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Folding mirror motor replacement

MWR

Full Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2006
Messages
444
Location
Southern NJ
Passenger side folding mirror motor has quit on me.  Will fold (slowly) but won't unfold.  I assume the folding mechanism is separate from the power mirror motor?  

Has anyone replaced the folding mechanism?
 
I have almost same prob w my drivers mirror hope somebody replies!!! :B: :help:
 
The only replacement parts for mirrors is the Glass.
 
GM Parts Direct lists the glass, mirror motor (1st & 2nd design), motor (left & right).  The only illustration they have is for non-power folding.  No idea when changeover to 2nd design occurred or what the difference is. 

Looks like the options are:

25808706 - ACTUATOR - $51.62

or

15874998 - ACTUATOR - $51.11
 
Here ya go

 

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Does anyone know why both my mirrors wont fold in but will fold out.  I manually fold them in.  but I can get them to fold out with the press of the button...
 
Do they make any noise when you try to fold them in.  And do the mirror move up and down/left and right normally.
 
Bringing this back to the top - I really need to get this fixed.

To answer the last question, the passenger mirror makes a nasty racket and won't fold when the button is pressed.  I believe the mirror adjustment controls work fine, I'll double-check. 
 
07 is the first year second gen Avy I'm not up on all the changes. You can have a dealer run your VIN and get exact part numberr. When I had problems with my mirrors I bought used with same features and have swapped parts to make everything work. There is a member on here that gave very detailed step by step on mirrors, I can't find at this time.
So if you can by a motor not that hard to change out. The Tec section is good for taking out glass and components. I had luck with finding pickup, Burbs, Tahoe interchange.
Hope this helps.
JV
 
Sent my VIN to gmpartsdirect and got the following:

25779849 Passenger side outside rear view mirror; unpainted
 
I am about to change my non-folding mirrors with folding.  I am using http://www.chevyavalanchefanclub.com/cafcna/index.php/topic,102872.0.html as a guideline.  Maybe you can see if that will help.
 
by the looks of that picture I would say you are out of luck for getting just the folding mirror motor .... have you thought about getting a mirror off ebay? ....

and maybe take yours apart and see if you can even get to the motor? ...

I had where mine would not move the glass left or right .... they replaced the entire unit under my extended warr.
 
Well, Ive actually taken the entire mirror assembly apart, all the way down to each individual piece. Bad News: The actual motor that controls the folding has no stamp, no marking, no tag, etc on it, no "Made in Canada, Mexico, USA, China" nothing.

All of the motors listed on all parts lists are for the mirror itself, and the power folding motor is never listed separately.

I even took the PF motor apart, down to individual gears. The most common issue with it is a plastic gear that engages the electric motor breaks - that plastic gear is molded around a 1-inch long metal worm-gear which engages a metal ring gear that turns the housing of the motor assembly - which folds the mirror.

Its a piss-poor design - they make all metal gears, except for the plastic gear which is NON-Replacable...rather than putting a plastic gear on the electric motor which could then be replaced.

In my case the entire mirror is wobbly which is why I took it apart, I was hoping to find a loose screw or something, what I found was the ratcheting mechanism inside the PF motor was not latching tightly (its basically a ring-gear which sits in a grove in the stamped-metal outside shell of the motor assembly) - impossible to fix since its a stamped metal piece.

Im still going to scour the web to see who makes the PF motor assembly, Im thinking its a non-marked part because it comes assembled on the mirror main-frame piece, so maybe there is a way to track it down...Someone has to make the damned thing.


Intimidatoruag said:
by the looks of that picture I would say you are out of luck for getting just the folding mirror motor .... have you thought about getting a mirror off ebay? ....

and maybe take yours apart and see if you can even get to the motor? ...

I had where mine would not move the glass left or right .... they replaced the entire unit under my extended warr.
 
Yeah, So Just a heads up to everyone trying to find used replacement mirrors online - Avoid them. I bought one, and asked several questions before buying, specifically if the thing was wiggly or wobbly where it folds, when its folded out. I figured "***K" the Power Folding, as long as the danged thing is nice and tight so everything isnt blurred in the mirror. Long story short - he said it was "Nice and Tight" (HA! Oh I bet) and when it arrived its looser than a goose - well its looser and more wobbly than my existing one.

I took the entire thing apart and Im going to attempt a permanent repair.

The exact same issues were inside this one as my original - broken plastic ring gear (which should have been metal like ALL the other gears are), and excessive wear between the metal contact parts where the mirror has to pop up and over in order to fold (power folding causes the wear the same as manually folding)

BTW - The design is such that Manually folding bypasses the gears via a little cam, that entire design looks good and no wear whatsoever - so the breaking gears are not caused by people accidentally or purposely folding the mirrors - its a full-on design flaw.

If I get a fix worked out, I might offer to repair other members, it wont be cheap, but it will be less than the $200 for used mirror with power folding not working, and less than the $300+ for unpainted aftermarket assemblies.
 
Just to put a period on my part of this thread, I ordered part #25779849 from GM Parts Direct, total with shipping was $160.57.  Part was correct for my application (I sent them my VIN first to be sure) and the install was straight-forward.  Hardest part was removing the painted insert from the old mirror and replacing the flat black insert on the new mirror without damage.  It was a bit tedious but I'm happy to have a functioning mirror again.
 
Thats the Power Folding unit? No Glass, right?

What all did it come with? Still expensive.

I found these aftermarket ones from AMsParts: http://www.ebay.com/itm/130576551032?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2648

They also sell individually. Im considering this rout.

Ive taken the actual GM PF motor apart on 2 units, they are massively flawed in design on several parts. Not just the crappy plastic gear that breaks (which is Molded onto a Metal Ring Gear, thus unfixable), the actual internal parts and exterior bearing surfaces literally wear out, they grind themselves down to where they dont engage/disengage properly (its only designed with about 1.5mm of tolerance) and once that happens, not allowing the worm gear to disengage, the plastic gear gets bound up and breaks, cuz the gear on the end of the motor is metal too.

Im curious to see if these aftermarket ones have the same PF motor...I can swap my glass out and keep all the same functions, I just need the PF motor from them, plus I get other spare parts...like the mirror motor etc.

MWR said:
Just to put a period on my part of this thread, I ordered part #25779849 from GM Parts Direct, total with shipping was $160.57.  Part was correct for my application (I sent them my VIN first to be sure) and the install was straight-forward.  Hardest part was removing the painted insert from the old mirror and replacing the flat black insert on the new mirror without damage.  It was a bit tedious but I'm happy to have a functioning mirror again.
 
arizona-dave said:
Thats the Power Folding unit? No Glass, right?

That part number is the whole folding assembly with glass and harness. Plug and play other than swapping the painted insert.
 
Not too bad a price.

Ive gone ahead and ordered these from amParts: http://www.ebay.com/itm/310414990584?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2648

The reason Im not ordering the GM part is because ive now seen 2 exact same issues with the actual GM-supplied PF motor, and the excessive wear and part of it breaking is design-related, so unless GM re-designed the actual PF motor assembly or parts inside the motor assembly it will break.

Im going to take one of the AMparts mirrors completely apart and see if the PF motor is the exact same, or different at all. I might actually just take the PF motor from the AMParts mirror and swap it, just to see.

Id really like to source the Motor Assembly and offer to sell them on the forum...I did a similar thing with Lexus Door lock motors on the Lexus forums several years ago. Sold about 150 little motors that saved a bunch of people almost $500/door for a $5 motor rather than replacing the door lock actuator. My replacement motor outlasted the original one! I sourced those from the supplier in Korea.
 
:B: As Promised Pics - Sucky that I was only able to get the mirror to stop being loosey-goosey wobbly you know what. PF itself doesnt work, but it clicks and stay in place, and manually folds without being sloppy like a *!@$@#%#$%. LOL

Basically this is my second go-around.
Step 1: You have to have a TIG welder to add material to the bottom of the lower galvanized housing where the 2 nipples ride along the bottom plate of the Black Main Shaft. If your good, you can add a small weld to the inner tracks where the lower hard-metal ring butts to as well, but I think only the bottom is necessary. Then you grind-fit-grind-fit, putting the spring on and off until the lower ring gear will lock into place at the same time that the nipples on the bottom of the lower housing butt up against the raised areas of the Black Main Shaft bottom plate.

Step 2: You have to grind the inner edges of the upper gear ring so it goes down far enough to actually lock and engage the lower ring. If not, the lower ring is free to lift up which allows the housing to swivel around the Main Shaft. (This is a different problem caused by the poor choice of GM's supplier to attempt to use Hard Metal Gears that are very precise with not too precise stamped metal housings - Everytime you use the power motor to fold, it places a HUGE stress on the spring and the 2 gears against the lower housing and that in turn places stress on those 2 nipples against the main shaft base...and it just grinds itself away. They put dust boot and plenty of grease, but its the mismatch of metals and basic design which allows these things to grind themselves down..once that happens, the upper gear wont disengage from the lower gear and main shaft and the work gear rips the plastic ring gear to shreds)

End of extended lesson.  :9:

 

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BTW everyone - I still got my 05, but im selling it - its in Emmaculate condition and has no problems, I wanted the 6.0L with Heavy Dity tranny, I like most of my 07, but stuff like this PF mirror crap really pisses me off. sorry. Onward with more pics.

The bottom Pic is of the very expensive to manufacture Steel Worm Gear, with the broken Molded plastic gear which broke. The Electric motor drives the plastic gear which
turns the worm gear which turns the hard-metal Ring Gear that sits on top of the lower metal ring. Its complicated...overly so. Much easier way to do the same thing, evidently the 02-06's last longer too, and are probly simple in design. i digress.  :E:
 

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More pics.

So, the first pic is where the lower housing nipple butts up to the main shaft lower ring raised area. This is Folded Out. At this same time, the lower ring gear inside the lower housing is butted up against that same nipple. Locking the Inner Shaft, and lower housing together using the spring tension as the way to keep them from moving up and over the nipples/raised areas easily. Rotate one way (middle pic) is folding inward - this forces the inner lower ring up and over the nipple of the housing, moving the other way (not shown) forces the nipple up and over the raised area on the main shaft base.

The design is overly complicated, and the break-away features of the 2 inner hard rings is not sufficient to prevent damage and srtess to the work gear. It also allows for massive grinding and wear of the contact surfaces. Stupid design. Stupid. Expensive and Stupid. got that...this isnt a cheap design, they spent lots of money on putting the wrong things together in the wrong way. OK. sorry.
 

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a few more pics to put the mental puzzle together. good luck. It takes 3-4 hours to repair just the loosey-goosey-wobbly aspect.

Thats like $150 to me...anyone want to pony up, feel free to PM me and I will fix yours really. HAHA, I know...its cheaper to buy the new part. Screw it, I had a few beers and learned something. And now I got to waste another hour of my time with all these posts cuz GM screwed up their design from prior years probably just to piss me and everyone else on this forum off.  :needhug: beer.
 

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Heck, Looks like Im just posting and talking to myself, but Im willing to bet this thread or another one about the PF mirrors breaking starts getting VERY active in the next year.

Anyway, I bought the PF Mirrors from: http://www.ebay.com/itm/310414990584?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2648

They seem fairly good quality (the snaps on plastic parts are actually better than stock). The Power folding works Better than stock on these!

These mirrors dont have the turn signal or auto dimming or puddle light, but the frame, chrome caps and Power Folding motor all work perfectly.

What I did to keep all my factory options, but use the new PF assembly was this:
1) I took the new mirror apart, took about 10 minutes. Easier to disassemble than the GM, and actually seemed sturdier. No pressed parts.
2) put in the GM Glass and Mirror adjustment motor (the glass and mirror motor are different on the aftermarket part, but the screw pattern and dimensions on the aftermarket mirror frame are identical to the factory, so the GM glass and motor fit perfectly.
3) The Aftermarket has a pop-out for the puddle light - remove it and put the factory puddle light lense into it.
4) Swap the Wire Harnesses - remove the aftermarket harness and use the old factory harness - This is required so you have the connections for the Auto Dimming, and Puddle Light and correct plug for the factory mirror motor. To do the swap you have to remove the PF motors to do this, but thats 4 screws, and takes a little finess to thread the harness thru the hole in the PF mirror, but its not hard. Before doing so you have to do 2 things so the factory harness will fit thru the smaller hole of the aftermarket PF motor:
  4a) cut off the grey 2-pin connector of the old PF motor off of the Blue and Yellow wires from the factory harness.
  4b) Take the 2 wires and pins for the puddle light out of the puddle light connector - it opens up because GM knew it would not fit thru the factory PF mirror so they designed the 2 wires/pins to come out of the puddle light connector.
  4c) Thread the factory wire plugs and wires thru the Aftermarket mirror assembly and aftermarket PF motor.
  4d) Cut off the 2 black connectors for the aftermarket PF motor Off of the aftermarket harness (NOT from the Aftermarket PF motor)
  4e) Take the black connectors with Light blue and yellow wiresyou cut off the aftermarket harness and wire them up to the blue and yellow wire from the factory harness which is now threaded thru the PF motor. Solder or shrink wrap to keep them from shorting.
  4f) Put the puddle light pins back into the puddle light connector. But DO NOT connect the puddle light connector to the puddle light lense.

5) Now its time to put it all together. Take the puddle light lense out of the hole, attach the lower plastic piece to the housing making sure the puddle light wires hang out of the puddle light hole. If you try to put the lower plastic housing on with puddle light installed it wont snap into place. once the lower housing is snapped into place you can connect the puddle light and snap the lense back into the hole.

6) Throw the new or old Cap onto the mirror and bolt it back up to the truck.

It took me 1 hour to do. Thats about 1/3rd the time it took me to take apart the factory PF motor to make it stop wobbling, and then it started wobbling when someone pumped my mirror.

The aftermarket PF motor opens faster than the factory, was better designed and overall was better quality. I bought Drivers and Passangers. Im gunna do my pass side soon because the pass side factory is laboring and I know it will break soon.
 
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