Side mirror leaking strange liquid "damaging"paint....

My 00 M5 passenger door mirror starting leaking a fluid that ran down
on the door, making it necessary to use a strong solvent solution to
remove it.

The mirror facing is now shot.

What could have caused it? Have owned BMWs for years and nothing ever
happened like this.

David Hageman

"Dugout Boy" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> My 00 M5 passenger door mirror starting leaking a fluid that ran down
> on the door, making it necessary to use a strong solvent solution to
> remove it.
>
> The mirror facing is now shot.
>
> What could have caused it? Have owned BMWs for years and nothing ever
> happened like this.
>
> David Hageman
>

Are these auto dimming mirrors? If they are and they're like the auto
dimming rear view mirror, there is a chemical in the mirror that reacts to
the electrical charge when the sensor senses light. The part of the mirror
that contains this fluid must have been damaged. If they're not auto
dimming then I have no idea.

Kyle.
98 740iL
97 M3

That's very odd. The mirror is controlled electronically with a motor which
allows adjustment. It sounds like the motor has burned out, maybe heating up
something which caused the "liquid" and subsequent damage to the mirror. It
is easy enough to remove the mirror - you need to slide a little tab over
which unlocks the mirror from the assembly. You can see it by using a
flashlight and looking in behind the mirror. You need to move the mirror to
either and up/down or side/side extreme. A small flathead screwdriver can be
used to move the slide tab. Then you can look at the parts to see what looks
fried.


"Dugout Boy" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> My 00 M5 passenger door mirror starting leaking a fluid that ran down
> on the door, making it necessary to use a strong solvent solution to
> remove it.
>
> The mirror facing is now shot.
>
> What could have caused it? Have owned BMWs for years and nothing ever
> happened like this.
>
> David Hageman
>

The motor is in good condition as the lens still moves when the car is
put in reverse and returns to saved position once car is out of
reverse. It's just the mirror facing itself that is ruined.

Thanks for the info on removal.

>The motor is in good condition as the lens still moves when the car is
put in reverse and returns to saved position once car is out of
reverse.
*******
WTF??? Why would it do that? You *should* be able to see well out of a
properly adjusted mirror no matter what gear the car is in... ???!!! Maybe
it's for folks that have broken their neck & are wearing a brace?
That's just something else to screw up & cost money.
~ Paul
aka "Tha Driver"

Giggle Cream - it makes dessert *funny*!

"ThaDriver" <imangeloneAThotmailDOTcom@> wrote in message
lkaboutautos.com...
> >The motor is in good condition as the lens still moves when the car is
> put in reverse and returns to saved position once car is out of
> reverse.
> *******
> WTF??? Why would it do that?

Because that's what it's designed to do - dip down automatically when you
are reversing so that you get a better view of where the back corner is.

> You *should* be able to see well out of a
> properly adjusted mirror no matter what gear the car is in... ???!!! Maybe
> it's for folks that have broken their neck & are wearing a brace?

No, it's because the standard mirror glass does not have a large enough
field of view to see both the rear corner and a decent view far enough
behind.
Go read a manual or three and you'll see.
Badger.

>Go read a manual or three and you'll see.
********
Thanks for the explanation, but I'll never own a car with such crap so
there's no need to read... :-)
~ Paul
aka "Tha Driver"

Easy on the Giggle Cream!

"ThaDriver" <imangeloneAThotmailDOTcom@> wrote in message
lkaboutautos.com...
> >Go read a manual or three and you'll see.
> ********
> Thanks for the explanation, but I'll never own a car with such crap so
> there's no need to read... :-)
> ~ Paul
> aka "Tha Driver"
>
Ok, but you must therefore own / have owned plenty of cars where you need to
constantly re-adjust the mirror every time you need to see more accurately
when reversing near kerbstones! They must be 'really' crap cars! <grin>
Badger.

The mirror adjusts downward with the idea that the $1,100. wheel won't
rub and get scratched against a curb. ;^) (hasn't helped mine)

It returns to the saved position (4 different) that's set on the driver
keypad on the driver's door.

David Hageman wrote:
> The mirror adjusts downward with the idea that the $1,100. wheel
won't
> rub and get scratched against a curb. ;^) (hasn't helped mine)
>
> It returns to the saved position (4 different) that's set on the
driver
> keypad on the driver's door.

make that "3" different driver positions.

David H.