Lear vs HomeLink controversy 07-09 SRX

Hey All,

So I tried programming my fixed code 1992 garage door openers into the "universal remote control" as they call it in the 2007 SRX owners manual (aka the 3 button thing on your drivers side visor that most of us know as HomeLink).

Well the TLDR version is that it didn't work and now I've started yet another retrofit project on this vehicle. Honestly the fact that this doesn't work is complete BS, and I refuse to put up my garage remote on that visor knowing I have 3 buttons that should work (thanks for nothing GM)

The longer story is that between the years of 2007-2009 of our cars, Cadillac made a decision to replace Johnson Controls HomeLink visor based units with a product from a company called Lear.

Some early 07 builds got a HomeLink, the 04-06 cars got HomeLink, but everyone else got boned because, let me tell you this Lear unit sucks. I'm not the only one having problems, just Google "Lear" "garage remote" and search other Cadillac forums and you'll discover the Internet is full of complaints on this unit. In fact, it got so bad they started offering free converters and repeaters to appease unhappy customers. In other words "sorry we screwed up, here is a device to plug into your garage door openers so are crappy stuff actually works. Nice work around but a crappy solution that should have never had to happen.

Anyhow, this is all BS, so I'm going to try to retrofit an actual HomeLink unit into my current visor.

Today I went house on an old Lexus visor I had in the basement... the goal to extract by brute force it's HomeLink module/circuit board and somehow transplant this HomeLink circuit board/control into the similar but Lear manufactured visor of my SRX.

Most would say, why bother? Just hang your garage remote over the visor and call it a day. Or, spend $50 and buy a brand new GM visor. Nah, that's boring...

I'm a tinkerer and I love playing with stuff especially electronics. Even if it doesn't work, my hope is that I at least learn something :)

I'll update the post as I go along.

A perfectly good Lexus tan HomeLink visor, if it could talk it would be screaming for mercy right now, ha.

Look at how manufacturers put in a HomeLink, it's damn hilarious. It looks like they drill 4 holes, and cut the plastic and pop it in. I was surprised to see the install looks sloppy, they probably don't care because when it's covered in felt it looks beautifully integrated.

This is the inside of a visor after I tore it up. It's cool to see mechanically how that visor mirror works. A little tab on the plastic cover pushes the copper contact down, bridging the circuit, and illuminating the bulbs.

This is the HomeLink unit extracted from the Lexus visor. Possible to replace this as a swap in the SRX visor? Not sure, stay tuned.

Now, the ideal plan would be to just pop the cap on the Lear unit, and swap the circuit boards. But, I can almost guarantee it's going to get way messier than that. I'll probably destroy at least one more visor while I try to figure this crap out.

All in the name of education! ;-)