Electric folding mirrors

[Eratosthenes]

Over the last month my nearside mirrors refuses to do anything. Normally I can hear both mirror motors doing their job but when it fails I can't hear anything from that side, then after a while it will work again. Is this a common problem or can any one give any pointers on where to start.

[Bob]

Many intermitent electrical issues with goodies mounted on the doors can be traced to the loom where it passes from the A pillar into the door.

This is most common on the o/s door as it is used a lot more, but it could be the n/s, possibly a new loom has already been fitted o/s.

You can normally see the damaged wire/s once the outer insulation is stripped off.

Good luck.

[Eratosthenes]

Bob thanks for the info, I'll investigate it at the weekend.

[Bob]

Geoff may well have some ideas, too.

He's our top electrical man.

Edit: My other thought is try some electrical contact cleaner spray in the switches.

This is cheap and can't hurt.

[sotal]

Most likely answers are above, or it could be the motor in the mirror.

I had a problem with some bits not working which was a broken wire in the o/s door. I then had a problem with the n/s window not going up. That turned out to be an earth connection in the o/s window switch. Strangely it didn't affect the drivers window but we put it down to the resistance, as the wire to the passenger side is longer so combined with the poor contact it made it too high.

Electrical cleaner in the switch fixed that problem.

[g8dhe]

Yes its not easy to tell to be honest with that fault, its not a common fault, so it could be any component in the system, passenger door loom does fail but not common, switch likewise. Think its a case of get the meter out and start measuring.

[Eratosthenes]

Thanks for the info, certainly got some starting points. I have 2 questions probably basic to some, one is regards to the mirror switch how is it best removed to check /clean contacts etc, is it somehow pushed out from the rear or pulled from the front, and secondly when I am tracing/checking the voltages through the wires does any one know the colour of the wire to the mirror motor. Thanks in anticipation.

[g8dhe]

I've never had to remove one of these switches so can't be certain but most switches are held in place with barb's that are ideally squeezed together from behind, but can also be removed by careful / delicate work from the front but its easy to damage the dashboard surface!!
Wires and colours are in the wiring diagrams;

The two motors on the right of the diagram, colour codes are marked on the wires and the colour code table is a clickable link at the bottom of the page.

[Eratosthenes]

Geoff that is just what I needed, thank you very much.

[Bob]

He's our electrcal wizzard.

[Eratosthenes]

Bob and Geoff, thank you for the help. First of all I tried contact cleaner but that didn't make a difference. Exposed the wiring by A pillar and what a mess. Have taken photo and reduced it many times but unable to upload it, I will persevere with that. Have repaired a few of the wires (re soldered a piece in and heat shrink then put in new convoluted trunking). Will do the remaining less urgent ones later. However the main thing is that it is now working fine. Thank you again.

[Bob]

Brilliant, and thanks for letting us know.

An update helps lots of peeps in the future.

We love a nice easy (and cheap) fix.

[Eratosthenes]

Not really sure what is happening here I have reduced the photo pixels to below the minimum as stated on forum but it still tells me too large.

[g8dhe]

Sounds like you have found the problem then, yes the drivers door loom is a common cause of these problems!
You may still be above the file size limit perhaps, rather than just the image pixel size?