Electric Door Mirror

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Gary Croft

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Passenger-side Door Mirror wont pull in 'electrically' - it occasionally stuck in cold weather, so kept it lubricated with WD40, but now it wont move when you push the button to pull it in - or back out for that matter!

It moves freely 'manually' and occasionally clicks, then it moves once or twice on the button before stopping again.

Has anyone got any pictures of what's inside, what the mechanism is to move the mirror - just wondered if its 'jumped' - that said, you cant hear the motor work on that side.

Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated!
 

SeventyGTX

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Passenger-side Door Mirror wont pull in 'electrically' - it occasionally stuck in cold weather, so kept it lubricated with WD40, but now it wont move when you push the button to pull it in - or back out for that matter!

It moves freely 'manually' and occasionally clicks, then it moves once or twice on the button before stopping again.

Has anyone got any pictures of what's inside, what the mechanism is to move the mirror - just wondered if its 'jumped' - that said, you cant hear the motor work on that side.

Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated!

Power mirrors are not usually serviceable, with the exception of changing the glass. You would probably be better off finding a good used one or even a new aftermarket one. Although, seeing you are in the UK, that may be difficult. It could also be the switch going bad. Good luck with it.
 
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LibertyTC

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No interior pics around.
WD 40 is the wrong lube to be using, at anything below freezing it's useless.
Try taking a hair dryer to the mirror blowing air in the back & see if you can get it working again. Then probably best to set it and forget it until it warms up.
Ok so what is good lube..hmmm...
A synthetic oil with graphite/spray, and mix with lock de-icer.
If it is busted time 4 a new one. Do you have the heated mirror on your jeep?
Hope this helps.
 

SeventyGTX

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Yep, WD40 is not really a good lube. Most mirrors I have seen, usually in pieces because of accidents, are lubed with a coat of white grease or similar.
 

Billwill

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Passenger-side Door Mirror wont pull in 'electrically' - it occasionally stuck in cold weather, so kept it lubricated with WD40, but now it wont move when you push the button to pull it in - or back out for that matter!

It moves freely 'manually' and occasionally clicks, then it moves once or twice on the button before stopping again.

Has anyone got any pictures of what's inside, what the mechanism is to move the mirror - just wondered if its 'jumped' - that said, you cant hear the motor work on that side.

Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated!

What year is your KJ so I can check what fuses are in that circuit seeing as you cannot hear the motor doing anything.

I presume your mirrors have the function of folding electrically back and then forward again seeing as it is an Export model....does that work and does it have the heating function?:shrug:
 

SeventyGTX

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The owners manual in my 05 says only one fuse for both mirrors. So, if the fuse is out it should affect both mirrors. That is unless the export models have two fuses. Interesting that export models would have power folding mirrors, yet the US models do not.
 

Billwill

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The owners manual in my 05 says only one fuse for both mirrors. So, if the fuse is out it should affect both mirrors. That is unless the export models have two fuses. Interesting that export models would have power folding mirrors, yet the US models do not.

Yeah we also have electrically adjustable headlight height.....really do not know why this is not standard on all the KJs as you can adjust the height as you drive to stop blinding oncoming traffic if your KJ is heavily loaded.

Radio antennae is intergrated in right-rear quater window as well!:shrug:
 

wheeee32

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Yeah we also have electrically adjustable headlight height.....really do not know why this is not standard on all the KJs as you can adjust the height as you drive to stop blinding oncoming traffic if your KJ is heavily loaded.

Radio antennae is intergrated in right-rear quater window as well!:shrug:

Yet again someone saw fit to not give us these features.:shrug:
 

SeventyGTX

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That antenna in the 1/4 glass would be sweet. I have always hated how Mopar has them on the fenders, just waiting for it to grab something and bend the crap out of the metal. My old '04 Dodge truck and current '12 have the same ******** design. Gotta make sure to pull the mast going through an automatic car wash.

The first time I took the KJ through one, I forgot about it and watched that antenna getting folded all kinds of ways. When I got out to look, I figured the fender would be bent up, but it was ok. Now I take it off, not taking any chances.
 

Gary Croft

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Many thanks for all the advice - I need to wait for the good weather so I can get the door trims off and take the mirror off the door, so I can see what's up with the mechanism as I guess something has either broken or maybe jumped as it does try to move and seems that the 'timing' is off - just a little weird why neither of them pull in!

Like someone said, its a 'nice to have' as they do stick out, but its not the be all and end all of life so if they're beyond help then I'll just leave them - they are in good condition so no real reason to replace them for the sake of it.

Yes, they are heated but here in the UK, certainly where I live - it really doesn't get too cold for that to have affected them.
 

hoju99

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My UK KJ has an issue where the passenger side will fold but drivers side does nothing.folds in manually easy but does nothing on the switch
 

beachkat

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Having just spent several days investigating the inner workings of these poorly made mirrors, I'm posting this info in the hope it helps someone else with cherokee KJ/Liberty jeep power folding mirror problems. I found almost zero info on how to repair them apart from one badly shot video on YT which doesn't go all the way to replacing inner gears.

The common issue with them seems to be a worn worm drive on the Mabuchi motor (as used in model trains btw ^^) or else damaged gears.

The gear kits are available on ebay at an exhorbitant price but still better than cost of replacing whole mirror which, if you can get one, run to over £300 each from Jeep agents.
I've shipped two complete mirrors from US suppliers (to here in the UK) which, when they arrived, proved to have no motors inside so no powered fold in facility.
I realised that you can tell by the price if they're actually electric folding mirror as they'll be over $100. Anything priced less is just a shell with 4 way mirror motor adjuster & maybe the heating element.

Taking apart the mirror is tricky so don't try unless your adept at DIY repairs. Worst part is removing the motor mount from the black triangular housing. It's held in by 2 'snap tabs' which have to be levered up at the same time. Once raised enough to loosen the unit slightly, the top retainer then has to be prized apart for final release. Once you've done this, you can release the motor itself (3 screws on top under the round snap cover and 4 torx on the base).
To take apart the tiny chinese made electric motor itself unscrew the torx screws on the base. Once it's open you can quickly see which parts are worn/broken. The trickiest job of all is replacing the worm drive on the motor shaft. I made a makeshift puller and manage to inch it forward enough to get needle nose pliers behind it so I could stop the shaft turning. This allowed me to *very carefully* file off the old gear and replace it with a new alloy one. Obviously if you damage the motor or bend the shaft, you're into buying a new one. My motors aren't marked up with any model ID but apparently Mabuchi FK280 12v 5200 rpm can be used as a replacement and will run fwd/reverse by changing polarity (what your switch does). These are cheap and easy to find.

Pix of motor gearing disassembly:

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hope this helps!
 
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profdlp

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...I took pix at various stages of disassembly and will post links (once they're upped) if anybody's interested.

I don't have the power folding mirrors, but I'd bet there will be a lot of grateful people once you do that. :favorites13:
 

CactusJacked

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What's the main reason for wanting electric folding mirrors, having a sub-standard garage? In all my years of driving, I've never had a need to fold my mirrors in.

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beachkat

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hard for you guys to understand but remember we're a small country with crowded cities, old narrow streets etc so folding wing mirrors are fitted to nearly all cars. Electric versions just make it nice n easy when navigating into (standard) 8ft wide single garages, parking spaces etc ;-)
 

CactusJacked

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Ok, gotcha. As in this instance, this woman definitely could have benefited from having "folding mirrors". lol

[YT]7RgWVZWnzj8[/YT]
 
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