Hi new to this forum. Was searching the web for help and found this site so hopefully someone can help.

My wife has a 2001 ES300. The driver side mirror is messed up. when the dimming is activated there a large "blotches" in the mirror and you have difficulty seeing. Was wondering if anyone had this problem and if I can replace just the mirror? Or do I need a whole assembly? If searching for a replacement what am I even looking for? Is this feature an "extra" or is it a standard feature? I did see where some have a memory feature. I don't think we have this.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

If the glass is cloudy or blotchy it is pretty much done, need to replace it. You can replace just the glass, the dimming glass is not cheap new from Lexus, $350-400 I think.

The dimming glass is an optional feature on the 00-01 ES, but any ES with leather interior has it, making the non-dimming mirror as rare as cloth seats, the dimming mirror has the memory feature so your car has that, it is tied to the seat memory. FYI all the cars have heated mirror glass.

You have a few options:

-Buy new dimming glass from Lexus
-Buy a used dimming glass or mirror from local junkyard, EBay, car-part.com - I picked up a whole mirror for $100 just for the dimming glass on EBay, its good if you can recognize the dimming glass and the seller has not noticed the feature.
-Buy a standard heated (non-dimming) mirror or glass unit (any 97-99 will have this, or a cloth interior 00-01) that might save a few bucks and should plug right in, losing the dimming feature of course but you may not care about that.

I might have a spare non-dimming glass if you want to go that way.

 

Update: your post reminded me I need to restock a new mirror to have the spare dimming glass, so I went off to EBay.

I also discovered in the process it looks like every ES 00-01 had the dimming outside mirror even if they had cloth interior and no memory.

I found a mirror for you, http://www.ebay.com/itm/LEXUS-ES-LH-MIRROR-97-98-99-00-01-PWR-7-WIRE-/251150303253?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Model%3AES300%7CYear%3A2001&hash=item3a79b98015&vxp=mtr, $85 is the cheapest way to get the dimming glass, just swap it over. If you look close you can see the extra wide rim around the egde of the glass that's how you know it is the dimming glass. 7-pin connector means it is a heated/dimming mirror, no-memory, but all you really need is the glass anyways.