Whelen MBCV98AA User Manual

®

ENGINEERING COMPANY INC.

51 Winthrop Road
Chester, Connecticut 06412-0684
Phone: [phone]

Mirror-Beam™ Model MBCV98

1998 Ford Crown Victoria

Installation Guide:

Fax: [phone]
Internet: www.whelen.com
Sales e-mail: [e-mail]
Canadian Sales e-mail: [e-mail]
Customer Service e-mail: [e-mail]

Safety First

This document provides all the necessary information to allow your Whelen product to be properly and safely installed.
Before beginning the installation and/or operation of your new product, the installation technician and operator must
read this manual completely. Important information is contained herein that could prevent serious injury or damage.

• Proper installation of this product requires the installer to have a good understanding of automotive electronics,
systems and procedures.

• If mounting this product requires drilling holes, the installer MUST be sure that no vehicle components or other
vital parts could be damaged by the drilling process. Check both sides of the mounting surface before drilling
begins. Also de-burr any holes and remove any metal shards or remnants. Install grommets into all wire
passage holes.

• If this manual states that this product may be mounted with suction cups, magnets, tape or Velcro™, clean the
mounting surface with a 50/50 mix of isopropyl alcohol and water and dry thoroughly.

• Do not install this product or route any wires in the deployment area of your air bag. Equipment mounted or
located in the air bag deployment area will damage or reduce the effectiveness of the air bag, or become a
projectile that could cause serious personal injury or death. Refer to your vehicle owners manual for the air bag
deployment area. The User/Installer assumes full responsibility to determine proper mounting location, based
on providing ultimate safety to all passengers inside the vehicle.

• For this product to operate at optimum efficiency, a good electrical connection to chassis ground must be
made. The recommended procedure requires the product ground wire to be connected directly to the NEGATIVE
(-) battery post.

• If this product uses a remote device to activate or control this product, make sure that this control is located in
an area that allows both the vehicle and the control to be operated safely in any driving condition.

• Do not attempt to activate or control this device in a hazardous driving situation.

• This product contains either strobe light(s), halogen light(s), high-intensity LEDs or a combination of these
lights. Do not stare directly into these lights. Momentary blindness and/or eye damage could result.

• Use only soap and water to clean the outer lens. Use of other chemicals could result in premature lens cracking
(crazing) and discoloration. Lenses in this condition have significantly reduced effectiveness and should be
replaced immediately. Inspect and operate this product regularly to confirm its proper operation and mounting
condition. Do not use a pressure washer to clean this product.

• It is recommended that these instructions be stored in a safe place and referred to when performing
maintenance and/or reinstallation of this product.

• FAILURE TO FOLLOW THESE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS COULD RESULT IN DAMAGE TO
THE PRODUCT OR VEHICLE AND/OR SERIOUS INJURY TO YOU AND YOUR PASSENGERS!

Automotive: Lightheads

For warranty information regarding this product, visit www.whelen.com/warranty

©1998 Whelen Engineering Company Inc.
Form No.13301H (092210)

Page 1

To Remove the Side Mirror Assembly:

1. Remove the driver side door panel from the vehicle.

2. Remove the three hex nuts that secure the mirror assembly to the vehicle. Unplug the mirror assembly harness cable from the door’s power
harness and carefully remove the mirror assembly from the vehicle.

The glamour cap will now be removed from the mirror assembly.

Fig. 1

To Remove the Glamour Cap from the Mirror Assembly:

1. To remove the glamour cap from the mirror assembly, the glamour caps three retaining tabs must be carefully
lifted off the rear housing retaining pins. This is accomplished with a small flatblade screwdriver or other
suitable device.

2. To gain access to the glamour caps upper retaining tabs, the mirror must be gently positioned so that it’s lower
edge is pressed inwards as far as it will travel. This will allow the two, upper retaining tabs to be accessed with

Side View

the screwdriver.

3. Position the screwdriver blade under either of the upper retaining tabs and pry tab upwards and off its retaining
pin. Repeat for remaining upper retaining tab.

4. To gain access to the glamour cap’s lower retaining tab, the mirror must be gently positioned so that it’s upper
edge is pressed inwards as far as it will travel. This will allow the lower retaining tab to be accessed with the
screwdriver.

5. Position the screwdriver blade over the retaining tab and pry tab downwards and off its retaining pin. With all three retaining tabs free, pull
glamour cap and its guide pin away from the mirror assembly.

The mirror assembly will now be prepared for the new strobe harness cable.

To Prepare the Mirror Assembly:

1. With the glamour cover removed, look at the rear of the mirror assembly. Locate the upper
retaining tab slot indicated. Draw a perpendicular line that extends 1 inch from the middle of the

Fig. 2

(Rear view with Glamour Cap removed)

Left (Driver) Side Mirror

bottom of the slot.

2. At the end of this perpendicular line, carefully drill a 1” hole into the mirror assembly.

1“ Inch

3. Now fold the lower section of the triangular foam mounting gasket so that access to the lower
section of the mirror assembly’s mounting surface is gained.

4. Locate the area along the bottom of the mirror assembly’s mounting surface where the mirror
harness has been routed from inside the assembly. The adjacent passage (closer to the rear of the
assembly) will also be drilled using a 3/8” drill bit. As shown in Fig. 4, make sure that as the hole is
drilled, the bit stays parallel with walls of the passage.

NOTE: The location of these holes are critical. Be sure that the indicated distances are measured accurately. Failure to do so could result
in damage to the mirror’s motor and/or wiring components.

To Prepare the Strobe Harness:

NOTE: Because the strobe harness must be routed through a specific, narrow and twisting path within the
mirror assembly, it is necessary to temporarily extend the length of the harness with a make-shift “snake”.

1. Locate the tie-wrap included with your Mirror-Beam™ and cut the fastener-end off.

2. Locate the end of the strobe harness that has SOCKET-type terminals installed on the free wires. If present, cut
off the non-insulated wire (it is not used in this application).

3. Strongly secure the tie-wrap to the strobe harness with electrical or similar tape. It is important to have a
sufficient length of the tie-wrap secured to the harness jacket (at least 2”).

The strobe harness will now be routed through the mirror assembly.

Fig. 3

Routing the Strobe Harness:

1. Insert the end of the tie-wrap through the 3/8” hole drilled in step 4 of the “To prepare the mirror assembly...”
section.

2. Feed the tie-wrap through the mirror assembly until the tie-wrap can be pulled through the 1” hole drilled in step
2 of the “To prepare the mirror assembly...” section. There should not be more than 4 or 5 inches of harness
sticking out of the hole. If the length is different from this, adjust harness length accordingly.

The tie-wrap is now removed from the harness and the wire terminals inserted into their 3 position connector
(supplied) as follows (For detailed information, refer to the instruction tag attached to the harness):

Position 1 = Red Position 2 = Black Position 3 = White (Clear)

Fig. 4

Page 2