After owning an Excursion for over 3 years, I finally ordered a set of powered tow mirrors with heat signals and installed them today. My old mirrors were the paddle style with the led signal arrows on them. When searching ebay for the mirrors, none of them listed any that would fit a 2002 but I figured that since mine already had the signals, they couldn't be much different than the later years. This is what I started with:


I first removed the interior piece that covered the mirror nuts by grabbing and pulling straight out. It only is held on by two clips.



Remove top and bottom rubber grommets as well as adhesive strip covering the other two nuts:



Next remove the window and lock switch cover by pulling up on the front of it and sliding out the tab on the back. Unhook the switches.



Remove the screw under this cover:



Gently pry off the light cover on the lower door panel with a flat blade screwdriver and remove the screw behind it:

 

The door panel then lifts straight up. Just pull back the corner of the dust shield and my mirror connector was right there:



I made sure I tied a piece of string on the connector before I removed the mirror, it made pulling the new connector through the door very easy. Then just remove the nuts pull off the old mirror and install the new one and put everything back together again in the reverse order. The finished product:



I want to let everyone know that I learned how do do every step of this through various threads on this forum but I wasn't sure if there were pictures of this all in one place. It was very easy to do and probably took no more than 45 minutes from start to finish.

 

Looks nice! I did the exact same thing about three years ago now because after originally learning to drive an Excursion with the blind spot mirrors, I couldn't adjust to the paddles. It is certainly possible to run a wire from each mirror, through the door wire loom and dash, to wire into the park lamp wire to light up the running lights. The running lights are great if you have to pull up next to something, because you can get a better idea of how close the outside of the mirror actually is. My mirror light lenses have no scratches at all from running into anything because of this.

What kind of mirrors did you get- OEM or aftermarket? I don't recall the exact brand that I got, but they are aftermarket. With over 30,000 miles on them, I'd say they are holding up fairly well. My only complaints are the mirrors bounce a little more than the OEM style (on the '05), and the chrome covers on mine scratched really easily. Be careful what products you use on them to clean them, because both of mine became terribly scratched early on and I don't know exactly what I did. The chrome looks like I took steel wool to it now. The OEM chrome mirror caps (which I put on the '05) have about 20k on them and with the exception of a few minor stone dings, look brand new and I can easily see my reflection in them still.

All in all though, even having to deal with those issues, I'm very glad to have that than to still be dealing with those paddle mirrors.

Jon

 

Nice write-up and reps sent!

I don't know if you plan on selling your old mirrors, but if you do I recommend stating in the ad that they have the signals in them. I check Craigslist for SuperDuty/EX parts all the time and it is amazing how many people are selling their old paddle mirrors, but few seem to mention if they have the signals in them. One guy wanted $300 for non-signal paddle mirrors! I think he was trying to recoup all the money he spent on tow mirrors.

BTW, where are you in Oregon?

 

The tow mirrors are the way to go. I don't care for the chrome covers since there is no chrome on the Ex. Nice job.

 

Thanks. Yeah, just outside of Oregon City. I think I'm going to hang on to the old mirrors for a little while, just in case. I'm going to take Sunline's advice and run a wire to the running lights today while I have the dash apart to install my new Pioneer head unit.

 

Yeah, on the 2005's there is no chrome, but on my 2002 almost the whole front end is chrome, that's why I decided on the chrome covers. I really debated it but figured I could always take the covers off if I didn't like them.

 

Looks Great! Love the Chrome. My mirrors should be here thursday. Can't wait!!!!