Retrofitting rear view mirror

[pc123andre]

I am a DIY enthusiast, and my rear view mirror wasn't functioning properly (auto dimming never worked, even thought the exterior mirrors did dim).
A friend of mine gave me two rear view mirros that had some problems. One from an E60 and other from an E90 (but without 100% certainty).

So, before doing anything, I found out that the main reason the inside mirror wasn't dimming was because the filament was burned. And yes it was!

I began removing my mirror
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And then tearing apart the three mirrors
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As you can see in the video, my mirror had the dimming element melted. Next to it I show a glass that has one in good condition

https://youtu.be/2GwBaOejPm4


I chose this mirro and used the cable that has terminals (red/black) leading to the metal element that feeds the dimming feature. I cut the terminal and kept both wires
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(continues in the next post - due to the 5 picture limitation per post)

[pc123andre]

Next step was choosing what case to use. My choice was using the newer one that had the alarm bubble. This new bubble is grey and bigger.
The glass came from the mirror without this alarm bubble.
From my original mirror came the circuit board.

Then from my original mirror I removed the circuit board and soldered two wires so that I could move the photoelectric (?) sensor to another position. This was because the donor mirror case didn't have a hole in the same place as my old one.
Doing this I could position the sensor in the same place where the sensor belonging to that glass was.
Luckily I could place the rear photoelectric sensor in the same place, avoiding more tweaks :)
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I used hot glue to fix steady the circuit board and the relocated photoelectric sensor.
With everything in place, I reassembled the mirror

https://youtu.be/3BcQVXRWKGo

I tested in the car and.. voilà!
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From the outside it look like it came from the factory.
It's firm and steady and works like a charm!

https://youtu.be/fyNNI3rp6u0


Note: I am a amateur using the soldering iron. I know that the welds are bad but this is a temporary measure. I needed to have a mirror in my car and this solution worked.
I plan soon to ask someone more experienced using a soldering iron to repair my lack of skills :D

[TiagE39]

Very interesting! I don't think I've ever seen a teardown of one of these mirrors.

[Kevinephraim]

How did you cut open the mirror cover/case and then how did you glue the two parts back?

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

I have an M5 rearview mirror ratholed around here somewhere, the mirror has the same cooked syndrome that seems to affect the mirrors more than the regular ones. There was one guy on ebay that sells the replacement oval mirror, cheap, like $10 or $20, can’t remember what I paid. All you have to do is de solder two wires from the old mirror, and solder it to the new one. Problem is, I can’t remember where I placed the M5 mirror….. lol

To pop the mirrors open, you just need to unsnap the lid away from the main housing. The lid has 12 tabs that clip on to the housing. A nice wide screwdriver placed into the channel, and help it with your free hand unsnaps the rim loose. The long edges have 5 tabs, and each end has one, placed in the center. The M5 mirror is pretty much the same, in it’s oval shape of course.

[pc123andre]

How did you cut open the mirror cover/case and then how did you glue the two parts back?

Already answered by Kevinephraim.
I didn't needed to glue back together the case. Only used inside the mirror to fix the circuit board

[crdiscoverer]

Interesting, but it's definitely one more thing to add to the list of "I hope that sh... never breaks":

- Electrochromatic mirror
- Resoldering LCM
- Missing cluster pixels
- Heater core

[TiagE39]

- Heater core

I'm yet to hear or read of an E39 heater core failure. E34 however...

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Heater core? Dude, they're talking about auto darkening rear view mirrors on this thread.

[crdiscoverer]

I mentioned the heater core, Snotty. Scroll up.

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Oh! How snotty of me, sorry dude, totally missed your to do list.

[crdiscoverer]

What? Hell no! If that was my to do list I'd find the nearest exploding fan clutch and put my face right next to it.