Drivers side mirror partially works.

[Bradley Walker]

I ran into this issue after buying my used 2001 Outback Limited Edition
wagon. I noticed that sporatically the drivers side mirror partially worked
via the electronic movement controls on the drivers side door. All the
while the passengers side mirror fully worked without question. To be more
precise, the mirror has stopped moving Up/Down, yet will still move
Left/Right just fine. Periodically it seems to work with the electronic
controls letting me move the mirror up and down. But recently it has
stopped again.

I'm pretty sure it's a loose wire, or something solely electronic right in
that mirror or a wire leading into it. How would I go about fixing this?
Personally it's not a great big issue because my mirrors are set to where I
like them, but sometimes at night getting a jerk run up behind me, tailgate
me with high beams makes me lower the angle of the mirrors.

Brad

 

[Voja Ilic]

Hi Bradley,

I had the same problem on my OB 2002.

Here is the solution (from the 02 manuall):

- The best place to do this (at this time of year) is in some close space
because if you do it outside it won't be that easy. You will understand what
I mean if you read below.
- Use hair dryer to heat up plastic cover that holds mirror. I'm taking
about the black plastic that is around the mirror, not the big mirror casing
- It should take around 3-5 min. to do so
- Once plastic cover is warm enough you will notice you can move the mirror
around a lor easier
- Use flat screwdriver to remove the mirrror, but since it is attached with
double-sided tape at the back it might show you some resistance. Be careful
not to brake the mirror and not to break mirror heater
- Once mirror is out you can use phillips screwdriver to take the motor
casing out and (in my case) I used WD-40 or any other spray lubricant like
that to clean the motors
- Once done put it all back but heat up plastic cover again so you can put
the mirror back with ease.

Let me know if you get stuck.

Cheers,
Voja

 

[Bradley Walker]

Do you mean to remove the plastic reflective part of the mirror from the
black backplane that is attached to the motor?