Powerfold Mirror Repair

[Usel]

I sold a powerfold mirror to [REF]Enigmatik[/REF] and he kindly sent me his broken one as I was curious as to whether a repair is possible:



Where the break was:



So after taking a trip to my local parts department ([ref]enuff_zed[/ref]) I was donated a good non-powerfold mirror to do a donor repair.

With both mirrors stripped down I commenced rebuilding the powerfold:

With first cleaning and a little polish to make it shiny:





Then bolt it together:



Then put the wiring loom back:



Add mirror cap:



Add glass motor and bottom trim:



Reattach block connector and other wiring loom gubbins:



And finished:



I didn't put in the mirror glass as the only one I have is not heated so that will be a job for another day to source and fit.

The mirror now works perfectly, can all be disassembled easily to service the internals but shouldn't need doing for a long time as I greased everything up whilst it was apart.

 

[Neil CR]

 

[BumpyZ4]

With first cleaning and a little polish to make it shiny:

What did you use to polish it?

 

[Usel]

With first cleaning and a little polish to make it shiny:

What did you use to polish it?

2500 grit dry and then wet
Then to finish off a car polish, I used autoglym super resin polish but anything will do.
I haven't sealed it yet but use anything that will block UV.

 

[enuff_zed]

I didn't put in the mirror glass as the only one I have is not heated so that will be a job for another day to source and fit.

Was the glass in the one from me not heated?
Welcome to use that if it is.

 

[Usel]

I didn't put in the mirror glass as the only one I have is not heated so that will be a job for another day to source and fit.

Was the glass in the one from me not heated?
Welcome to use that if it is.

Yes it is!

Thanks again, put another 'IOU' note on pile

 

[enuff_zed]

I didn't put in the mirror glass as the only one I have is not heated so that will be a job for another day to source and fit.

Was the glass in the one from me not heated?
Welcome to use that if it is.

Yes it is!

Thanks again, put another 'IOU' note on pile

We've passed that mate. You have a mortgage agreement waiting to be signed.

 

[Usel]

Was the glass in the one from me not heated?
Welcome to use that if it is.

Yes it is!

Thanks again, put another 'IOU' note on pile

We've passed that mate. You have a mortgage agreement waiting to be signed.

 

[kis]

Nice work! Can you figure out how to unfold the mirrors on unlock now?! lol :lol:

On a serious note, do you know where the motor for the powerfold is located? It wasn't immediately obvious when I last opened mine.
(has started to stick so will need to disassemble and apply grease unless it's a gear or something that's knackered)

 

[Usel]

Nice work! Can you figure out how to unfold the mirrors on unlock now?! lol :lol:

On paper it's already done, just need to test it in the car. Not possible oem.

On a serious note, do you know where the motor for the powerfold is located? It wasn't immediately obvious when I last opened mine.
(has started to stick so will need to disassemble and apply grease unless it's a gear or something that's knackered)

I bought some more mirrors and one is sticking in the up position. So will work out why it is. The mirrors when they hit their stops are done in different ways. When open so you can use the mirror. That stops on a pin which moves in and out on a spring. That can be serviced with brake cleaner to clean and then regrease it. This can be done quite easily and there's a gap in the moulding on purpose so you can service it.
When it stops in the up position that is metal to metal. It that fails then something will be broken. Will find out soon hopefully.

The motor is quite large, will send pictures tonight where it is housed. The motor has a cog on it which turns a worm gear that then turns another large cog. You can not easily get to it. You would basically have to do what I have done to fix the mirror above.

 

[kis]

Brill, look forward to updates

FYI when mine gets stuck it's in the up position, I make sure I unfold my mirrors (one does work) so I can see they are supposed to be unfolded. Then I manually unfold the powerfold like you would a standard one. Sounds like you may have to do this, in order to service it. I'm expecting it to just be full of shite from 2 odd years since I was last in there to give it a blast of WD40. Folding up is fine, just struggling with the down. Hope this helps with your own adventure

 

[Usel]

Brill, look forward to updates

FYI when mine gets stuck it's in the up position, I make sure I unfold my mirrors (one does work) so I can see they are supposed to be unfolded. Then I manually unfold the powerfold like you would a standard one. Sounds like you may have to do this, in order to service it. I'm expecting it to just be full of shite from 2 odd years since I was last in there to give it a blast of WD40. Folding up is fine, just struggling with the down. Hope this helps with your own adventure

It's quite a good design in the sense that if the powerfold stops working the mirror can be folded up or down exactly like a manual fold mirror. The powered part is a separate entity which uses its own method to fold.

 

[Usel]

Before I go further I'm just going to show the stop points for the mirror folded up and then down.

This is for the folded up position stop points:

The red arrow points to raised area (poor angle but it's all I have)



That raised area butt's up against this part



This shows the unfolded down position stop points:

There are 3 arrows and these point to 3 locking points that are all the same



One of those points catches this pin



If the mirror unfolded down and went too far the only reason it eventually stops is because the power is shut off. Power to the powerfold motor is timed. The reason the mirror went too far is because the pin is stuck in the up position. If the power didn't shut off the mirror would just go round and round.

This pin can be serviced. If you remove the glass, glass motor and mirror cap you will get access to the pin.

It's here:







Try spraying wd40 or anything you have up there and try and flick the pin with a tiny screw driver or stanley knife blade.

If you can't free it the only option is complete disassembly of the mirror. There is a hole behind it you can push a needle through to push it out.

Edit: You could actually drill a hole through the plastic just above the pin. Wants to be a good size (5mm.) The other side of the plastic is metal casing so you won't damage anything. Later photos below of the complete strip down will show the hole you are drilling through to find:



If your mirror gets stuck in the up position then this could be a big problem.

Fold your mirrors up and whilst doing so record the sound, on the mirror which gets stuck, as close to the unit as you can where the pin is. Play the recording back and listen carefully for a click. You may not be able to hear it because the motor is so noisy. If you do hear a click then the mirror is turning too far. This means something is worn and you need to disassemble the unit to try and fix it.

You can try spraying wd40 into the unit in the hope it does something and the point you need to concentrate on is this gap all the way round:



Between the black plastic and greenish metal. Anywhere else will do nothing.

Will write up the full strip down of the motor and cogs and everything tomorrow.

 

[Usel]

This is going to be a complete strip down of a passenger mirror which is broken. It would still move up and down, to a fashion, but once opened it's amazing it did. I have no idea why this mirror broke, maybe it was hit or it could be mechanical failure.

Separate the mirror



First part removed which was broken



More damage





Cog removed





Remove 3 screws and then the metal plate



Remove 4th screw and plastic plate



Pull out worm gear and Cog, both brass ends can fall off so be careful when you have it out



2 small metal spacers either end of worm gear are loose, don't lose them

 

[Usel]

Pull actuator housing out



The pin hole behind the pin that you can use to push it out if seized in. There is a spring inside behind the pin



Actuator housing



Remove plastic cap from the end of motor



Remove motor from actuator housing



Remove plastic spacer



Pictures of the damage





Damage is terminal, I will need a new actuator housing. You can buy these from aliexpress and they are around £50 excluding postage but it is complete with all cogs and motor.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100...lgo_pvid=c6b03142-3754-4f5b-9476-8937127fe1c1

AZGIANT on aliexpress also has single parts available like the worm gear, motor and cogs. They are around £10 each.

Donor vehicles you can get the actuator housing from:

1998-2003 BMW M5 E39

2001-2008 BMW 7 Series E65 E66 E68

2002-2008 BMW Z4 E85 E86

2003-2007 BMW X3 E83

2004-2008 BMW 1 Series E81 E82 E87 E88

1995-2004 BMW 5 Series E39

The actuator is also found in the Audi C5 S6 and the mirror glass motor is found on some models of Mercedes. So an outsourced company is making the internal parts.

 

[Usel]

If the mirror is stuck in the up position then this is the walk through of why this particular unit is getting stuck.

This unit goes up and then will try to fold back down. It moves about 1cm. With it down as far as it goes I left it there and stripped off the glass, glass motor and mirror cap



A visual inspection shows the pin out and caught on one of the 3 locking points. This is wrong and the pin should be up and already past the locking point. The mirror has folded up too far. The pin is also at an angle and damage is occurring.



The photo also shows a crack in the plastic plate.

I then turned the mirror down by hand, like most people do with this problem



I could then operate the mirror up again but killed the power before it went all the way up. I could then power it down. I did this a few times and it was working well.
I then powered it all the way up until it wanted to stop. I heard the pin click and already knew it had gone too far. It wouldn't then move down. Would only move 1cm like it did before. Obviously something inside has mechanically failed.

Tomorrow it will be opened up.

 

[kis]

Interesting that you say the damage to the housing is terminal? Looks like plastic? It can’t be welded?

Eager to see the inside of mine now. Always a sucker for the easy (free) fixes as they’re the most rewarding. Hopefully mine doesn’t have terminal problems! Nice little trouble shooting thread you’ve started. Look forward to the next update.

 

[Usel]

Interesting that you say the damage to the housing is terminal? Looks like plastic? It can’t be welded?

The housing is a metal casting, the piece that is broken off has actually been mangled and beaten about. It can't simply be JB Welded back on, needs straightening first, which will prove difficult as it's curved.

I have a plan for a fix, hopefully a successful one

 

[Usel]

Opening up the mirror unit.

The only way you can easily get the mirror apart is to cut the top off with an angle grinder



Don't worry about damaging the washer, it's a common size and easily available



Washer off



Straight away you can see the damage the blue arrow is pointing to. The big ring the red arrow points would not even come off because of how bent the damage was



I had to remove the actuator housing from the mirror housing first before I could get the large ring off. Getting the 4 screws out wasn't easy



Pictures of the damage









The damage is really what I expected. The only way the mirror can fold up and get stuck is by bending metal. I think the damage on the other mirror is just an advanced stage of the damage in this mirror. The damage in this mirror will just get worse the more it is used.

Now to carry on dismantling the mirror unit:

Jam something in the gap to keep the spindle up

 

[Usel]

Cut here





Done



Possibly an update tomorrow with a fix