Power mirror closed but now won’t reopen

[Dustin Jackson]

New carwash down the road was giving free car washes.

Used the “fold mirror” button to fold the mirrors in and the mirrors folded in as expected.

After the car wash I pressed the “unfold mirror” button and my passenger mirror unfolded as expected but my driver mirror did not.

When I press the “unfold mirror” button I hear a single tap or click from the driver mirror but it doesn’t move, I tried giving it some assistance opening and closing but it did not move using a reasonable amount of force.

What’s the best way to troubleshoot this?

 

[OR VietVet]

Where the contact areas are, that rub each other when it folds and unfolds, look for debris and clean out as needed. I have seen this before when debris builds up and if the motor cannot easily open, it shuts down. I have cleaned and lubed with silicone and they have worked again. But if motor has crapped itself, look for the replacement parts at OEMGMPARTS web sites.

 

[j91z28d1]

there's a whole site based on these gm mirrors. I'll looks, but just Google gm folding mirrors. mine messed up soon after I got it. the plastic gear inside cracked and got stuck.

there's replacement metals gears, and don't even have to remove the mirror off the door to do it. but don't do what I did, don't skip the step in where you disconnect the positive tab on the motor, or it grounds itself out thur metal gears and doesn't work haha. took me a bit to find that.

but since replacing the gears they have both worked perfectly. the motor themselves seems to be good, and the body control module knows to cut the power when they stall before burning them up. it's just like everything else involved is standard gm, just like with their hvac actuators and all, they put at least one plastic gear in everything to fail.

 

[j91z28d1]

GM Power Folding Mirror Gear Replacement / Repair Instructions

www.gruvenparts.com

I didn't end up using the gears from the first link thou, I just got the Amazon ones already made up

 

[Dustin Jackson]

I ended up getting it open today, just needed to use more force than I was expecting but she’s open.

The pain in the butt to benefit ratio is too great to further pursue repairing the mirror motor.

 

[mikez71]

I've thought manual folding would be more durable, and I never fold mine anyways.

 

[Doubeleive]

I ended up getting it open today, just needed to use more force than I was expecting but she’s open.

The pain in the butt to benefit ratio is too great to further pursue repairing the mirror motor.

most liklely the gear broke inside it's very common
you just need one of these gears $12.00 and it takes about 30 minutes to fix with basic tools, you do not have to even remove the mirror from the vehicle, you can take it all apart attached to the door. if I can do it anybody can

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