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Fold In Mirrors?


soultz
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so i was playing around with my new skyline today, and i found a weird button, i pressed it and my drivers side mirror started folding in, thats awesome, BUT, how the hell do i get it to fold out?? i was playing with it but i cant find how to?

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Push the switch the other way. If it doesn't open, then its like every other skyline here. The mirror shuts but won't open. Now you have to open it manually. Firmly pull them out. They won't break but don't yank it, just apply pressure until you get it to open up and never close them again. Both my skylines shut but don't open. My current skyline had one mirror which would open and close but now none of those mirrors open OR close lol.

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I pulled my passenger side one apart in my 34 (which was working fine, apart from some really jerky movement and it wouldn't automatically stop when it was put out). I contact-cleaned all the plugs, opened the motor housing for the folding mirror, re-greased the ball joint, but I couldn't find what the problems was. I was looking for some kinda ring where the mirror mounts the door mount, to let it know when it's fully extended (like the 33's). Didn't exist, and now I broke it. It's not folding out or in. Mirror adjustment still works fine though. Actually, better a than fine with that fresh grease.

Not game to open my drivers' side one and lube that now. :S

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I've opened mine to sus out why they weren't folding properly (1993 R33)

It's a similar concept on all the mirrors (i fixed a set on an 89 180SX).

There is a set of sliding contacts, one way or another, those contacts stop touching.

on the 180, is was a case of the metal tabs had worn through the copper layer on the little circuit board. I added a thin layer of solder over the copper tracks and they started working great (even went on to make a little circuit that would fold in my mirrors when i turned the car off, so i was folding them in all the time and not a single glitch).

What i have seen on the R33 is that the little metal tab comes loose, hence stops touching properly.

I'm yet to figure out a good way to re-attach them without making a new one.

For reference, the bits i'm talking about are in the side view mirror, you have to take the whole thing apart and disassemble it a fair amount.

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Both of mine work fine, touch wood, whats involved with dis-assembly and lubing?

The lubrication of the ball joint that the mirror pivots on is a piece of cake. You just tilt the mirror up, then get your fingers under and behind it and pull. It will pop out at the bottom, then there's two retainers that you just slide the mirror up and out of. The rest is just a few screws that hold the assembly to the joint and you can get in there easy with some fresh grease. You're not actually opening anything watertight in this procedure, you're not fooling with any electrics, and I'd call it very safe to do. But of course, I'd advise you to adhere to the old adage - "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

As I said. The thing that probably boned me was the opening of the completely seprate unit that controls the swinging of the mirrors. That thing was sealed with clear gum, and nice and watertight, full of clean white grease. Dunno why I opened it. :(

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The lubrication of the ball joint that the mirror pivots on is a piece of cake. You just tilt the mirror up, then get your fingers under and behind it and pull. It will pop out at the bottom, then there's two retainers that you just slide the mirror up and out of. The rest is just a few screws that hold the assembly to the joint and you can get in there easy with some fresh grease. You're not actually opening anything watertight in this procedure, you're not fooling with any electrics, and I'd call it very safe to do. But of course, I'd advise you to adhere to the old adage - "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

As I said. The thing that probably boned me was the opening of the completely seprate unit that controls the swinging of the mirrors. That thing was sealed with clear gum, and nice and watertight, full of clean white grease. Dunno why I opened it. :(

Cheers mate I'll give that a go.

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What i have seen on the R33 is that the little metal tab comes loose, hence stops touching properly.

I'm yet to figure out a good way to re-attach them without making a new one.

The ring those contact tabs sit in is blue plastic, and the tabs are held in by little plastic "rivets" (they have a flat head on them that retains them). However the plastic head is extremely thin, mine broke just by looking at them.

Put a drop of quick set superglue (the proper 10 second stuff) on the plastic ring and drop the contacts back in, press them gently into place with a small flat blade screwdriver and wait till the glue sets. Good as gold, fixed my mirrors 6 months ago and they work perfectly now.

There is a fair bit of work pulling them apart to get to this point, so it's not for the faint hearted.

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  • 4 years later...

Hi Everyone,

This is an excellent tutorial on how to fix it and I have done 3 mirrors in total now over the years, the first one being done before this Thread was even available and I followed my nose.

However I now have a Series 2 mirror that will fold out but not in. Any Ideas...???? Could it be the circuitry on the actually limit Switch Circuit Board, Resistor etc

There was a Contact Tab loose on both mirrors, so I repositioned them and glued them in respectively with 100% success on the Passenger Side but unfortunately, on the Drivers side the Mirror only works one way.

On a Series 1 I did it was a little different though and the main problems was the Motor was seized and had to be prised apart, and the inside of the case was cleaned up with some emery paper and lots of WD40. It was effective but a slightly different problem then this one here. From my memory you could get to the motor as an individual part but on the Series 2 I can't seem to get the Motor out of the case as the Driveshaft doesn't come out of the slot in the plastic case.

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  • 2 years later...
On 2/11/2012 at 10:43 AM, Kinks said:

The ring those contact tabs sit in is blue plastic, and the tabs are held in by little plastic "rivets" (they have a flat head on them that retains them). However the plastic head is extremely thin, mine broke just by looking at them.

Put a drop of quick set superglue (the proper 10 second stuff) on the plastic ring and drop the contacts back in, press them gently into place with a small flat blade screwdriver and wait till the glue sets. Good as gold, fixed my mirrors 6 months ago and they work perfectly now.

There is a fair bit of work pulling them apart to get to this point, so it's not for the faint hearted.

You are a legend. I followed your instructions on my 96 series 2 r33 and you were spot on. After reading everyone’s ideas, the only thing I added to mine was I ran the contacts over a bit of sand paper. Glued the little f**kers back in like you said. And yeah, like you said, it’s not a job for the faint hearted. Thanks again. 

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