Found out why my mirror doesn't heat !

[Leslie]

Drivers side mirror wasn't heating on my e70 2009 but passenger one fine so fuse ok and I assumed I needed a new glass and bought one of ebay.
I removed the old one and the plug isn't connected so no wonder it didn't work .
Should the new glass come with a connector on as mine didn't and others I looked at on eBay don't seem to either. I hate it when someone has been at a job before you
I can't see this connector for sale either ,anyone changed a glass before as one from a dealer is very expensive ? There are 2 pins on that glass I took out and 2 pins on my new one but not exactly the same

[Leslie]

One I bought

[Leslie]

Well a look though my spec list and it seems I have :
S430A Interior/outside Mirror With Auto Dip which i didn't even know about .
I did notice watching the passenger side mirror it turns blue quite noticeably as it heats up when parked then back to silver again as it cools just last week ! bugger just seem how much a genuine glass is for these at least 300 quid scared to even go near the passenger side incase I break it

[X5Sport]

Change of temp should not change the colour.

The lugs on the one you have bought are for soldering to.

And yes, the OEM part price is absolutely ridiculous - which is why so may get nicked off earlier cars like the E53. Mirror housings can be getting on for £1k each. But it’s how the OEMs make money. The pressure to keep new car prices down are matched by the greed of selling spare parts.

[Leslie]

Change of temp should not change the colour.

The lugs on the one you have bought are for soldering to.

Thanks for reply The colour change is very subtle on the working one and its only in lowish light I noticed it and I've had the car a year now ! cycling with the heating , it leaves a border of 6mm round the edges which doesn't change .I see any pics of one auto dimming ones have the little border round the edge on the glass and more gold in the centre so I think its right .
I guess if I had the old one I could rob the plug of the old one if someone hadn't been here before ,maybe it was stolen too but as mine should be 4 pin anyway On my searches I have found 4 pin ones with a plug but I guess at the low price of 40 quid these are just heated not autodim anyway !
Doesn't seem to by any easy way of telling an auto-dim mirror either unless you can see the glass up close the the number of pins into the mirror seems to be the same

[Leslie]

This is the one I found but other sellers say the part is LHD only . Is there such a thing these days also says without auto dimming so the other 2 wires must be doing nothing !

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Right-Outsid ... SwOjddNb2Z

[Alan Gunn]

Left hand drive only ????????????????????????.
Never seen that before and searching his part number say's "right" only and nothing about where the steering wheel is.

[X5Sport]

Could it be due to different curvature on a LHD mirror giving a different field of view?

[Leslie]

Thanks lads ,Yea id hate to buy it and not be able to see out of it due to the angle being wrong that would be a pain plus I'm starting to collect wrong wing mirror glasses !
I was briefly watching the working left one tonight driving in the dark and it darkens a slight blue tint with headlights behind . I think a whole mirror from a seller who doesn't know what they have might be the cheapest answer but most clearly do as they are for sale without the glass and its so hard to tell from pics what's what

Wonder how much this option was new given the price of the glass now it must have been savage and I can't really say its worth it !

[X5Sport]

I don’t think it was more than about £200 on either the E53 or E71 (I’ll need to find the purchase order) and on my X6 it may even have been a free option for the 40d (as it is now) due to the trim. It wasn’t expensive on our F46 last year either.

It makes the replacement part price even more outrageous!

[Leslie]

Yes it sure does ! I see on newer models they only fit one to the drivers side now ,talk about cost cutting and say it can't be retrofitted to the other side not that we could afford the parts anyway !

[Leslie]

One used mirror later bought for the glass and working fine ...took a chance on it as its hard to tell from pics if mirrors are auto dimming or not unless its at the right angle !
Pic shows darkening when light shone on interior mirror I heated the mirror and tried to blow hot air behind the glass before removal ,you can tilt the glass by pressing on it , The centre disc came of the motor with the glass and getting this of the new mirror glass was trickier than it should be , was scared of breaking the glass as you have to lever the tabs quite a bit to release it. My connector pins in the mirror have some corrosion as they have been exposed to the weather for a while which they wouldn't if plugged in but it seems to be working ok , worse case I take the wiring from the new mirror if needed