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Homelink Installation in my 2010 Escape LTD with Pics

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63K views 74 replies 39 participants last post by  Vintre  
#1 ·
So one of the things I missed most from my F150 was the Homelink feature. I HATE having my garage door opener slid on my visor; not only is it ugly, but it messes up the visor eventually. So I went and purchased a used Homelink module from eBay. Now mind you, I am really handy just not so much so when it comes to painting, trim work, or any other kind of delicate finish work; cutting open and installing something like this I would consider delicate finish work. More so considering I only have 500 miles on this vehicle. But I took the plunge anyway. Installation was surprisingly easy and fairly straight forward. If you follow these steps you shouldn't have any problems.

Required tools:
Phillips screwdriver
Flat head screwdriver
Jeweler's precision flat head screwdrivers
Box knife or seam ripper
Dremel Tool (Optional)
Solder gun
Solder
Heat gun (for heat shrinking material - preferred method for insulating wires)
Heat shrinking material
Black electrical tape if not using heat shrinking material
1 - 2 hours of your time
Two Heinekens (Beer optional for some; needed for most :D)
CLEAN HANDS!! Especially for those of us with light colored interiors

Step 1:
Remove the two Phillips screws securing the driver's side visor to the vehicle and remove the visor. You will need to wiggle it out and down and then unplug the power wire.
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Step 2:
Take the visor to your work area; I would highly recommend placing it on a cloth or otherwise clean surface
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Step 3:
Open up the vanity mirror and remove the light bulb cover; taking a small screwdriver, slide the cover to the right. This now exposes the two screws securing the mirror to the visor
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Step 4:
Remove the mirror. Fortunately there is lots of extra wire in the mirror which made splicing into the wiring quite easy
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Step 5:
Starting at the lower corner (the corner opposite the visor mounting bracket), take a small screwdriver, gently wedge it between the visor side seams, and pry apart the visor. This will allow you to take another small screwdriver and pull out the visor material. As you can see, the visor material is sewed together, so you'll need to take a seam ripper or razor knife to split open the material. The visor material is held in place by the teeth on both halves of the visor. Pull enough of the visor material away to expose the area that the Homelink module will sit in. You can't miss it. Taking a razor knife or Dremel tool, cut out the area where the module will eventually be installed in.
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Step 6:
Open up the home link transmitter module by prying open the side. Remove the circuit board.
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Step 7:
Remove the front button fascia from the module. This is accomplished by squeezing the two pins inside the module housing and prying (gently) out on the fascia. When this is done, replace the circuit board and close up the module housing.
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Step 8:
Lengthen the power wires from the module (if needed) and feed the wires to the area where the vanity mirror is installed. There are holes in the visor for this purpose. Install the module in the visor. This is the BIGGEST pain in the .... and the most frustrating part of the job. You'll need patience and a flathead screwdriver. Just be careful when you are prying and pushing on the Homelink module. I found you need to start at the end where the LED is in order to get the module tabs to sit in the recessed areas of the visor. This is what the module should look like when it's installed in the visor.
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Step 8:
Cut the red and black wires to the vanity mirrors (red is positive; black is negative) and solder these to the wires to the Homelink module. After that is finished either heat shrink insulate them or use electrical tape to insulate them.
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Step 9:
Snap the visor back together, but not all the way, this allows for the visor material to be pushed back in at the sides. Pull the visor material tightly and push it in at the sides. When this is finished, fully push the visor back together and reinstall the vanity mirror.

Step 10:
With a razor knife, gently cut out the area where the Homelink LED and button holes are located under the visor material and push on the fascia and rubber buttons. When finished, you should get a nice factory look.
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Step 11:
Plug the visor power wires in and reinstall the visor back in the vehicle. Here's a couple of pictures of the installed visor with the Homelink module
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Step 12:
Program the Homelink to operate your garage door or lighting. Instructions can be found on Homelink's website. http://www.homelink.com/programming/programming.taf
 
#7 ·
Slick! Kudos... this gives me another (future) idea for my car... I wonder if I'd be able to pick up a module.
 
#11 ·
For all we know it might be controlled by some new program via SYNC : :hyst:

Maybe it'll even order take-out!
 
#13 ·
I felt around on my visor and it feels very flimsy, like there is only a thin piece of plastic inside. It doesn't feel like there is a strong plastic base inside there as your pictures show. The rigidity increases significantly when you get more towards the middle where the mirror/light assembly is...
 
#14 ·
Not sure what's there on a pre 08; I thought the same thing until I took my visor apart. All I can say is if your Escape model year came with a HomeLink option, then you'll be able to install a used module in your visor.
 
#15 ·
I have a 2010 Sport Trac Adrenalin and would like to do the same thing. I was wondering though, how do you know if there is a cutout in the visor for the module? Do they all come that way or do you have to tear it apart first to find out? Does anyone know? Thanks.
 
#16 ·
^ Good ? -- as I also have a ST. I've looked on e-bay. I know some of the Explorers had HomeLink built into the overhead console. It may be tough finding a mint one with all your needs, and correct color (I've looked). Some have rear AC Controls. Some have moonroof buttons, etc. In my ST, my door opener is hidden anyway. I have it up in the overhead console cubby, and it works great (using the OEM black pegs).

I mentioned this mod to the wifey (since she mainly drives the Mariner). Once I showed her what's involved, she stated she doesn't mind using the opener clipped onto the visor.

Still a great mod and write-up!
 
#19 ·
Really nice job and excellent directions and pictures - thanks. The visors on my '09 Escape appear to be much thinner and flimsy compared to your visor. It doesn't look like the module would fit inside. I never heard of a Homelink option for my Escape.
 
#20 ·
Billyk said:
This is a great thread. An alternative to this could be the installation of a Gentex mirror with various built in features such as HomeLink.
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Thanks Billyk. Here's a link to the Gentex Mirrors from their distributor, Mito Corporation:
http://www.mitocorp.com/homelink-auto-d ... rrors.html

The price for a Homelink Gentex mirror starts at MSRP $259 and goes up from there. Pretty cool but expensive mirrors, even one with a backup camera display.
 
#21 ·
FWIW, my 09 doesn't have the sliding visor and has two lights. When you pop either of the lights to reveal screws, there is rivets. It also does not have that thicker plastic like yours. Not sure if its the same for all 09's or even 08's but my limited with sunroof does not have that visor to support Homelink. Hopefully that helps some others.

Great write up! The one I bought will be used in my F150 instead. :cry:
 
#23 ·
I made this addition as well.

On my 2011 It was ridiculously difficult to fish the wire from the homelink cutout to the vanity mirror cutout. (Let's just say the drill came out eventually :whistle: ) Also, no matter what I did the visor never actually separated, but I did manage to split it apart enough to get the covering moved. Over all I would give myself a score of 98% on this mod. I would have given myself a 100% but I made the cut for the buttons about 0.5mm too far on the left side. Barely noticeable but it still bugs me because I know it it there.

The ED!
 
#24 ·
I just did mine today, 2010 Escape XLT with charcoal interior. I ordered the unit from Ebay ($26) and got the "non rolling" one, guessing that it would work with my older Genie opener with all the dip switches. No problems and like you say-a tight fit getting the box in place. I didn't drag out the Dremel but just used a sheetrock knife to cut out the square opening-the plastic is very thin. Then after putting it all together and plugging it back into the supply, the led was dead. I dreaded taking it all out again and hoped it wasn't a dead unit. I opened up the mirror again and clipped my leads off, then touched them to a battery and found I had the polarity wrong. Black is NEG and it makes a difference. Hooked up the two wires again and it works great. Very easy to program, I just held down the two outside buttons for about 15 sec till the led flashes, then push my desired button for the garage while pressing my regular opener button. The light flashes rapidly when it reads the code, and you're done. Works perfectly and well worth the little effort and cost. One easy change was, I just used a crimp-on terminal instead of soldering. Lots of wire there and it was easy to just put all three ends together and crimp on a terminal end. I suggest you touch the ends of the wire to a battery before installing to make sure you have a good unit and the polarity correct. Thanks for this great idea.
 
#25 ·
With your polarity confusion and the sheetrock knife, I'm going to guess you've mostly worked with AC wiring. :lol:

I had some trouble making the switch from DC to AC, because I had always thought of black as ground - the "safe" wire. Surprise, black in AC is the hot wire, and white, which I had long associated with the colour of arcing electricity, the "danger" wire, was actually the safe, grounded conductor. :doh:
 
#26 ·
That's pretty much right, I've done lots of AC wiring, put in my own panels at home, wired boilers and controls but made an assumption that should have been checked first. No harm done and a lesson learned. The sheetrock knife was maybe a bit sloppy but as I said, the stuff is pretty thin and you really don't have to cut the whole thing out, just slit between the openings that are already there. I love it and it's a really cool, cheap mod. Now to the dealer for the TSB to lower the trans fluid for towing. He will also throw in getting me the keypad code, which I did not get with the car (just bought it the other day with only 16k miles on it).