How do I know if I have heated mirrors?
 

I do not see a button to turn this off or on so I am thinking I do not have them. I want to get an 18.00 ebay driver mirror to replace my cracked one as opposed to a 38.00 ebay heated mirror.

2001 3.0 X5.

Take out your mirror glass and see if there is a plug on the back for the heating element.

I didn't know X5s came without heated mirrors, they were standard when I bought mine. There is no switch, the heating is automatic.

I guess if you don't care you could buy the cheaper one and call it a day.

Thanks JCL.

as JCL said...

you got an E53... you got heated mirrors... the one they sell on ebay without the heating element is supposed to be applied to the heating pad - how in the heck it is supposed to be done, beats me...

if you are going for the replacement glass on the driver's side, go for aspheric mirror, you will not regret the added safety features of the new mirror... you need to check to see if your mirror just plain heated or also electrochromatic, then it is much much much more expensive...

Expanding on what TX5 said above...you have heated mirrors (see AUTOMATIC HEATING in the middle column from owners manual below).


But do you have EC (electrochromatic/auto dimming) mirrors? One way to tell the difference is to note if there's a thick black band around the circumference of the mirror glass...the EC mirror do...the plain heated mirrors don't (see image below of EC mirrors):


And if you can see the rear of the mirror glass...the heated mirror will have the two leads in the upper corner for the two wires that connect to the heating element...and if you have EC mirrors...there will be the additional harness (note the one with purple wire):

Nice pics. I need to pull mine apart to see what's wrong with them. From the picture, it looks like you pry the lower part past the tab and slide up to get off the 4 tabs?

Yes...wedge/push upward on the mirror glass to lift it out of the tabs...but first push the bottom of the mirror glass inward...there's not much room in the housing to maneuver.

See instructions below from the BMW TIS:

I believe that if you have the "premium" option, it includes the electro-chromatic mirrors.

2002 X5 3.0 252,500 miles
2004 325i 113,000 miles

FYI...as with the way BMW has things routed through the communication bus...the ambient temp sensor sends its data to the ECU, which then shares that data with the IKE, which then shares that data with the IHKA control panel and the GM III, which then sends data to the door modules to initiate side mirror heating:

do a VIN decoder, if your vehicle has S430A as an option you have electrochromatic mirrors.