Passenger mirror quit working.

gizzy

gizzy

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While backing out of my inlaws driveway the other day, I flipped the switch to get the mirror to tilt down to make sure I did't run over their lawn. Well, it did't move down, so I fliped it back at tapped the control and put it back to the drivers side. This seemed to have solved my problem, but the mirror tilted too far down, so today, I decided that I would adjust the mirror up a little bit to see if that would put the auto-tilt feature in a better position and found it would not move at all [:(!]

I scheduled an apointment to take my car in this Tuesday at 7am. They said it is probably only a software issue. Why is it that whenever anything goes wrong, it's software? Don't these engineers know their 1's from their 0's? [rolleyes]

Hopefully I will be able to get the Z4 again and it won't be raining --- I'm getting so sick of the rain.
 
D

deutsch100

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Mine did the same thing. My service writer told me they are waiting for new, improved software that should be available in a month or so. Mine now works again. It will crap out every so often...I just turn the car off (or park it), and when I come back.....it works.

Germans are Meister Engine builders, but gadgets and electronics are so not their thing. They really do not think gadgets and conveniences belong in cars...German Engineers only do so to please picky, demanding Americans that need tilt down passenger mirrors, seat memory, auto climate controls...etc..... :)
 
gizzy

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deutsch100 said:
Mine did the same thing. My service writer told me they are waiting for new, improved software that should be available in a month or so. Mine now works again. It will crap out every so often...I just turn the car off (or park it), and when I come back.....it works.

Germans are Meister Engine builders, but gadgets and electronics are so not their thing. They really do not think gadgets and conveniences belong in cars...German Engineers only do so to please picky, demanding Americans that need tilt down passenger mirrors, seat memory, auto climate controls...etc..... :)
Click to expand...
Yep, it's working again [scratch] . But if I'm going to be driving a 37K car with a 2.5L engine, I would expect a few gadgets. Now if it had a 0-60 time of 4.5 or less, I wouldn't mind so much, but it would probably be more than 37K. I'm curious what the rumored 345i will do?
 
bmwrocks

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I wonder what the "new, improved" software will do.....maybe when it fails it will be more permanent and will never work rather than working intermittently. Funny that only some of our cars (very few I think) have this mirror problem. You would think that mirror software hasn't changed in years. In fact I know it hasn't. My 2001 X5 (built in 2000) has the tilting mirror feature. It works exactly the same way. The "new software" story is crap if you ask me.
 
gizzy

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Maybe they think that it need the IE 6 update patch from MS. No wonder why I have never been check bmwboard from my head unit [joke]
 
BEEMIN

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I'm picking up my zhp this afternoon after being in for the same issue. My service rep told me that the switch mechanism was overly sensitive and that if you set it to the left but it's not over all the way, then it resets the software and the mirror will no longer tilt. I figure that if that's the case, it will take me maybe two more tries before I reset it again... [rolleyes]
 
D

deutsch100

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Hey there Beemin!! So if the our mirror switch is not fully clicked over to the left, it resets the software and does not work??? How long does it now work for? I have had my 2004 330cic since March, and my mirror has faulted like 2 or 3 times. Every time I just leave the car for a while, it comes back. Is this the case...the software just re-sets itself?

Maybe it was just luck, but the last time my tilt down feature crapped out (actually the entire passenger mirror quit working), I pulled the fuses that control the side mirrors and snapped them back in (on advice from fellow board member bmwrocks [thanks again]). The mirror just came to life. Either the car had sat long enough, or the fuse thing jumped started it. Who knows!!!!!
 
BEEMIN

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Oh my god - what a great idea! I can't believe that didn't occur to me in the slightest! Next time it stops working, I'll definitely try that before driving the car an hour to the dealership..... grrrrrrrr.

I don't know how long it now will work for as I haven't even picked up the car yet. But when it does crap out again (and I think we all know it will) - I'll definitely let you know.

Just FYI: the last time I saw it work was when I took delivery of the car back in October....
 
gizzy

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Ok, this is kinda funny, at least for me anyway.

They replaced the general module to fix my mirror problem, so I picked my car up at the dealer ship. I tested the mirror real quick and drove home. Well, since I did not leave both of my keys with them, when I went to lock the doors, they wouldn't lock [scratch] tried the key that I left with them and everything worked fine. So I called the dealer and they walked me through how to sync the keys with the car (piece of cake) and thought that everything was great.

Now I had to good laughs this morning.

1. While I was backing out of my garage this morning, my mirror tilted down and gizzy was happy [clap] -- until I went to turn off the auto-tilt -- The switch was already in the right hand possition. [confused]

2. My second laugh this morning was while I was driving to work, I saw an older Civic with what looked like 10" wheels poking out from the car about 4". I just can't beleive what some people will do to their cars -- Well, as long as they are happy with it [fake]
 
BEEMIN

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Just realized that I never told you all what happened when I picked up the car...

Picked it up late - after the service department had closed - and specifically put the car in reverse to see the mirror tilt down. It didn't. [:(!]

Then, I grabbed the technician's notes, skimmed them, and found the parts where they wrote not once, but THREE times, "side mirror functioning as intended, could not duplicate the problem."

Okay, now I a) feel like an idiot and b) wonder if the technician and myself are actually co-existing on the same planet. I hadn't EVER seen the mirror work since I picked up the car in October.

So I drove off (hadn't seen my baby in three days and didn't want to leave him there any longer). Got home, unplugged the fuse, plugged it back in (thank you very much again) and presto - damn thing works now.

So I'm guessing there's a problem with the motor??? [confused]
 
bmwrocks

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I take it the fuse method worked before so you did it again.

So I am guessing there is a problem with the tech.

As sad as it is, we must duplicate the problems for the service depts when we bring our cars in. How sad is that? My experience with all dealer service (not just BMW) is you have to demo probs to them or they will ignore them. I think many times the techs just don't know what the problem is from the explanation the SA gives them. Make sure the problem is well described in the writeup the SA does for the tech. Also be CERTAIN the SA knows exactly what the complaint is. How sad.
 
gizzy

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They replaced the mirror motor this time ???? Why would the mirror motor cause the mirror to tilt down EVERY time that I put the car in reverse, even with the switch to the passenger side ?????

Oh well, I had fun driving the Z4 that I got as a loaner, and it does appear that the mirror is working perfectly now. In fact, the mirrors now adjust with the seat memory which they did not do before. I just assumed that that was not available on the 3 series.
 
MrElussive

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I think that the auto-tilt down mirror feature is great! I really wish my car came with that feature! Whenever I parallel park, I always tilt my right mirror (or left mirror, if I am parking on the left, such as sometimes in NYC) down at the curb. My car is hard to "feel" exactly how close it is to the curb so I tilt the mirror down so I can get as close to the curb as possible without scratching the rims!
 
gizzy

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MrElussive said:
I think that the auto-tilt down mirror feature is great! I really wish my car came with that feature! Whenever I parallel park, I always tilt my right mirror (or left mirror, if I am parking on the left, such as sometimes in NYC) down at the curb. My car is hard to "feel" exactly how close it is to the curb so I tilt the mirror down so I can get as close to the curb as possible without scratching the rims!
Click to expand...
I love having the auto-tilt for parallel parking for the same reason. Somehow, I managed to miss the curb all the time in my grand-am but I would hit about 25% of the time in my beretta. I've never hit once in the bimmer and don't plan to either -- Gotta keep the break dust uniform on the wheels, wouldn't want any stripes now would we [hihi]
 
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