Side mirror adjustment not working vertically.

[KennyP]

Ok... I noticed that my drivers side mirror wont move up or down anymore when i try to adjust it. It works horisontally (can adjust it left and right) but does not move up or down.
Passenger side mirror works fine. Can adjust that up, down, left, right. So adjustment switch works.
Also folding feature works perfectly on both sides.
Havent checked on autodimming yet. So cant really say if that is fine or not.

Has anyone dealt with this issue? Are there any common failure points i should maybe know about?

im thinking about 3 possible issues:
1. adjustment motor failed -> get new motor.
2. adjustment motor connector has a bad connection -> take mirror apart, check and clean connector.
3: Broken wires, possibly at the door hinge area? -> find and fix the wires.

Helpful information is much appreciated. Thanks!

[KennyP]

So had some time today to take things apart and find out what the issue was...
Started with the door harness plug connector at the hinges. Śaw one thread here on this forum where someone also had issues with side mirrors and they found that the door harness connector at the hinges was corroded.
So started with that. Its just one bolt and you can unplug that connector.
Found mine being in totally perfect condition. No signs of moisture or corrosion.

Next up took off mirror glass.
To get it off adjust mirror as upward as it goes to have the biggest gap possible at the bottom edge of the mirror. Then peek into that gap and you should see two wires.. push those wire toward each other and unhook them. After that mirror should come off.

Now to mirror adjustment motor.
Adjustment motor is fixed in place with one torx screw at the center. Unscrewd that and pulled out the motor unit. It had a connector at the back.
And that connector did have some corrosion on it. Used some contact cleaner to clean both sides up, hoping that this was the problem.
Hooked everything up again but nothing. Still mirror worked only in one axis.

So pulled that motorunit again and took it apart.
One youtube video on e90 mirror adjustment motor was was very helpful here.
Link:
https://youtu.be/zXTQuD_RmTA
Z4 motor unit is not 100% the same.. Some clips are designed a bit differently, but you can dismantle it pretty much the same way.

So took motor unit apart and found one of the two electric motors inside covered in rust.Second motor was in good condition... Obviously thats the cause of the issue.

Now i have to get new adjustment motor unit, replace it and it should work again.
Those aint cheap though.. 232 eur for a new one with LIN bus online. If you have seat memory you need one with lin bus.
But as this motor is used in many Bmw-s ( from 1 series up to 7 series and X suv-s) i think ill just try to source one used for like 70 eur or something like that.

And on top of the mirror issue... today i found out that my roof doesnt want to open anymore. Same roof issue as nomoracing had in a recent thread on here.
Rear class starts to open... gets like 1/3 up and then stops and i get roof error message on idrive. Shut the car down, the hydraulic pressure gets released and window lowers back down. Then i can power the car on again and use top up button to secure it back in place. Probably those broken hall sensor wires again.
Recently im a bit unlucky with this car...finding issue after issue. For example 1.5 months ago had pdc failure due to faulty parking sensor. Electrical issues are becoming more frequent.

Though this car is getting a bit on in years and i cant complain: have had quite a good 7 year run with only a few issues with it during that time.

[B21]

Good write up…always good to hear how things get de-bugged

[KennyP]

Got my hands on a used replacement mirror adjustment motor unit yesterday.

Though same motor unit partnumber is used for many bmw-s across their range and even years from e gen to some g gen... that replacement part was not just plug in and reassemble mirror kind of deal.. Problem lied with the 8pin connector in the back of the motor unit that plugs into a 8pin socket that is fixed in the mirror housing. Replacement part had a longer plastic shroud neck for the 8 pins than the original broken unit had. every thing else was the same. This longer neck prevented the pins on the motor unit and socket on the mirror housing to make contact. Neck basically bottomed out before socket and pins made a connection.

Solution was to cut the plastic neck down to the same level as the old motor unit had. After trimming the plastic neck guard down motor unit could plug all the way in and after reassembly worked again nicely. Issue fixed!

Why was the neck different i dont know, maybe they had changed plug/ socket design over the years. Also motor unit that came off had a MCI logo on it(or something like that) and replacement part had Eaton logo.So different manufacturer slightly different plug design maybe?...

Got replacement unit from Schmiedmann in Denmark for 66 eur+ shipping... They sell new part aswell but for that they are asking 272 eur + shipping.
Link to their webshop:
https://www.schmiedmann.com/en/produ...t=B67137191398