mirror motor

[doug]

When attempting to adjust sideview mirrors up/down, I get side/side movement. I think up translates to out and down -> in. If I get mad enough and allow the motors to run the mirror to the end of travel and let it 'snap' several times, it will eventually start moving up/down. The side/side adjustment always works.

I've had this happen on at least two cars that I've had and was surprised I couldn't find mention in the archives.

Anybody else have this problem and/or know how to fix it?

[Kyle in NO]

Try a new mirror switch in the door. They seem to fail often, and will melt, allowing the circuits to bridge.

[Mike W.]

I agree with Kyle on the switch being the problem, but I have found corrosion on the trace I'll clean up with a pencil eraser. If you do my trick, take it apart over a towel or sheet, there's a little ball and spring in there that likes to spring away.

[RonW]

I'll second the comment on the switch, but with the following caveat:

The mirror has a single motor, that has a clutch associated with it. When the clutch is energized, the motor moves the mirror left and right. When not energized, the motor moves the mirror up and down. I don't know offhand whether energizing the clutch engages it or disengages it.

The design of the power mirror circuit is such that the current for the mirror heaters goes through the right and down contact inside the switch. (This is in contradiction to the diagram in the ETM, which swaps left & right, and up & down.) This allowed BMW to keep the same wiring and switch when they introduced the heated mirrors.

That's fine, but what happens is that that particular contact can't handle that much current continuously, and the plastic housing around the spring-loaded contact melts inside the switch. The result is that the mirror will move left and up, but not down or right. Eventually, the wrong contacts will short, and you'll blow fuse 6 whenever you try to adjust the mirrors.

These are not the symptoms you've been seeing. It sounds like a problem with the clutch or the switch. If the problem is on both mirrors, it's the switch. Since the problem "fixes" itself when you run the mirror into the end of travel, I'm guessing it's the clutch, and that you only see the problem on one mirror.

I'll also second Mike's caution about the spring-loaded contacts. If you open up the switch, watch out for those things- they seek freedom.

[BMWgiant]

Mine just went yesterday, which SUCKS!!! Just one more thing going wrong with the list of a 10 other tiny issues in the past few months!

My mirror had fallen off after I hit a bump, so I put it back in.. Tried to adjust it, it only went sideways at first, but than that function quit working as well.. I attempted to adjust the other mirror to see if it was just the driver side, but the other side quit working as well.. There is just a clicking noise coming from the driver side leading me to beleive that it is just the switch!

I hate that it is another small issue that i will probably ignore and let accumulate with the other ignored non-important issues!!!

[BlackKnight]

The original post is as close as I've found to the problem I'm experiencing with my passenger-side mirror. The driver-side mirror works fine. The side-to-side adjustment on the passenger-side mirror works fine. However, when I try to adjust the passenger-side mirror up or down, I hear the motor running, but the mirror does not move. I honestly don't know if my mirrors are heated. (BTW, I have a U.S.-spec M5.)

RonW talked about a "clutch" in one of the replies to this post. I strongly suspect that the clutch is the problem in my case. Is that something that can be fixed or does it need to be replaced? Are there any instructions on this board for doing that?

Many thanks! - BK

P.S. Did I mention that I can't seem to get the mirror out of the housing? I just spent the better part of an hour with a screwdriver stuck in the hole on the bottom side of the mirror to no avail. I'm no mechanical engineer, but I've got reasonable mechanical skills. What am I doing wrong? What's the trick?

[RonW]

Did I mention that I can't seem to get the mirror out of the housing? I just spent the better part of an hour with a screwdriver stuck in the hole on the bottom side of the mirror to no avail. I'm no mechanical engineer, but I've got reasonable mechanical skills. What am I doing wrong? What's the trick?

The notches you see through that hole are on a wheel that can be turned a few degrees, releasing/locking the mirror. I'm told there are a couple of different types of mirror, one that uses this fastening technique and one that doesn't. Both of my cars are later models, and have heated mirrors that have the latching wheel.

[BlackKnight]

Even though my mirrors both have the square hole underneath, is there any chance that they are the type where the glass has to be pried off?

Did I mention that I can't seem to get the mirror out of the housing? I just spent the better part of an hour with a screwdriver stuck in the hole on the bottom side of the mirror to no avail. I'm no mechanical engineer, but I've got reasonable mechanical skills. What am I doing wrong? What's the trick?

The notches you see through that hole are on a wheel that can be turned a few degrees, releasing/locking the mirror. I'm told there are a couple of different types of mirror, one that uses this fastening technique and one that doesn't. Both of my cars are later models, and have heated mirrors that have the latching wheel.