outside mirrors out of control

[thomash85715]

Our 04 325i estate suddenly began moving both outside mirrors all over the place back and forth up and down. After a couple minutes, they might stop but in a weird spot. Switching the L-R button back and forth will start them hunting again. If they stop, a bump on the directional knob will trigger another round of bizarre behavior. The door panel has not been removed; the cable from the body into the door is not kinked. The seat memory buttons are working correctly vis a vis the seat itself but any command to move the seat to a memory position starts the mirrors on their quest for extra or sub terrestrial images. Is there a calibration procedure the mirrors are trying to perform on themselves? How can we stop it or make this settle down? Thank you.

[TonyAngel]

Man, that is bizarre. How old is your battery? Apparently a battery that is going bad can cause all sorts of weirdness.

[thomash85715]

We took out mirror switch to shoot de-ox inside but the mirrors continued to hunt even with switch not in circuit. Next idea is to locate the mirror memory module which seems to be a discrete thing separate from the seat memory module. Plan is to pull the connector off that module and clean the contacts and then re-connect. But where is it? We have a multi-thousand page paper manual but for all the electric info in it, I cannot find the physical location of that module. Help with this aspect is appreciated. Battery voltage at rest is within normal limits. Alternator is charging fine.

[malcolmw]

Have a similarly weird problem with 06 325 coupe. After rainstorm and flooded roads, mirrors all over the place. pointing in weird directions and making strange reactions to movements of the control knob on the door rest.
No evidence of water under the bonnet - in fact the whole engine bay was remarkably dry and no evidence of splashing. No problems inside the car, no disturbance of any units, components, etc,
This means it is unlikely to be related to anything under the bonnet or in the "cabin"
That only leave the mirror units themselves - the motors and position switches/limit switches within the mirror housings, or water ingress into the door wiring (unlikely because all the windows work OK)
I am going to try air blasting the mirror housings to see if it will dry them out, then try to spray inside the housings with propanol - an industrial alcohol which will "wash out" water and then evapourate. - or maybe a hair dryer.
don't know if any of this is helpful to your problem, but good luck

[fpschris]

Have a similarly weird problem with 06 325 coupe. After rainstorm and flooded roads, mirrors all over the place. pointing in weird directions and making strange reactions to movements of the control knob on the door rest.
No evidence of water under the bonnet - in fact the whole engine bay was remarkably dry and no evidence of splashing. No problems inside the car, no disturbance of any units, components, etc,
This means it is unlikely to be related to anything under the bonnet or in the "cabin"
That only leave the mirror units themselves - the motors and position switches/limit switches within the mirror housings, or water ingress into the door wiring (unlikely because all the windows work OK)
I am going to try air blasting the mirror housings to see if it will dry them out, then try to spray inside the housings with propanol - an industrial alcohol which will "wash out" water and then evapourate. - or maybe a hair dryer.
don't know if any of this is helpful to your problem, but good luck

If you've got the problem most of us late owners do, on memory seats, powerfold mirrors the cable on the driver mirror side is a ribbon and it breaks down over time.
Some have been successful in fixing it but it's really delicate and only a new replacement fixes it.

Google e46 mirror ribbon fix.