Folding Mirror Problem

[danderson]

Thanks. I was afraid of that. It does sound like stripped gears. Love mine as well, but I agree that it seems like something always needs to be fixed. I think I'm just going to figure out some way to fix it in position. Don't really need it to fold.

[thrillcat]

BMW x5 E53 E46 2000 2006 Side Mirror Motor Gear Inner Part Repair Kit | eBay

I'm about to order this and open mine up to replace just the gears.

[Junkycosmos]

Thrillcat
I tried same. It's not too bad in disassembly, just mark the orientation. Also found on mine that the silver gear housing has two pegs / tabs that extend into the case and one of mine was snapped. The same EBay seller had the housing. Where I got stuck was figuring out how to remove the worm gear from the little electric motor. Without changing that mine still skipped a few gears but was much better:
http://www.xoutpost.com/983835-post3462.html

I ended up buying one from junk yard that needed quick micro switch clip adjustment as the mirrors would fold close and then immediately reopen. (http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...lem-fixed.html). Powerfolding works great now and now vibrations in the mirrors dispite bad roads

Curios know your results with the gear set.

[Dark_stranger]

You can also buy the micro switches (albeit from the UK).
Access Electrical (Services) Ltd - View Product - Microswitch - 18mm lever - 5a - prewired

I also have faulty wing mirrors so plan to re-condition my wing mirrors next month with new gears & switches, plus I have ordered some of these...

Mazda 3 Side Mirror Sequential LED Turn Signal Arrow Lights - YouTube

and also swap the puddle lights for LED.

[Motorsport1207]

I rebuild my mirror and replaced all the gears and both motor housings, as both pins were snapped. Anyone wants to sell their damaged folding mirror I would buy them

[X5only]

Originally Posted by Motorsport1207

I rebuild my mirror and replaced all the gears and both motor housings, as both pins were snapped. Anyone wants to sell their damaged folding mirror I would buy them

I realize this is an old thread, but how did you remove the worm gear from the little electric motor, or did you replace the motor altogether? Further, before putting in the new outer large metal housing (with pins), the gears (new) and black housing rotate fine with no jams. But after putting in the outer housing, the inner black housing does not rotate and I hear the gears just spinning. I've reassembled and tried tightening the holding screws just slightly all to no avail. I suspect it's the worm gear slipping when the housing is tightened up. Or am I missing something? Any pointers? I added grease and the gears are new except for the worm gear. The assembly order is correct as I took pictures while disassembling.

[Ryoken]

what i did to remove the worm drive from the motor was this........
get a pair of pliers and grasp worm drive. with the wire cutter part then get a vice and open it till the motor fits inside and the pliers rest on top ,and then hit the centre of the motor where the worm drive is with a thin nail this will push the motor out , to put the new one on , i used a small socket to gently tap the new one back on .
would have been so much easier to explain that with pictures

[x5factor]

Hi all....I realize this is an old thread but it was very useful, so thanks to all for posting. Because of this, I decided to post my experience. My mirror was the driver side. It folded in but not out. I had to push it out with my hand and even then it would not stay out. It would swing on acceleration/breaking.
This is how I knew the motor was good. So I opened it up to check if the gears were stripped and the were not.

I used this to open the mirror.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsxDsxR90UM

Bought the motor housing from here.

Bmw X5 E53 Wing Mirror Folding Repair Replacement Motor Housing

I only needed the outer housing (left in picture).

Thank you to Motorsport1207 for the excellent description and pictures.

Here's how I did it.

I started by removing the mirror back housing piece as in the link to the YouTube video. Thanks to frenchybetter for that post.

There are 4 torx screws that hold the mirror on the top of the elbow hinge, remove those.

Remove the bottom cover where the mirror hinges. This will expose 4 more torx screws, remove those. Take notice of the positioning of the motor before removal. This is important as it will change the way the mirror goes back on.

The motor will then be accessible and will expose 4 more torx screws. Remove those last 4 torx screws and replace the housing.

My housing was cracked and had the pins broken. The pieces of the pins were still in the bottom part of the housing. I had to pry those out with a very small flat screw driver and needle nose pliers for removal.

Remove the white ring on the top of the damaged housing and place exactly with the same positioning on the new housing.

Reassemble in reverse order.

Total time took less than an hour and less than $30 in parts.

Mirror is good as new and needless to say the wife is happy!

Thank you all for sharing.

[Ryoken]

yeah on the first time I did this "Take notice of the positioning of the motor before removal" I didn't do that, and it wrecked load of my gears , getting the 3 parts lined up is a must, come to think of it , my drivers side still doesn't work , I got fed up of buying gears
might have another go if I can fathom out the orientation right on that photo

[x5factor]

Try this. When you take the first 4 torx screws off the top and remove the mirror, the motor will remain in place. You can actually press the button and see how far the motor moves. You should be able to tell how far you have to shift it. Good luck!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk