heated wing mirror

[jpliddy]

hi all
my passenger side electric moter mirror does not work but it does get warm when heated mirror is on but only half as hot as the drivers heated mirror which the moter also works so are the moter and heated mirror related ?

[loki_the_glt]

The mirror heat is controlled from the HRW switch, with its own timer. The wiring runs alongside the mirror motor control wiring but there's no other link between the two.

It might be worth taking the switch panel out and swapping over the plugs for the two mirrors - if the driver's mirror now stops moving but the passenger one starts to move then the fault is with the switch. If it doesn't make any difference then either the wiring or the motor is at fault so you'll need to go playing with a multi-meter.

[Laird Scooby]

There is an earth point behind the drivers kick panel Jim. Four of the connections on it are for the left mirroror movement, right mirror movement, left mirror heater and right mirror heater.

At least that's how the diagram shows it. I would suspect the earth from the mirror heater and mirror movement switch are connected together so there will in fact only be two earth connections, one for the left mirror and the other for the right mirror.

The answer would be to go through all the earth connections and clean them, from memory it's a bank of male spade connectors arranged in one with the various connections made with female spades aka 1/4" (6.35mm) female spade connectors.

Remove each connection, one at a time and clean the male tag on the earth and gently tighten the female "scrolls" on the tag with a pair of pliers so it fits tighter. Refit and test each one as you go - when you find the one that improved the mirror movement, chances are you've got the fault.

If the heater is still not as effective, apply a similar procedure to the mirror heater connections on the back of the glass, if you can access them without breaking the mirror glass itself. Note that older heaters will be less effective than new so if it works ok once you've cleaned the earth, don't go mad chasing those extra few degrees of heat. You can check if it's heating after it's been on for a few seconds by "huffing" on the mirror glass so your breath mists the glass. You may even see the pattern of the heater element as it clears - same method can be used to check the heated rear screen.

Good luck with it and let us know how it goes!

[jpliddy]

thanks for your valued help dave .and every one else too

[jpliddy]

hi LOKI i have tried another switch and take the green back plate of which allows the plugs to be swopped the driver mirror all working but the passenger mirror still not working i tried swopping the relay from passenger footwell to mirror too a while back still no luck so will have a look into the earth cables the black ones i may have had a look at these before but i will check again

[jpliddy]

hi if i use a multimeter on 5 pin passenger switch which colour cables do i need to check .do i need ignition on for test?

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by jpliddy

hi if i use a multimeter on 5 pin passenger switch which colour cables do i need to check .do i need ignition on for test?

Just clean all the earth connections on that block Jim, because of the high resistance per volt of any multimeter, it's going to be difficult for you to get any sense out of trying to probe around.

Much quicker in the long run and the likelihood is, all the earth wires will be the same colour.

[jpliddy]

thanks dave
i will do this soon and let you know the outcome
regards jim

[James_EG_940]

As I'm in the middle of a wing mirror refurb myself right now I thought I would add my two cents although I can only speak to my mirrors (later 940 type).

Mirror heaters should be around 8ohms when probed across their heater terminals on the back. There will be differences in this due to your meter, how good its probes and leads are and how corroded/oxidised everything is. Getting a high/intermittent/no reading when you're sure your getting a good connection is a pretty good sign of a dead heater element. This above assumes you have the complete mirror glass in your hand and detached from the car.

The motors are really really ubiquitous they are on the missus' MK4 Golf, on Citroens, on Renaults, the list goes on... They were patented by a Dutch company in 1979, "IKU" I believe. (Google Patents Link) and they are a very simple arrangement of two little DC motors at an angle. More importantly you can get second hand versions on eBay for under £10 or brand new unbranded ones for £15... They are a 3 pin connector but once you've unscrewed it from the mirror frame you need to gently prise the back off and then the connector can be released. I would say you need to grease things when you put it back in but honestly mine were attached for 26 years and looked fresh as a daisy inside!

Removing the mirrors is a pain but very doable if you're patient and own several long, thin, stiff, pointy, poky things. I had a butter knife, a thin metal nail file and two long shanked, 2mm flat head screwdrivers poking out of my mirror at one point...

The only bit of the puzzle I haven't worked out yet is the folding mechanism. I'd love to get in there and grease that and also my nearside and off side mirrors fold by different amounts although I'm not sure why (offside mirror/door was replaced with newer 1997 unit before I owned the car)

Best,

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by James_EG_940

I had a butter knife, a thin metal nail file and two long shanked, 2mm flat head screwdrivers poking out of my mirror at one point...

Either you were an acupuncturist in a former life or a torturer!

Seriously though, some good tips and a great write up there!

With the "folding mechanism", i'm guessing you mean the break-away mechanism where the mirror comes off a set of mountings and folds flat to the side of the car if hit by an oncoming object?

If you look very closely at the fitted, normal position of the mirror housings, you'll see the passenger mirror is at a smaller angle to the window than the drivers mirror so it makes sense that the passenger mirror doesn't fold as far. All down to "angle of incidence = angle of reflection" etc.