Powerfold Mirror Repair

[Usel]

Here is a fix for the drivers side mirror that was getting stuck in the up position.

I took all the rough edges off the ring and re-cut the 3 catching grooves for the pin. I used a dremel with a grinding/cutting bit. A bit like a straight flute for a router



Then I straightened the damage to the actuator housing



I used an M16 bolt with a vice to crush the deformed housing part against the bolt. The thread on the bolt will turn all the way through, the main unthreaded shaft will not pass all the way through so you can tighten up a nut and washer





Applied JB Weld to the damaged areas







After 24hrs I ground down the JB Weld so parts would not foul. I drilled the hole out with a 4.25mm bit

 

[Usel]

I assembled the actuator housing all back together and applied some grease. Bolted the mirror all back together and did 20 test movements backwards and forwards. Seemed to work very well and stop at the points it should.

Disassembled to take a look inside



JB Weld seems to be okay. Long term may be another matter, will have to see if it's a long term fix or not.

I applied more grease before putting it all back together again.

The passenger mirror, which has more damage, will not make a successful repair imo. I have ordered another mirror unit which I hope has the correct actuator housing inside. Hopefully it will come this week.

 

[Usel]

I bought a powerfold mirror from an Audi A6 C5 for £25 with the hope it has the same actuator housing.

Before taking it apart I powered it up to make sure it works and it did.

Here is the mirror unit stripped down





Compared to the Z4 one it looks the same




Audi left, Z4 right



The only difference is the ring, the 3 notches are different and it's about 1mm thinner. It can't be used in its current state.

Z4 Left, Audi Right



I used the actuator housing in the passenger mirror and it now works perfectly. So the Audi A6 C5 unit can be used for replacement parts for the actuator housing, motor, cog, worm gear with Cog and the worm gear on the motor. If you need a ring then it's no good.

I have bought a drivers side A6 unit to replace the actuator housing on the driver side Z4 mirror. Even though I am happy with the repair I would rather have an original unrepaired housing in it as it's likely to be sold on.

Both the A6 units had auto dimming glass which looks in good condition so I will try and sell them on to cover the repair costs to these mirrors.

 

[NaweedMustafa]

After two years i finally get the see the insides of this mechanism, have the same issue with the drivers side making a loud click noise when it reaches its designated fold up position. upon folding down, no luck. gotta do it by hand. (passenger side functions fine). Spraying the internals in situ with silicone spray helped me for 5 months. Definitely going to give this a try one day

 

[Usel]

After two years i finally get the see the insides of this mechanism, have the same issue with the drivers side making a loud click noise when it reaches its designated fold up position. upon folding down, no luck. gotta do it by hand. (passenger side functions fine). Spraying the internals in situ with silicone spray helped me for 5 months. Definitely going to give this a try one day

I hope this all helps, it's why I posted up all this information because it's really hard to find any information about the inner workings of a powerfold let alone for the Z4.

If the mirror is getting stuck up and won't come down then there is wear or damage somewhere. The stop point is metal to metal and the only way it can go further is by crushing, bending or breaking.

It's strange how lubrication has helped not only you but many others.

I will post up how to assemble it all back together when I get a chance

I would avoid using the powerfold and just use it as a manual mirror. It will fold up as well as down just like a normal mirror. This will stop further damage until you can fix it.

 

[kis]

Very useful updates. Thanks for sharing

When you cut the hollow rivet thing off (I think the bit where the wires pass through)…. how do you then reassemble the mirror?

 

[Usel]

Very useful updates. Thanks for sharing

When you cut the hollow rivet thing off (I think the bit where the wires pass through)…. how do you then reassemble the mirror?

I will try and do a write up on this however essentially I bought these 100mm m12 threaded rod used for lamps as they came with the nuts. You can use any m12 threaded rod:



Length of the thread rod needs to be cut to around 85mm. You need to use double nuts each end as the threaded rod sometimes turns with the movement of the mirror and sometimes doesn't. So single nuts could unthread themselves.

There is another way, you can use these:



But I couldn't find ones over 85mm long and you will also need to remove the large black plastic triangle on the mirror to install them. Which means cutting the plastic lugs off and figuring out a way to glue them back on very securely, as when you bolt the mirror to the car the black plastic makes a water tight seal to the rubber on the door.

 

[Enigmatik]

Hi Rob,

Just saw this! That's a great repair, glad the old one turned out to be useful! Looks like it culd save some folk some money in the future, start a refurb service? On the negative side I now need to polish the passenger one to match the shiney drivers one. Got the new battery, took him for first run of the year only to find sticky calipers from winter break. Need to rebuild the 3.0Si brakes i have in cupboard now, never ends! Thanks again for the help!

 

[Usel]

Hi Rob,

Just saw this! That's a great repair, glad the old one turned out to be useful! Looks like it culd save some folk some money in the future, start a refurb service? On the negative side I now need to polish the passenger one to match the shiney drivers one. Got the new battery, took him for first run of the year only to find sticky calipers from winter break. Need to rebuild the 3.0Si brakes i have in cupboard now, never ends! Thanks again for the help!

Really glad you sent me your old broken one, thank you

The black plastic on the one I sent you was just cleaned and then coated with Gtechniq C4. Expensive but works well imo.

In other news I am one step with closer with making the mirrors fold up and down on key lock and unlock.
I need to finalise the wiring for it to work with the manual window switch button and for it to disable so you can lock the doors when driving and not have the mirrors fold up
It's all done on paper but just need it to work in practice.

[youtube]t3520fKCyI0[/youtube]

 

[Enigmatik]

Hi Rob,

Just saw this! That's a great repair, glad the old one turned out to be useful! Looks like it culd save some folk some money in the future, start a refurb service? On the negative side I now need to polish the passenger one to match the shiney drivers one. Got the new battery, took him for first run of the year only to find sticky calipers from winter break. Need to rebuild the 3.0Si brakes i have in cupboard now, never ends! Thanks again for the help!

Really glad you sent me your old broken one, thank you

The black plastic on the one I sent you was just cleaned and then coated with Gtechniq C4. Expensive but works well imo.

In other news I am one step with closer with making the mirrors fold up and down on key lock and unlock.
I need to finalise the wiring for it to work with the manual window switch button and for it to disable so you can lock the doors when driving and not have the mirrors fold up
It's all done on paper but just need it to work in practice.

[youtube]t3520fKCyI0[/youtube]

No worries at all, impressed to see what you've done with it and I'll await the conversion to making the mirrors fold with locking, it's annoying Carly doesn't allow this. Hopeully that would pervent me having to murder a neighbour!

 

[Ilogik]

Some muppet hit my car, the wing mirror was up but it’s obviously pushed it up, is this in need of repair or can this be fixed? Is it easy to remove? As a total noob

 

[Usel]

I'd say metal is bent.

To remove the glass which is the most difficult bit, operate the mirror glass so it's pointing all the way down.

Look through the top gap above the glass and you will see a notch you could get a screw driver in. I use a very small cross head. Slide it over. (possibly to the right) It will take quite a bit of controlled force and try not to slip out of the notch.

When it suddenly slides over you can then pull the glass out. How easy this is depends on the amount of sticky pads that are used. It's either very easy or extremely difficult.

With the glass out pull out the wires. Remove the round plastic glass movement motor. 3 screws. Unplug it.

Now there are a further 5 screws, 1 underneath and 4 inside. With the screws removed there are 2 plastic tabs to prise open whilst you push and twist to get the mirror cap off. Once the mirror cap is off you will be able to assess what is bent/broken.

I find the above easy now but I have pulled quite a few apart. As your first time I would say it's a little difficult.

 

[Ilogik]

Legend thanks man, I’ll take a look