn't work, or you think the mirror came from a
different/later model, I can look up another car for you as well...
Good luck.

Good call Eldo - I didn't realize the calibration buttons were different in the Intrigue but that makes a lot of sense for his problem!

Thanks Deek,

I don't know if your '98 has the push-button style mirror like the '99, or the slide-switch style like my '97, but the logic in my mirror is pretty much the same as what I found above for the Olds: Use a pen to hold the recessed button on the bottom of the mirror for 5 seconds to set the variance-zone number; hold it for 10 seconds, until the number changes to C, to do the calibration...

LOL!!! That is awesome news on all accounts!

I'm going to try this out tomorrow when the rain lets up.

Thanks Eldo!!!!!!!!

And it worked... So the new owner of this compass was defective. Go figure.

How much is the core charge for the Owner.??
Any money to be made there.??

I bought it off ebay for $50 shipped. My stock one is still good. This was actually for the Regal but I assumed it wouldn't matter either way.

the intrigue rear view mirrors are a HOT item on regalgs.
Pilot error happens sometimes, but glad you got it working!

LOL... So I guess the good news was that I'm an asshole and the bad news was that I got the mirror working thanks to Mark. ha!

Thank you, Rick

Mr.Riviera wrote:

When i wired up one of those to work in my 96

How bad of a job was it? Did you have the autodim mirror already? I snagged a couple autodim/compass mirrors for nothing so that I can go from having plain old autodim to the awesome autodim/compass.

matt270avian wrote:

Mr.Riviera wrote:

When i wired up one of those to work in my 96

How bad of a job was it? Did you have the autodim mirror already? I snagged a couple autodim/compass mirrors for nothing so that I can go from having plain old autodim to the awesome autodim/compass.

Not a hard job. remove some of the headliner stuff to access wires and tap the extra wire for the compass to a 12v source. Been a few years now but still works great.

Mr.Riviera wrote:

Not a hard job. remove some of the headliner stuff to access wires and tap the extra wire for the compass to a 12v source. Been a few years now but still works great.

Mine was just plug and play since I already had the autodim mirror. Just popped the old one off, re-glued the metal bit, plugged the new one in, set the location number and calibrated it.

Then the compass mirror you had was different than mine. I had autodim prior to compass mirror too.