Retractable Side Mirror Motor?

[MrBurns]

Where can i find a motor for my drivers side retractable mirror? It stopped folding in/out recently and i've discovered that the motor is dead.

The dead one is a Mabuchi motor, so i had a look on their web site, but they don't have the exact same one anymore. There is one similar, but it lacks a screw hole necessary to hold it in place.

I've contacted some of the import shops and a nissan dealer but they only supply the entire mirror ie. lots of $$$ when all i need is a piddly little motor.

[Oosh]

How similar? You might be able to mock something up with this other motor, have you tried Nissan?

[MrBurns]

How similar? You might be able to mock something up with this other motor, have you tried Nissan?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nissan only sell the whole mirror, which sucks cos i'd reckon motors would only cost $10 max.

Yeah, i'm going to try and hunt down a dc motor from an electronics shop and see if that works. I think Mabuchi only sell in bulk, so i doubt i'll be needing hundreds of the things.

Its amazing how difficult it is to find one.

[Oosh]

Do you have a photo of it, and/or a link to similar Mabuchi item, i'm interested to see what they look like (but not enough to pull my mirrors apart to find out )

[MrBurns]

Do you have a photo of it, and/or a link to similar Mabuchi item, i'm interested to see what they look like (but not enough to pull my mirrors apart to find out )

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Here's some pics of my dead Mabuchi Motor (i used my webcam so sorry if they're not very clear):

Here's the link to 2 Mabuchi Motors for Retractable Mirrors

The FC-280SC looks like the best possible one as it has the correct connection points, but it lacks the hole to hold it in place (could drill it though i suppose). The FK-280SA lacks the correct connection points as it has forks instead (these would prevent the motor from sitting in place as they stick out too much), but has the hole to hold it in place.

I looked everywhere on the web for a reseller of these motors but couldn't find anyone anywhere, even though they appear in just about every dam electronics device on the planet.

I'm probably gonna trot down to the local wrecker this weekend...

[Oosh]

That link didn't work but i found them anyway:

FC-280SC

FC-280SA

Drilling in to the hosing wouldn't be a good idea unless you could remove it first, definately don't want metal filings in the bushes, or on the magnets.

How about this one:

FK-280SA

It has the holes and the terminals are at the rear, but they're tabs and stick out.

But it's all moot unless you can find a dealer, their sales mob look really only geared up to sell in bulk, bummer.

Google turned up this place:

http://www.kysanelectronics.com/electricmotorsdcmabuchi.htm

Maybe drop them a a line?

This thread mentions a supplier in the US of similar motors:

http://www.g2ic.com/forums/printthread.php?t=93099

Another mob in Korea:

http://www.motorize.co.kr/english/view.asp...3&lev2=3&lev3=4

This seems to imply they're used to power small RC/Scaletrix cars:

http://xmodworld.com/modules.php?name=Foru...iewtopic&p=5560

Some maybe try some hobby shops?

[MrBurns]

Kysan Electronics looks a goer. They seem to have all the Mabuchi motors and they're all nice and cheap. At that price, I'll probably just get a few different models and see which one fits/works when they arrive.

Thanks for your help Oosh

Keep ya posted on how it goes...

[MrBurns]

I managed to fix my motor over the weekend, so after all that I wont need to find one.

After removing the casing of the motor (with great difficulty) I found that one of the coils had unwound itself. I grabbed some "winding wire" from dick smith, removed the existing three coils of wire from the motors armature and rewound the coils with the new wire by hand. I had to solder the wires onto the commutator, but it should be ok.

Somehow this worked, albeit noisier than before (sounds like its spinning faster) but my mirror can fold in/out again

So, instead of paying ~$250 for a new mirror like the nissan dealer said i'd have to get, i managed to get away with just $6 for the winding wire and gained some handy knowledge of dc motors.

Also, I contacted the guys at Kysan Electronics and they said they'd be able to sell the motors (even though their web site says they dont ship items under $200). If anyone needs one, just drop them a line at [email protected] and they should be able to help you out. The guy who emailed me was 'Sam Wang'.

[d00dz]

My window mirrors motor never works. Dont suppose you have pictures or can point me to where I can test and see what is wrong?

I dont hear any clicking sounds. Nothing when i press the button.

[MacGuyver]

Good to hear it worked out for you MrBurns. My mirrors recently died as well (neither of them do anything at all!) so thought I might have a similar problem as yours. Just a question about taking the mirror apart though; after you've disconnected it physically from the car door, and you've removed the 3 screws from underneath the mirror where do you go from there? I've also undone the small screw that is located where the mirror is attached to the cable, but still can't get the thing apart! Any ideas?

"They taste like burning!"

[MrBurns]

Good to hear it worked out for you MrBurns. My mirrors recently died as well (neither of them do anything at all!) so thought I might have a similar problem as yours. Just a question about taking the mirror apart though; after you've disconnected it physically from the car door, and you've removed the 3 screws from underneath the mirror where do you go from there? I've also undone the small screw that is located where the mirror is attached to the cable, but still can't get the thing apart! Any ideas?

"They taste like burning!"

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah, its a bit fiddly and no doubt you'll get just as frustrated as i did I should have taken some photos when i had mine apart, cos its a bit tricky to explain it, but seeing as i'm at work and bored like hell, hear goes in gory detail...

(from memory)

Note: Give yourself about 2-4 hours for this.

First, you'll need to remove your inner door panel and the little plastic-triangle-plate thingy that covers the mirror-to-door screws just above the door panel, so you can get at these screws.

Unplug the mirror power cable from the connector on the door. Unscrew the three 'big' screws that hold the mirror to the door. You should now be able to feed the cable through the door and remove the entire mirror assembly from the door and take it into your workshop (ie. kitchen table

You can literally pull off the mirror plate as its surprisingly just clipped on. It may need a bit of force. Behind this there are a few screws holding the 'guts' in place. Remove these.

You'll find a few more screws (three, i think) underneath the spongy insulation in the mirror mount that connects to the door (near the holes for the 3 'big' screws you removed previously). Remove these. If you fold the mirror in with your hands, there may be another screw near the folding-pivot-point (poor explanation, i know Check anywhere else for visible screws and remove these to.

Try not to do what i did and forget where the screws go, then have a spare after you've reassembled it all <_<

You should now be able to feed the power cable through the spongy insulation & mirror mount to help slide the guts out a bit. You wont be able to remove the guts completely though as the power cable connector doesn't fit through all the holes. U've just got to juggle it all.

The black plastic casing part of the guts contains the stuff you want. Its held on with some little clips around the sides of it. Just slide it up over them to remove it to reveal the motor, electronics board and another black casing. You have to 'pop' the electronics board off a bit. It wont completely detach as its connected to the main power cable. You may need to feed the power cable through some more to give it more slack. Remove the 3 screws holding the black casing on. Detach the black, plastic wires connector from the top of the motor.

Now it gets messy. Inside this black casing are the gears and a seemingly ridiculous amount of grease. Slightly lift the casing and note how the gears work and where they are positioned as you may need to put them back together if they get dislodged, which is likely.

The motor is held in place by a screw that you can access when the black casing is slightly lifted. Try to remove this screw without lifting the casing too much, otherwise your gears will dislodge and you'll have to fish through the greasy sludge to put them back together again like i did. It's not difficult to understand how they work, but its just a pain. I wont describe how they work here as its all fairly intuitive.

Remove the motor and slide the casing down again. There you go, its that easy.

Test your motor with a 9 volt battery or something to see if it spins. If not, its dead and you'll either need to replace it, or do what i did and fix it yourself

Hopefully you can make sense of all this.

[MrBurns]

My window mirrors motor never works. Dont suppose you have pictures or can point me to where I can test and see what is wrong?

I dont hear any clicking sounds. Nothing when i press the button.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sorry, i dont have pictures as i've just reassembled my mirror, but i'll try and give u some ideas. Unfortunately its all trial & error:

First, check your fuses.

Second, i'd check to make sure the mirrors are receiving the 12V power they need when you're pressing the switch. The power connectors for the side-mirrors are located in their respective door panels, so you'll have to remove either the drivers or passengers side door panel depending on which side mirror is dead.

Just detach the mirrors power connector from the connector on the door and hook up a voltometer to the doors connector instead. Just stick the prongs of the voltometer into the wires in the connector. From memory there are five wires so you'll probably need to test each one. I think the yellow, purple and blue wires are for the mirror alignment motor and the remaining 2 are for the fold in/out motor, but i cant remember for sure though.

If they aren't receiving power then either a fuse has blown or perhaps the mirrors switch is dead which is another can of worms.

If they are receiving power, then you'll have to pull your mirror off to get your motor out and test it. If the motor works, then it could be the little electronics board in the mirror. On my mirror this board has 2 little metal circular connectors underneath it that slide back and forward as the mirror folds in/out. They'd snapped off and weren't touching properly, so i had to glue them back on.