Door Mirror Fault, Fix, Confusion, Revelation.

[Paul Brooksbank]

Recently I noticed that my left door mirror would pan, but not tilt. I stripped it down by pushing the top of the mirror glass all the way in then inserting my fingers under the bottom and unclipping it. Then you remove the black Phillips head screws, four of them (actually five, but one of them doesn't hold the body coloured cover) to remove the outer casing and you'll see three silver screws holding the mirror motor housing in place. Undo these being careful not to drop them and the motor housing comes away. Once you've freed the wiring from the retainers you'll have enough room to unclip the two multi connectors that feed into the rear of the motor housing, one is white, the power to the motors, one black which is the position sensor for the memory. Don't worry, they're pretty robust and a tickle with a thin bladed screw driver will get them off. The motor housing has three clips, two are inside the moulding and easy to locate, one is simply a hook on the bottom. Again, a thin bladed screw driver will easily undo them. The motor housing then separates into two halves and nothing will fall out when you pull them apart. 

The motors simply pull out of their locations and have two holes in the plastic brush holders, into which the positive and negative feed prongs go when the multi clip is in place. I inserted a couple of pins into the two holes in the motor and connected a 12 volt feed to test them. One motor ran and the other wouldn't move. So, strip down time. The tabs on the metal motor body that grip the brush housing are tiny and virtually impossible to bend straight, so I took a 1.5 mm drill and removed them. The plastic worm drive gear simply pulls away with careful use of needle nose pliers. Once this was done I pulled the armature out of the body and found the contacts contaminated with silicone lubricant from the housing. A quick clean up with a bit of 1000 grade paper and cellulose thinners (nail varnish remover will suffice) on the armature and brush tips and back together. As I'd destroyed the tabs, I used a spot of super glue and duct tape on reassembly. One thing to remember is to make a note of the washers on the armature shaft, one is thin steel and then there's a plastic one, make sure the plastic washer is kept in place or the armature will short circuit on the motor body.

The motor is then pushed back into its locating slot and the outer gear drive clips back into place, just make sure you push it hard enough to locate the clips or it will come apart when you apply power.

Now, this was the bit that confused me. The mirror worked fine but the tilt went up with the down button and down with the up! Bugger.... This was annoying especially when I was trying to adjust it on the move and forgot! Anyway, at least I'm on the right track to saving £400.00 on a complete new mirror from Lexus?

So, I had a word with a neighbour who is a development engineer with our local car factory, Bentley. He reckoned I'd fitted the outer housing back to the motor base with a drive gear 180° out, but he couldn't be sure as they fit Audi mirrors and don't keep any documents on how they actually work. Great help that!

I put up with it for a week and then, in a moment of Shiraz haze on Friday night I saw the light. When I'd split the two parts of the motor, I hadn't noted which way around, or which was facing out on the motor body, so I'd effectively kept the positive and negative feeds as were, there's no choice, and reversed the North and South magnets by fitting the body 180° rotated with the brush plate in the same plane!

Anyway, it's all sorted now and to add insult to injury, you can buy the motors on eBay for about £4.00 delivered, as per the attached link.

https://www.bing.com/aclk?ld=e8Km7Hr3wv53vrv59LZ8cCYDVUCUz2XGgJ9F3n2ZGV10-J8ybcYmLBEhDCMKyq8ztVl677vO7d7C-1OscWFoq8-12-4UJfExYl7ijTh3r_jiyBBmNY74nAsephtVYjRgfJLhmLdO9QYUkVnTag6n1gthby7IwfJXO8PlAY-Ysu1_1Y5ZOGN0HC-r7iuKYen4M3s_K5Kw&u=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&rlid=c5f2c07b284517545694a0a3f55f4d18

If you like a tinker, here's the photos.

 

[steve2006]

Great write up and thank you taking the time and trouble to do it for all members.

There are similar motors in the door lock actuators, as you mention replacements are a few pounds and the hardest part is actually removing the lock from the door but the self satisfaction and cost savings are worth the effort.

You have also discovered the practical aspects of Fleming’s Left Hand Rule which determines the motor direction in relation to the direction of the magnetic field 😀

[Paul Brooksbank]

Thanks Steve. I find great satisfaction in finding something useful to do when football is on the TV, and the weather and light are kind! 😁 I can't stand being trapped indoors at this time of year. 

Next week's topic, main research on Tuesday night when England play, will be "How To Make The Mythical Dylithium Crystal, And Avoid Assassination By The Oil Companies."

 

[steve2006]

Becoming the same here with the football, there’s no such thing as natural football these days, it’s just become too technical with “set pieces” and teams spend more time passing the ball back towards their own goal than advancing towards their opponents. 

I used to get more entertainment from playing the game on a Nintendo Wii.

[Phil xxkr]

10 minutes ago, Paul Brooksbank said:

Thanks Steve. I find great satisfaction in finding something useful to do when football is on the TV, and the weather and light are kind! 😁 I can't stand being trapped indoors at this time of year. 

Next week's topic, main research on Tuesday night when England play, will be "How To Make The Mythical Dylithium Crystal, And Avoid Assassination By The Oil Companies."

 

Paul, I am with you every kick, but when you speak of Dylithium are you referring to the very interesting properties of Dilithium, Li₂, which is a strongly electrophilic, diatomic molecule comprising two lithium atoms covalently bonded together. Li₂ is known in the gas phase. It has a bond order of 1, an internuclear separation of 267.3 pm and a bond energy of 102 kJ/mol or 1.06eV in each bond? .^[

This is far more interesting than choosing the preferable shade of paint to observe whilst it transients from a non coagulant state. 😎

[Herbie]

2 hours ago, steve2006 said:

You have also discovered the practical aspects of Fleming’s Left Hand Rule

Good grief Steve, the last time I had anything to do with that was during my electrical apprenticeship, 1974-1978. You've just blown a lot of dust off some little grey cells there my friend

And as for things to do when the football is on, you can't beat a bit of this:

[Mincey]

They look like Scalextric car motors :-)

[steve2006]

2 hours ago, Mincey said:

They look like Scalextric car motors 🙂

They are so cannot ever be used on electric windows as they would keep jumping off their tracks 😀

[steve2006]

8 hours ago, Herbie said:

Good grief Steve, the last time I had anything to do with that was during my electrical apprenticeship, 1974-1978. You've just blown a lot of dust off some little grey cells there my friend

And as for things to do when the football is on, you can't beat a bit of this:

Similar here Herbs, C+G 270 Telecomms Technician 1976-1981.

[Phil xxkr]

12 hours ago, steve2006 said:

Great write up and thank you taking the time and trouble to do it for all members.

There are similar motors in the door lock actuators, as you mention replacements are a few pounds and the hardest part is actually removing the lock from the door but the self satisfaction and cost savings are worth the effort.

You have also discovered the practical aspects of Fleming’s Left Hand Rule which determines the motor direction in relation to the direction of the magnetic field 😀

Oddly enough Steve that's how you start off tying a western wild rag buckaroo knot 🤠

[Mincey]

1 hour ago, steve2006 said:

They are so cannot ever be used on electric windows as they would keep jumping off their tracks 😀

A good point, well made! 😄

[Herbie]

3 hours ago, steve2006 said:

Similar here Herbs, C+G 270 Telecomms Technician 1976-1981.

Wow. I did my apprenticeship at a factory and literally within two months of completing it we were told that the factory was going to be shut down. I jumped early and joined what was then Post Office Telephones and spent the vast majority of my working career as a cable jointer there, never working as an electrician again. I really loved jointing though, great job.

[Phil xxkr]

23 minutes ago, Herbie said:

Wow. I did my apprenticeship at a factory and literally within two months of completing it we were told that the factory was going to be shut down. I jumped early and joined what was then Post Office Telephones and spent the vast majority of my working career as a cable jointer there, never working as an electrician again. I really loved jointing though, great job.

I believe, Herbs, lots of people in the 70's loved jointing and probably still do 🤣

[Paul Brooksbank]

3 hours ago, Phil xxkr said:

I believe, Herbs, lots of people in the 70's loved jointing and probably still do 🤣

The 70's? In my experience it's right now and they're teachers, doctors and accountants! 

[Paul Brooksbank]

16 hours ago, Herbie said:

Good grief Steve, the last time I had anything to do with that was during my electrical apprenticeship, 1974-1978. You've just blown a lot of dust off some little grey cells there my friend

And as for things to do when the football is on, you can't beat a bit of this:

Submarine racing, now, that sounds just the ticket. What channel is it on? And don't say "The English Channel." 

[Paul Brooksbank]

19 hours ago, steve2006 said:

 

You have also discovered the practical aspects of Fleming’s Left Hand Rule which determines the motor direction in relation to the direction of the magnetic field 😀

I already knew this, but due to the substandard Bentley engineer and the bottle of Shiraz, I clean forgot! 😂

[Paul Brooksbank]

And here are the clip locations just in case anybody needs to know. They are quite robust too.

 

[Phil xxkr]

12 minutes ago, Paul Brooksbank said:

The 70's? In my experience it's right now and they're teachers, doctors and accountants! 

That explains why a third of them can't spell, a third can't write and the other half can't add up 😅

[Phil xxkr]

14 minutes ago, Paul Brooksbank said:

Submarine racing, now, that sounds just the ticket. What channel is it on? And don't say "The English Channel." 

No Paul, it's the Bristols channel where they race two abreast 🤣