[loknar]

This post here is about the folding function.

[Smoothound]

Well, my 07 E92 is now doing this on the passenger side.

I almost never use my retracting mirrors, so it shouldn't be worn out. Leading me to think it's more likely electrical, or really bad luck if it is mechanical.

I retracted my mirrors during the last service, then when I came to fold out, the passenger side folded all the way forward. It now does this every time.

I've tried all the relevant processes described in this thread and this far none of them has worked.

So I'm afraid I'm very close to a wire cutting session if there really are no better solutions.

A bit of a disappointing problem.

[Smoothound]

Having lived with this a few days now, I'm pretty confident that contrary to what some others have said, this is not any kind of detend and "current sensing" feature which has stopped working or worn out. My logic is simple : I can stop my mirror in the precise correct position with my hand. If this were a CS system, then the mirror would stay there forever, but no, the next time I unlock the car (or close the boot, bizzarely), the mirror folds forward again. So while there is a CS system which stops movement, it is not responsible for monitoring the correct mirror position.

I have trouble thinking this is something mechanical that has worn out, just because this feature has been used so infrequently on my vehicle. Once a year when the car is serviced. I have no other reason to use it. I guess it's not impossible, but if something wore out or broke, that would be very poor manufacturing or bad luck. My gut says, no.

I suspect this is some sensor somewhere that's got gunked up over time, possibly from never being used. However, I would've expected this to be found by now by the community. So that idea goes out the window.

It's a weird fault for sure.

Right now, my only option still seems to be to cut some wires as I can't justify £200 for a new mirror from eBay for a feature I use once a year at best.

[Greg220]

The folding motor in my driver side mirror was stopping about 3/4" too far, so I took it for a warranty repair and they reprogrammed something to make the mirror stop where it should be. This didn't last long and within a few months the mirror gradually moved out again about 3/4". I got used to it somehow and now the car is out of warranty.

I thought I'd try the TSB solution with folding/unfolding and guess what, the mirror now unfolds all the way outwards (180 degrees from the folded position). So, it went from bad to worse.

There is another solution to pop out the stopping pin in this tread but it seems to refer to the post LCI mirrors. Mine are pre-LCI and the space where the hole is supposed to be drilled is much smaller, so I'm not sure where the pin is located exactly.

At this point it seems the only options are an expensive replacement of the whole mirror or cutting the wire.

[Smoothound]

FWIW - mine eventually sorted itself out and is staying in the right place.

I daren't press the fold button....I'll wager it'll do it again.

[antzcrashing]

Originally Posted by MCOChuck

I put this issue to bed once and for all by cutting the power to that motor. The only consequence, you'll lose the ability to fold in the mirrors using the button on the door. The mirror will still adjust, heat, dim and dip when you put it in reverse.

Press the lock and unlock on the fob while holding the mirror in the place you want, and eventually the clogs will lock in the right spot.

Once happy with the placement, remove the mirror cover by pulling straight back. As you can see from the photo below there are 4 tabs (circled in white) that hold it into place. The two items marked in blue are just for alignment.


Next cut the white wire (circled in red) and wrap the ends in electrical tape.


Line up the mirror cover and push it back on. Problem solved in 5 mins.

I clipped the white wire too, but I added terminal connectors so that I could get the auto-function back if I need it someday - such as if I want to set the "home" positon of the mirror again. The terminals are cripped on with a crimping tool - I added some solder to make sure they stay.


Last, I covered them with black electrical tape so they would not make a false connection, and to prevent corrosion due to moisture

[BMWSource]

Originally Posted by BMTroubleYOU

ha-ha..
i will never use the folding option ever again...
told ya e90 is SH!T
anyways problem never solved. nooone. bye. going back to e46.. proudly..

The E46 I don't think came with fold-in mirrors. Some E90's don't have fold in mirrors

[ptpending]

Originally Posted by BMWSource

The E46 I don't think came with fold-in mirrors. Some E90's don't have fold in mirrors

e46 had fold-in mirror as option too, same as with e90 and other bmw
and had same construction and problems
the only right way to keep this function work reliably is not use it on every car lock/unlock but only when it needed

[BMWSource]

Originally Posted by ptpending

e46 had fold-in mirror as option too, same as with e90 and other bmw
and had same construction and problems
the only right way to keep this function work reliably is not use it on every car lock/unlock but only when it needed

I only use my fold-in mirrors when parking on the side of the road or in certain parking spots.

[MillerE91]

I recently purchased an E91 and the drivers mirror had this issue.
Based on the information in this thread I followed the following steps.

-Carefully popped off the cover
-Sprayed some PB-Blaster (my favorite penetrant) directly in the joint on the bottom side of where you all showed the stuck pin
-few taps with a light hammer and a socket extension to direct the energy to the area of the sticking pin
-cycle mirror
-rinse and repeat

This solved my issue! I know it is more than likely that it will stick again due to the schmutz accumulating in the area, but this fix was so easy I won't mind doing it again. No drilling, no disassembly, no wire cutting.

Thanks again all for the wonderfully informative contributions!

[mrgflores20]

Originally Posted by sweetlady

Hi!

Can you please describe how to "open the cover" of the mirror? I have searched, but cannot find instructions. Can you point to a DIY?

Thank you...

I found a Youtube video on how to remove the cover. It's pretty simple. I strongly recommend you buy some plastic tools that are meant for removing panels. I also tried some suggestions such as spraying some WD-40 on the rotating piece, but nothing. No success.

[mrgflores20]

I will try again, but this time with a can of PB-Blaster!

[drawz]

My passenger side mirror is slightly misaligned, but not completely out of wack. Seems like the detent where it's supposed to stop is off by 10-15 degrees. I had this for a while and fixed it with a lot of random fiddling....until one day my kids hit the button for power folding, sending the mirror way too far out, and now we're back to the same dent off by 10-15 degrees. Anyone successfully fix this kind of problem?

[drawz]

Originally Posted by drawz

My passenger side mirror is slightly misaligned, but not completely out of wack. Seems like the detent where it's supposed to stop is off by 10-15 degrees. I had this for a while and fixed it with a lot of random fiddling....until one day my kids hit the button for power folding, sending the mirror way too far out, and now we're back to the same dent off by 10-15 degrees. Anyone successfully fix this kind of problem?

Well, after lots of futzing, lubing, folding manually, power folding, reset home position according to TSB, etc. the system decided to rotate those last 10 degrees at some point and is now realigned. I can't point to any specific thing that cause this to happen, but I'll take it. The manual & power folding futzing is how I fixed it last time, but hopefully it won't break again with the added lubrication this time around.

[quebix]

Hi all, searched everywhere and couldn’t find an answer.
My problem is not that the folding doesnt stop.

My problem is only one side of the mirror is folding out. Passenger side is still stuck at folded position.

Sometimes both will fold normally, but nowadays passenger side always stuck. 9 out of 10 times it doesnt work.

Anybody had this problem?

[GoRomeo]

My side mirror is making a weird noise every time I get into my car or unlock doors. Sounds like a mechanism is working but nothing is moving. Anyone? Thanks BTW hi everyone its been a while since I haven't post anything

[StradaRedlands]

After trying multiple times to self-correct with no luck, and reluctant to drill, I went and grabbed a take-off mirror from the local pick a part. It took a good hour of walking around and trying to find a good donor, but found one and $30 later I'm in business! Incredibly easy swap out, and now all is good. I included the pictures of the original one and replacement so you can see the difference in locking position. Just those 5^ or so made a difference!

[Dirtleg]

I'll bump this thread and join in the mirror woes.

I have the power folding mirrors. I can adjust the mirror glass as expected and the tilt in reverse feature works. So does the heating feature.

The power folding does not work at all. In fact, the mirrors fold in and out freely by hand, as if there's nothing stopping them. No gear noise or any resistance really.

They stay in place for the most part going down the road but if you bump one and it moves you have to find the happy spot by hand again. Once you do you can use the normal adjuster and it will work through it's normal range of mirror adjustment.

FRM is showing an error from both mirrors as well.

After much, literally months of searching on and off, I have yet to see anyone else mention this issue.

I have been trying to find some at the wrecking yard but they are picked clean every time I check.

Thoughts on what may be wrong?