Passenger power mirror snafu

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deutsch100

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#1
Hey everyone. I vaguley remember a thread a while ago about our passenger power mirrors crapping out. It happened to me about an hour ago. Can it be self re-set???

Today as I put my car in reverse, the mirror did not tilt down (an YES, the little switch was placed in the correct position :)

I tried it several times, and even re-started the engine several times (in desperate, lame attempts to re-set something [:)] The passenger mirror will not move at all...even if the car is in D or P..totally frozen..I cannot adjust it all now.

Anyone else have this? Is it just a fuse I can replace, or do I have to make a dreaded trip to the butcher shop??? Taking our babies to the dealer and leaving them there, is like signing a paper giving authority to **** something up totally un-related!!!!

Thanks in advance to all who have advice/solutions. Auf wiedersehen!!!!
 
bmwrocks

bmwrocks

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What? A beloved trusted dealer f-ing something up? Hell its only happened to me a handful of times. That's not so bad......

Sounds like your passenger mirror motors are not getting power for some reason (duh). Fuse 57 by itself says "Outside Folding Mirror" and "Outside mirror" lists fuses 31 and 57. Check those I guess. Check your own fuse box legend card to make sure it is the same as mine. In case you don't already know, the fuses are located in the glove box roof. You turn the two white tabs toward the outside to open it.

Did you try pressing a memory button or two or three on the seat side to see if that does anything (just desperately trying to think of something cause I know how ya feel).

It could be a trip to the dreaded butcher shop.

BTW when my kids were little they first heard "Auf Viedersehen" in the Sound Of Music (So Long, Farewell) and thought the kids were singing "our feet are saying goodnight". LOL
 
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mikemac

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your problem is different for what I have. My car is a 330Ci, and the auto features are the only things that don't work on my car for the passenger mirror. When I adjust it using the little joy stick it moves, but it doesn't tilt down in reverse or work with the memory button. My dealer says my problem is a known software bug and the new SW is due in this month.

If yours doesn't move at ALL it may be a different problem.
 
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izzyracer

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mikemac said:
your problem is different for what I have. My car is a 330Ci, and the auto features are the only things that don't work on my car for the passenger mirror. When I adjust it using the little joy stick it moves, but it doesn't tilt down in reverse or work with the memory button. My dealer says my problem is a known software bug and the new SW is due in this month.

If yours doesn't move at ALL it may be a different problem.
Click to expand...
Same here and I already have mine fixed but still the same. When in times it does not Auto tilt down. I give it a bit of movement with the control and it will work again. It seem like there is something that is sticking in there and overpowering the motor that tilts the mirror down.
 
D

deutsch100

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Hey guys, thanks for the responses. I am going to take a look at the fuses...glad you told me where they were...didn't know!!!

I have an appt. for Tuesday morning...but now the damned mirror is working perfectly...in tilt down mode and manually. Does the seat memory control the mirrors?? Mine does not...just the seats. Should it?? I hope the answer is no.

So...don't know if I should keep my appt, or let it go. I guess now it depends on if the memory should do mirrors too.

[???1]
 
M

mikemac

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In my car the tilt-down works intermittently. Some days it does, some days it doesn't.

The seat memory *should* control the mirrors, too. The idea is that when it recognizes the key or you press one of the 3 buttons it sets the car up for the driver the way you want it, seat and side mirrors. On my car the only mirror controlled right now is the driver-side mirror. Here's how to test it; just move the mirrors and your seat, then press a memory button. On my car the seat returns to the memorized position and so does the left mirror, but the right mirror does not move.

Also there is a 3rd bug I see in my car, that of the door locks. They have programmed my car so that when it is moving the locks are supposed to automatically engage, but that has never worked in my car.
 
D

deutsch100

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The door lock thing can be tricky. Everytime I took my car in for service, the drive away door lock feature didn't work after I picked it up. It was so annoying, I called BMWNA. The late 2003 and 2003 3 series has a little bug in regards to the auto door locks. Everytime our cars our hooked up to diagnostics, the selected custom features are deleted.

Does that fit your pattern??? I now have to tell the service writer, and they make a note to re-program the auto door lock feature if my car is hooked up to the BMW diagnostic computer. Hope this helps. Thanks!!!!
 
asashoryu

asashoryu

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I'm taking my 330Ci in Monday for the third attempt at fixing the tilt down problem. It never did it when I first took delivery. Then they "fixed" it, and it worked until the first time it moved the switch to the opposite position and moved it back. It hasn't worked since. They had it for several days trying to fix it, and then decided they need a new motor which they'll install Monday. They never said anything about a software problem. Is it possible that some dealers are this out of touch? I'll mention to the dealer what I learned from the above posts and see what they say.

It seems that this dealer isn't up on updates from BMW. I'm the one that had to call BMW NA to find out why they weren't able to originally install Sirius satellite radio. The dealer said it would never be compatible with the navigation system. I found out myself from BMW NA that it needed software that was being written for compatibiity with nav, and when it was ready and I brought the car in to have it installed, it was news to them. You would think dealers would know better. If I relied on their knowledge, I would still be thinking I couldn't get Sirius for my car (which I now have installed and enjoy very much).
 
D

deutsch100

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Hey Snowcrash!!! Yeah, I've had my car a bit over 2 months too, and the mirrors always worked. Since I posted this thread, I made an appt. at the dealer for Tuesday. My service writer said the 3 and 5 series both have this problem, and 9/10 times they replace the control unit for the mirror...and it fixes it (until the new control unit craps out). Seems like German cars really can't get anything besides engines and great leather seats right!!!!

Starting on Saturday, my mirrors and memory button that re-sets the mirrors (both drivers and passenger) are now working fine. I cancelled my service appt. for Tue.... Not that I think it is fixed, but life's biggest fear is leaving my car at the dealer [:p]

My service guy told me I can just wait until it happens again, and then hopefully multiple error messages will be stored for the diagnostics.

Good Luck with yours, and have a cool Sunday!!!!
 
B

BMW NA Customer Relations

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I’m with BMW of North America, LLC. I’m sorry to read about this problem with your mirror. If you and your BMW center need our assistance, please give us a call at (800) 831-1117, and mention Reference # 200414700379 so that we can help you more efficiently.
 
gizzy

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deutch,

I'm experiencing exactly what you were. I did find that if I swithed over the the passenger side mirror sometime before I need to back up and just tapped the swith up or down and then switched it back to the drivers side, the tilt feature would work all the time ..... until last Thursday, when it quit working all together for the full day. Next day, everything worked fine again. I haven't decided whether I will cancel my Tuesday appt. or not yet though.
 
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