Electric wing mirror adjustment not working? Try this...

[corradophil 3]

I finally bought a pair of new wing mirror glasses at the weekend, whilst fitting them I noticed neither mirror would adjust.

 

It has always been a bit hit and miss, one day they work then they don't. Eventualy one side started to work, but nothing from the other. I thought it was the adjustment mechanism, but it was not.

 

After a lot of sodding around with the mirror mechanisms with no improvement I took the switch out of the drivers door, and took it apart. Mines a late car but I would imagine the same could easily apply to early ones too.

 

Basically there is a small printed circuit board which the moving contacts of the switch have to connect to. The copper on the board was very dirty with what looked like burnt on grease all over it. Using brasso I polished the contacts up to a bright shiny finish. I reassembled the switch and both mirrors now work perfectly!

 

This took half an hour to do, and I highly recommend giving it a go if your mirrors do not adjust.

[Andy T 0]

The little copper 'dumbells' that slide on the pcb also corrode too, its worth turning them around to expose a clean side. The grease is on the contacts to slow corrosion/wear down, and is worth putting a light smear back on.

(remember, the back of the switch is inside the door, which is exposed to the weather)

 

The circuit board/wiring itself can fail in places too, if still no joy after cleaning, check continuity between the connector pins and the contacts on the pcb. Mine had failed on the illumination circuit, does everyone else's illuminate properly? (n.b. late switches only!)

[DEL VR6 0]

well, mine was working perfectly until i deceided to change the LED's to red.

 

Now it still works but i have to sort of "Lift" the round switch on the front rather than just press it in the desired direction. Anyone know what i have done wrong in the re-assembly process?

[corradophil 3]

Yep, I gave the dumbells a good clean up too.

 

Mine has always illuminated fine.

[steve_16v 0]

Phil, when yours stopped adjusting did it still make a clicking sound when you pushed the button? My passenger one sort of works but the drivers side just clicks when you push the button and I don't want to mess about taking the switch off if it's something else that's broken.

[corradophil 3]

steve_16v, Yes, both mirrors clicked. Sounds like you have the same problem. It's worth spending 30mins taking it out to have a look. You only have to remove the trim on the drivers side door handle, unscrew the two screws it reveals and unplug the electrical connection and it is off the car. Unclip the switch from the handle then carefully take it apart. Be carefull not to lose anything, there are some small parts in there.

 

DEL VR6, I found if I wiggled the button around I could coax the drivers side one into working a bit.

[steve_16v 0]

Nice one Phil :thumbleft:, that's just the sort of fix I like (free!), I'll get my mate to have a look, I'd no doubt manage to lose or break a few bits somewhere along the line if I tried it

[Andy T 0]

The click your getting is the solenoid (which changes the motors action from 'up-down' to 'left-right') so you must be getting a connection on one circuit and not the other. Might be that one or more of the little 'dumbells' have come adrift, or the contacts are corroded/worn away.