DIY Power Folding Mirrors: a journey

[stanleywinthrop]

Interesting, yeah I had no problem doing mine. What was the problem specifically?

First picture picture is the OEM mirror control module.

second picture is the mikstore mirror base.

third picture is the OEM mirror base. #1 doesn't fit into #2!

ain't this a kick in the pants

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[akoza]

First picture picture is the OEM mirror control module.

second picture is the mikstore mirror base.

third picture is the OEM mirror base. #1 doesn't fit into #2!

ain't this a kick in the pants

Looking at the few pictures I took the day I installed mine, mine looks just like yours (see picture below). Are you able to see exactly what's blocking the pieces from coming together?

 

[stanleywinthrop]

Looking at the few pictures I took the day I installed mine, mine looks just like yours (see picture below). Are you able to see exactly what's blocking the pieces from coming together?

Do you have a picture to compare your driver's side and passenger side mirror control module? This is my driver's side and it's much smaller than my passenger side

Note the 3 screws on driver's side vs
4 on the passenger side.

 

[akoza]

Do you have a picture to compare your driver's side and passenger side mirror control module? This is my driver's side and it's much smaller than my passenger side

Note the 3 screws on driver's side vs
4 on the passenger side.

Hard to tell from my photos but I believe both sides had 3 screws and it looks like module is the same on both sides. I did notice that my car only has 2 of those plastic tilt adjustment rods where yours has 4. I guess I took more photos/videos than I remember.

Driver:

Passenger:

 

[stanleywinthrop]

Hard to tell from my photos but I believe both sides had 3 screws and it looks like module is the same on both sides. I did notice that my car only has 2 of those plastic tilt adjustment rods where yours has 4. I guess I took more photos/videos than I remember.

Driver:

Passenger:

Do you have an a spec or type s?

 

[akoza]

Do you have an a spec or type s?

Type S. You know what, studying your pictures, I think the problem might be that your passenger mirror has 4 rods instead of 2. Your driver side picture looks like it only has 2 of them. I wonder if Acura ran out of parts when building yours and had to swap in the other one, or somehow the wrong part ended up in the parts bin.

If I were you, I'd either look at the part number on the piece that doesn't fit and see if you can find the correct part, (see if the dealer can somehow get the right part but I doubt it - they might say it "works as intended" before you started to change things or might make you buy the whole assembly).

Alternatively you could try to carefully grind away the plastic on the power folding piece, just enough to get it to fit. If you go that route you can probably also drill a hole for that 4th screw.

Edit: Ooooor see if there's a way to separate the plastic part from the pivoting part and swap the one that fits onto the power folding one.

 

[stanleywinthrop]

Type S. You know what, studying your pictures, I think the problem might be that your passenger mirror has 4 rods instead of 2. Your driver side picture looks like it only has 2 of them. I wonder if Acura ran out of parts when building yours and had to swap in the other one, or somehow the wrong part ended up in the parts bin.

If I were you, I'd either look at the part number on the piece that doesn't fit and see if you can find the correct part, (see if the dealer can somehow get the right part but I doubt it - they might say it "works as intended" before you started to change things or might make you buy the whole assembly).

Alternatively you could try to carefully grind away the plastic on the power folding piece, just enough to get it to fit. If you go that route you can probably also drill a hole for that 4th screw.

Edit: Ooooor see if there's a way to separate the plastic part from the pivoting part and swap the one that fits onto the power folding one.

Yeah I thought about sperating the motor from the housing assembly to swap them but that's a no go unfortunately

I agree my problem is one of two possibilities

1. Like you said I got some random off the shelf part or

2. This is a difference between aspec and type s.

Probably 1

I don't really feel like doing any grinding to dremeling so my first step is to complain to mikstore and see if they will do anything.

 

[akoza]

Yeah I thought about sperating the motor from the housing assembly to swap them but that's a no go unfortunately

I agree my problem is one of two possibilities

1. Like you said I got some random off the shelf part or

2. This is a difference between aspec and type s.

Probably 1

I don't really feel like doing any grinding to dremeling so my first step is to complain to mikstore and see if they will do anything.

I did my wife's mirrors on her RAV4 last week (very similar process) and the instructions mentioned something along the lines of turning the metal washer at the top a quarter turn or so to unlock it. There's a spring underneath so if you try that, be prepared for some boing boing energy to be released.

I agree, complaining to Mikstore is probably the best route. Hopefully once they see your pictures, they can quickly identify and remedy the issue.

Please post if/when you get it resolved. Good luck, hopefully it doesn't take too long!

 

[stanleywinthrop]

I did my wife's mirrors on her RAV4 last week (very similar process) and the instructions mentioned something along the lines of turning the metal washer at the top a quarter turn or so to unlock it. There's a spring underneath so if you try that, be prepared for some boing boing energy to be released.

I agree, complaining to Mikstore is probably the best route. Hopefully once they see your pictures, they can quickly identify and remedy the issue.

Please post if/when you get it resolved. Good luck, hopefully it doesn't take too long!

@akoza

The good news is that mikstore was fairly responsive and I've got a reply.

They bad news is that they seem convinced that my problem is due to mine being an acura, and they do not guarantee fit with acura (only honda). Well, we know that's not true because the same kit worked fine with your acura. That fact doesn't seem helpful in convincing them otherwise, however.

They suggested the same as you - break out the dremel. It doesn't look like I'm going to have any other option so that's probably what I'm going to have to do. I give myself about 50/50 on screwing it up, so wish me luck.

One interesting thing of note. It looks like the standard mirror harness is 8 pin (3 for the mirror, 2 for BSW, 2 for turn signal and 1 for heat--i think it shares a ground). That's my drivers side, and that's probably for both sides of your car. My passenger side has 12 wires. What are those extra 4 wires for? It's not for the mirror actuator -- i checked and the extra 2 posts are purely passive they don't drive the mirror, my passenger mirror only has the 2 active posts to point the mirror, like yours.

 

[akoza]

@akoza

The good news is that mikstore was fairly responsive and I've got a reply.

They bad news is that they seem convinced that my problem is due to mine being an acura, and they do not guarantee fit with acura (only honda). Well, we know that's not true because the same kit worked fine with your acura. That fact doesn't seem helpful in convincing them otherwise, however.

They suggested the same as you - break out the dremel. It doesn't look like I'm going to have any other option so that's probably what I'm going to have to do. I give myself about 50/50 on screwing it up, so wish me luck.

One interesting thing of note. It looks like the standard mirror harness is 8 pin (3 for the mirror, 2 for BSW, 2 for turn signal and 1 for heat--i think it shares a ground). That's my drivers side, and that's probably for both sides of your car. My passenger side has 12 wires. What are those extra 4 wires for? It's not for the mirror actuator -- i checked and the extra 2 posts are purely passive they don't drive the mirror, my passenger mirror only has the 2 active posts to point the mirror, like yours.

Welp, I figured they couldn't do much. Good luck with the dremeling - remember, you can always go back and cut more but you can't add plastic back.

Interesting on the 12-wire connector - I was about to say they stuck an A-Spec w/ tech mirror on your car but then I looked at your avatar and saw that you have the A-spec w/ tech. I'm guessing those 2 active posts might be for the reverse tilt function (ITS and left side of A-spec tech don't have reverse tilt).

On that note, I ordered the reverse tilt kit from Mikstore (haven't installed yet) and it has a different connector than what's in my car. I thought about how to go about installing it (ordering different connectors, etc). Ultimately what I plan on doing is swapping the female (male? the ones with the holes instead of the pins) connectors so that the mirror and the corresponding connector on the harness will use the OEM connector, and the car side of the OEM harness and Mikstore harness will use the Mikstore connectors. It sounds like the only difference for your is the wires but not the connector itself, yeah?

 

[stanleywinthrop]

Welp, I figured they couldn't do much. Good luck with the dremeling - remember, you can always go back and cut more but you can't add plastic back.

Interesting on the 12-wire connector - I was about to say they stuck an A-Spec w/ tech mirror on your car but then I looked at your avatar and saw that you have the A-spec w/ tech. I'm guessing those 2 active posts might be for the reverse tilt function (ITS and left side of A-spec tech don't have reverse tilt).

On that note, I ordered the reverse tilt kit from Mikstore (haven't installed yet) and it has a different connector than what's in my car. I thought about how to go about installing it (ordering different connectors, etc). Ultimately what I plan on doing is swapping the female (male? the ones with the holes instead of the pins) connectors so that the mirror and the corresponding connector on the harness will use the OEM connector, and the car side of the OEM harness and Mikstore harness will use the Mikstore connectors. It sounds like the only difference for your is the wires but not the connector itself, yeah?

My car uses the same 14 pin connector on both sides; the drivers side uses 8 of those 14 spots, while while the passenger side uses 12 spots. Interesting that you should mention the reverse tilt thing. I'm not positive I've ever actually seen it work. I've got some testing to do.

How many slots do the connectors the mikstore sent you have?

 

[akoza]

My car uses the same 14 pin connector on both sides; the drivers side uses 8 of those 14 spots, while while the passenger side uses 12 spots. Interesting that you should mention the reverse tilt thing. I'm not positive I've ever actually seen it work. I've got some testing to do.

How many slots do the connectors the mikstore sent you have?

In order for the power folding to work, your mirror adjustment switch needs to be set to the Right mirror. Then when you put it in reverse, it should go down. I'm curious if those are indeed the wires for it - you can probably put a multimeter to the pins and see what it reads.

My car has the same 14-pin connectors that use 8 wires on both sides. The Mikstore harness that came with the power folding kit was a simple plug and play to those connectors. IIRC only 8 wires were attached on the Mikstore harness. In your case you'd probably just need to add your own 2 wires and pins between both sides on the Mikstore connector. Unless you don't care about reverse mirror tilt, then you can probably leave them alone - just be sure to confirm that those wires are indeed for the reverse tilt.

The reverse tilt kit I bought from Mikstore came with a completely different connector which I believe they said was intended for the Civic without BSI. It's an 8-pin connector with 8 wires attached to it, so hopefully I should be able to get it to work by simply swapping the one MIkstore connector with the one factory connector.

 

[stanleywinthrop]

In order for the power folding to work, your mirror adjustment switch needs to be set to the Right mirror. Then when you put it in reverse, it should go down. I'm curious if those are indeed the wires for it - you can probably put a multimeter to the pins and see what it reads.

My car has the same 14-pin connectors that use 8 wires on both sides. The Mikstore harness that came with the power folding kit was a simple plug and play to those connectors. IIRC only 8 wires were attached on the Mikstore harness. In your case you'd probably just need to add your own 2 wires and pins between both sides on the Mikstore connector. Unless you don't care about reverse mirror tilt, then you can probably leave them alone - just be sure to confirm that those wires are indeed for the reverse tilt.

The reverse tilt kit I bought from Mikstore came with a completely different connector which I believe they said was intended for the Civic without BSI. It's an 8-pin connector with 8 wires attached to it, so hopefully I should be able to get it to work by simply swapping the one MIkstore connector with the one factory connector.

Wow. You learn something new everyday. Sure enough, with my mirror switch on R, and in reverse, my passenger side mirror dips. However, it doesn't automatically go back when I take it out of reverse which makes this feature a lot less useful, IMO.

As far as wiring goes once I get both motors mounted, I'm fairly confident on how to handle. The remaining challenge for me is tackling some delicate modding.

 

[akoza]

Wow. You learn something new everyday. Sure enough, with my mirror switch on R, and in reverse, my passenger side mirror dips. However, it doesn't automatically go back when I take it out of reverse which makes this feature a lot less useful, IMO.

As far as wiring goes once I get both motors mounted, I'm fairly confident on how to handle. The remaining challenge for me is tackling some delicate modding.

My GTI had the same feature and it wouldn't go back up until you either turned off the car or started driving away (I think the threshold was something like 8-10mph). My theory is that this is intentional so if you have to move back and forwards while parallel parking, the mirror isn't just constantly moving up and down.

 

[dkny008]

Now I got a problem.
I bought the folding kit from Mike and asked a shop to install for me.
But I found the whole thing in reserve.

When the button is pressed(down), the mirrors are unfold.

When the button is up, the mirrors are fold.

When I lock the car, the mirrors unfold.

When I unlock the car, the mirrors folded.

Anyone know what's wrong?

Thanks in advance

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