Side view mirrors screwed

[Dathaeus]

Ok, first I had a beef with the side mirrors dipping on reverse, parked in almost every scenario without it for 20+ years, but anyways, I wouldnt mind as much if it didnt actually get STUCK in that down position!

Ok background... the seller a few months ago promised the sides worked when he drove it. Whatever. So shortly after I bought it, the adjustment toggle doesnt work. When going in reverse, it used to make the motor sound and dip down, and when back to neutral/fwd, it would come back up to default. Now it wont come back up at all, and when I manually adjust, it goes back down again on reverse and gets stuck again.

It doesnt matter what position the toggle switch is on, it does it anyways. So unless there is some secret combo to the toggle/switch, I am lost, since it seem the motor IS active, but its just being rude.

Thanks for any input... hopefully its not a big fix because not having a right view mirror is bothering me beyond what I could have imagined it would.

[330i ZHP]

you can carefully push in on the upper portion of the lens and basically make the gears slip and move to the upper most position - careful - dont strip the little white PLASTIC gears

often that can reset the position...

Also, if you have another key - try using that

and - with the normal key, adjust the mirror where you want it, and press M then 1 (or seat position preferred) - sometimes the GM5 forgets that memory setting

[Dathaeus]

Thanks for the reply... I dont understand what "key?" And why am I messing with the seat settings for the side view mirrors? I dont see the relation, are they on the same circuit and can affect each other?

[330i ZHP]

The GM5 (general module) controls the seat and mirrors memory settings

As far as the key - my ZHP used to get severly confused on the mirrors when I used the spare key - they would move in radical positions..even though I had set everything pretty much the same on both keys

Remember - each key has two memory locations - not key one has button one and key two button two...

Actually - A question for you - you dont have manual seats do you? I dont think ZHPs ever had manual

[Dathaeus]

Oh ic... first I have electric seats... and the key I am using now is the replacement key ordered, who's remote still doesnt work, but thats a whole another issue, but may be related to this? Now we are getting into more forks in the road. I dont use any other key ATM, but there were 2 original keys, one was "lost" by the seller conveniently right before the sale, and the other one always had problems and needed to be programmed every day for it to work. So i got the 2 new keys and neither of those can be programmed. So maybe this is all tied together, or maybe not...... ugh!

[JupiterBMW]

Hey Jon.. Yes, what Stuart is getting at is that the key you use to drive the car communicates with the car. The memory switches (1 and 2) on the side of the seats not only store the position of the seats, but also the side view mirrors. If the key isn't communicating correctly or isn't programmed with the car, it may be part of this. There is a simple method for programming the remotes, I found it on here forever ago. Of course I forget it now.

I say we try to reprogram your remotes first. We also need to reset your memory switches on the side of the seat and see if they will actually remember the positions of everything correctly.

Oh, and text me again, I seem to have lost your number.

[az3579]

It sounds to me that that part of the mirror motor is broken... does anyone know if there is a separate motor for moving the mirror back up, or is it just one for moving up/down and one for moving left/right?

[330i ZHP]

just one - and his is likely the hateful ribbon mirror

BUT - if he can manually control it then the motor is good

although...on the ribbon mirrors - the control module is built into the motor

I still think this is a GM5, key, memory function issue - these are all in the same CLASS of functions

[Pip]

Here is my experience after doing the mirror motor swap to m3 mirrors. If you rip the ribbon cable on the drivers side it has the 'master' control for both motors. You are no longer able to control either motor but since the passenger ribbon cable is still intact it'll always rotate down when put into reverse. My car currently does this.

I was able to fix the issue by soldering the ribbon cable back together but it only lasted 6 months. I would try to fix it again but it was extremely difficult to fix because I broke the cable really close to the motor.

I think a fix for you would be a new motor and cable setup for the driver side mirror. However, this is and expensive fix so try these other cheap fixes first.


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[330i ZHP]

he said he can manually adjust the mirrors and the auto tilt works - that would lead me to believe the ribbons are intact

[Pip]

he said he can manually adjust the mirrors and the auto tilt works - that would lead me to believe the ribbons are intact

Yea I think he meant manually adjust as in get out of car move mirror with hand and get back in car. Ribbons wouldn't affect the ability to do this. The toggle switch on driver side no longer works and it always tilts while in reverse (common when ribbon messed up). Something else is causing the stuck position because I get the always tilt while in reverse and return to default.

I definitely agree that his ribbon for the passenger side is intact but the drivers side is most likely the culprit.




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[330i ZHP]

his car being a 2003 it may be 12 wire...not ribbon

[330i ZHP]

my early 2004 wagon doesnt have ribbons - the 2005 build date 04/10 does have ribbon

[Pip]

Man I wish I had wire setup. This thread is begging for some hands on research from the OP.


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[330i ZHP]

he can carefully look down inside mirror (esp when the lens is fully extended down) and see whether ribbon or wire - just by looking at the heating connections

[Dathaeus]

With all the problems I been having with the new key, not being able to program it (the insert, turn, click 3 times while holding down middle button etc...), I dont find it hard to believe that can be the whole culprit.

On the other hand, I am almost tempted to somehow disable the auto-tilt since once I adjust, I dont touch my mirror for years. I think we all lived without power mirrors for almost a century, dont need them now unless u share the car with someone every day.

Jon, I'll txt u tomorrow, got in late today... and did u confuse your name with my name? Or do I have your name wrong too? LOL....
Oh and picked up a bunch of fuses today, we'll see if that also fixes anything, but sounds too simple.

- Jay

[az3579]

his car being a 2003 it may be 12 wire...not ribbon


ZHPs have ribbon cables. The sedans do, at the very least. :(
Charlie's is a 2003 and when we did his M3 mirror retrofit, it had ribbon.

[Pip]

With all the problems I been having with the new key, not being able to program it (the insert, turn, click 3 times while holding down middle button etc...), I dont find it hard to believe that can be the whole culprit.

On the other hand, I am almost tempted to somehow disable the auto-tilt since once I adjust, I dont touch my mirror for years. I think we all lived without power mirrors for almost a century, dont need them now unless u share the car with someone every day.

Jon, I'll txt u tomorrow, got in late today... and did u confuse your name with my name? Or do I have your name wrong too? LOL....
Oh and picked up a bunch of fuses today, we'll see if that also fixes anything, but sounds too simple.

- Jay

Just take off the passenger door card and disconnect the mirror to keep it from auto tilt. Won't take long and will stop the annoyance for now.


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[Dathaeus]

K I'll be doing some stuff on it this weekend hopefully so maybe I'll have some useful updates when done with the dissection. Man if I just had a clone to work on cars I'd be on this all week... then I'd need another clone for work, for sports, for video games, for girls........ I need a lot of clones.......

[Dave1027]

then I'd need another clone for work, for sports, for video games, for girls........ I need a lot of clones.......
I wouldn't use a clone for girls. I'd have to handle that one myself. :)

[Dave1027]

What a timely thread and OP I'm not trying to hijack it but I need some clarification.

I'm now on my 6th day of ZHP ownership and still figuring things out. Till today I had this nagging feeling something might be wrong with my tranny because every time I put the car into reverse to back out of the garage I'd hear this odd hissing noise. I was like "oh hell, don't tell me this thing has a f'd up tranny. I just figured out this morning it's the friggin passenger side mirror tilting down! At that point I thought it might be some sort of feature, but why? Who needs to look at the ground while backing up?

So here is my question, is the tilting down in reverse normal or is this a malfunction? If it's a malfunction what is causing it? Is it broken hardware or is there a setting in software to fix it?

[Dathaeus]

My bad I didnt clarify... the clone will only be used for the first or second dates, u know, the "remedial" stuff... not for the good stuff.... ;)

[JupiterBMW]

What a timely thread and OP I'm not trying to hijack it but I need some clarification.

I'm now on my 6th day of ZHP ownership and still figuring things out. Till today I had this nagging feeling something might be wrong with my tranny because every time I put the car into reverse to back out of the garage I'd hear this odd hissing noise. I was like "oh hell, don't tell me this thing has a f'd up tranny. I just figured out this morning it's the friggin passenger side mirror tilting down! At that point I thought it might be some sort of feature, but why? Who needs to look at the ground while backing up?

So here is my question, is the tilting down in reverse normal or is this a malfunction? If it's a malfunction what is causing it? Is it broken hardware or is there a setting in software to fix it?

This is a feature, used for parallel parking. Helps to look at the curb to see how close you are, prevents curbing the wheels.


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[Dave1027]

Dathaeus,

I see in your sig you have 17 iinch wheels. Did you put those on or did it come that way? I would assume it would have better ride quality than the 18's.

[Dave1027]

This is a feature, used for parallel parking. Helps to look at the curb to see how close you are, prevents curbing the wheels.

Ahh. Makes sense. Thanks.

[danewilson77]

Ahh. Makes sense. Thanks.

And can be deactivivated while backing up, by putting the selector switch in the drivers position...I believe.

[Dave1027]

And can be deactivivated while backing up, by putting the selector switch in the drivers position...I believe.

Are you talking about the side mirror selector switch on the driver door that selects which mirror to adjust? I thought it already was in the driver's position but I'll check it to make sure. Thanks.

[danewilson77]

Are you talking about the side mirror selector switch on the driver door that selects which mirror to adjust? I thought it already was in the driver's position but I'll check it to make sure. Thanks.

Yes. One position will disable that auto feature.

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[Dathaeus]

Dathaeus,

I see in your sig you have 17 iinch wheels. Did you put those on or did it come that way? I would assume it would have better ride quality than the 18's.

It was an upgrade the last owner put in... its funny, when people who know cars look at mine, the BBS's are the FIRST thing they notice, lol... I didnt know it was such a big deal but apparently it weighs less by like over 5lbs per wheel, and thus performs better. I always thought with decent HP the larger wheels are better, but there seems to be a fine balance between, car's HP, weight of car and wheels, and wheel size. Of course if u have a Porsche with 500HP, I think the 19"-20" aluminums will do just fine.



And can be deactivivated while backing up, by putting the selector switch in the drivers position...I believe.

People told me to leave it in the passenger adjust position ("right" [not left] position)... I guess that makes sense since the sensor will think you are trying to adjust it so the auto-tilt will leave it alone... anyways for mine that doesnt work either, it is corrupted beyond that.

[Dathaeus]

Well Jon who hails from the land of Jupiter graciously helped me disengage the ribbon that controls the passenger side mirror, so I set it manually and now I am good to go... anyone else who drives my car (VERY rare) will just have to deal with it.

And for some really ODD reason, when he tried programming one of my new keys at his place, it worked immediately.... wwwwwwwwwwwwtfffffffffff? I tried like 50 times at least, with all different combos of clicking over my shoulder, doing it from the outside and bringing the key all the way to the rear sensor and clicking, to turning it in the ignition once - 5 times, etc., etc.... so I went home to see if it were a fluke, and I programmed my other new key, and bam, it worked, and now I got both new keys FULLY working with the remote. My old key that came with the car is sadly dead, I think there is another connection I severed when took it apart that I couldnt notice, so it'll work as a nice third spare with my valet key, but I'm happy! I just wish I knew why it didnt work before... I honestly cant think of anything that changed except for the initial location where we tried, i.e., his place vs mine. But the the second one worked at my place so even that doesnt make sense. I know I should be glad it works, but the scientist/engineer in me still has a very sour taste in his mouth, and I dont believe in ghost, unless I happen to see one for myself.

[Pip]

[QUOTE=Dathaeus;233982]Well Jon who hails from the land of Jupiter graciously helped me disengage the ribbon that controls the passenger side mirror, so I set it manually and now I am good to go... anyone else who drives my car (VERY rare) will just have to deal with it.

Cool I did this today as well :) Not the best, but livable for now.

[JupiterBMW]

Well Jon who hails from the land of Jupiter graciously helped me disengage the ribbon that controls the passenger side mirror, so I set it manually and now I am good to go... anyone else who drives my car (VERY rare) will just have to deal with it.

And for some really ODD reason, when he tried programming one of my new keys at his place, it worked immediately.... wwwwwwwwwwwwtfffffffffff? I tried like 50 times at least, with all different combos of clicking over my shoulder, doing it from the outside and bringing the key all the way to the rear sensor and clicking, to turning it in the ignition once - 5 times, etc., etc.... so I went home to see if it were a fluke, and I programmed my other new key, and bam, it worked, and now I got both new keys FULLY working with the remote. My old key that came with the car is sadly dead, I think there is another connection I severed when took it apart that I couldnt notice, so it'll work as a nice third spare with my valet key, but I'm happy! I just wish I knew why it didnt work before... I honestly cant think of anything that changed except for the initial location where we tried, i.e., his place vs mine. But the the second one worked at my place so even that doesnt make sense. I know I should be glad it works, but the scientist/engineer in me still has a very sour taste in his mouth, and I dont believe in ghost, unless I happen to see one for myself.

Hey man, really glad I was able to help you out... Also, you never mentioned, what about that rattle?? When Jay arrived, he had me listen to a rattle coming from under the car. Was quite loud and really obnoxious... After 10 minutes of banging around under the car, I found one of the oxygen sensors quite loose. So, I tightened it up and hopefully that stopped all rattling... What's the verdict Jay??

Glad to hear everything worked with your spare key. :thumbsup

[Dathaeus]

The bad rattling did stop, but there is still that little rattle, I think the one when u banged the muffler, it may be that, but that is liveable for now, not sure if thats worth any more trouble unless it gets more loose.

The key, SIGH....... actually, now the key is losing the programming on the next day, and when I program it again, it works for the rest of the day. This was the same thing the previous owner said was happening, so u have to reprogram like every day, which kinda also defeats the purpose since you have to use the key to get into the car as well. So something else is also going on here...... maybe not related to the key itself. Always something....... maybe it is that sensor? This is what the key seller told me to check:

"The remote issue. I would have them check the Diversity Antenna. It works on a 315mz frequency, and is the receiver to lock/unlock the doors. "

Does that sound like anything?

[JupiterBMW]

You've got me there man, I don't know. I'm still pretty new to this car myself... I still think the problem is the key. Battery related...?

Might be worth it to go to the dealer.


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[Dathaeus]

Hmmm, some rattling started again... not like before, it aint the nasty large obnoxious rattle, more like a small high frequency rattle, like a small piece of tin hitting a solid piece of metal like 10 times a second... that loose muffler?

Well all of today the remote on key worked fine... weird. Not complaining, we'll see what happens tomorrow... maybe the key just needed to be charged again AFTER it was programmed?

Btw, since it has been working, out of BAD habit, I have opened my car with the manual key turn like 5 times... every time I open the car door after, I am like DOH, CMON MAN... its like getting released from prison only to lock yourself in the basement over and over again.... not that I know what thats like or anything.......

[Dave1027]

People told me to leave it in the passenger adjust position ("right" [not left] position)... I guess that makes sense since the sensor will think you are trying to adjust it so the auto-tilt will leave it alone...

Yep. I confirmed it. Putting the selector switch in the passenger side setting deactivates the auto tilt function.

[danewilson77]

Perfect. Thanks for getting back Dave.

[aurelius]

OP: I'm having the same issue with my passenger side mirror.

Autologic can't see / access the GM5 module, therefore I'm going to send that off to bmwgm5.com for a little rehab. I'll report back once it's reinstalled.

[aurelius]

Update: Scott at bmwgm5.com tells me the GM5 does NOT control the mirrors. Therefore I did not send him my GM5.

More info below on what GM5 does and doesn't do. But apparently it does control the auto tilt down, which would be in line with what the OP and I are both experiencing. Why the mirror won't tilt back up remains unanswered, unless I'm missing something here, which is entirely possible.

http://www.bmwgm5.com/GM5_Connections.htm

Anyhow, seems the OP and others have done the easy/cheap thing, which is to disconnect the psgr side mirror. Which is probably best for the moment since a definitive solution eludes us. I surely don't want to buy a new psgr mirror and or control unit, only to to find out the real issue involves the driver's side or whatever else.