Reassembling a mirror motor assembly

steve_c

Grumpy OAP & A2OC Donor
Removing my driver's side mirror this morning, the mirror came away with the mirror head still very firmly attached. One of the two white plastic arms that effected adjustments came away attached to the head, the other stayed in the motor unit (until I tried to see the motor moving, when it also dropped out).

I have now got those white arms correctly engaged with the motors, and clipped back into the mirror head, which is back working in most respects as it should. However, I'm left with a circular rubber cover which I'm guessing is intended to hold the top of the mirror head in situ. I've placed the smaller opening in the rubber behind the motor and the larger opening around the mirror head. However the top edge of the mirror head is still swinging away from the motor when any pressure is applied.

Does anyone here know exactly how this should be put back together?
 
Thinking about this a bit more carefully now.

The lower end of the motor head clips to two toothed arms. The motors adjust these in and out to move the angle of the mirror. That part is working correctly.

I would expect the upper edge of the motor head to be secured so that it can flex but not pull away from the body of the motor, since all the adjustments are made from the other end. But I can't identify any means of making that connection. Does anyone here know? Thanks
 
Okay, I think that there's a sprung arm down the centre of the motor unit that clips into the pivoting centre of the motor head, and holds it in place from the top. I've spent too long today trying to get this sorted, so I'll have another look in the morning.

Still not sure which way I should put the rubber cover on though.
 
Have a look at your other mirror , like for like .

I thought about that. But unless I dismantle the other motor, I won't be able to see what goes where anyway.

Normally I'd be quite relaxed about this, but unfortunately I've the pressing matter of an MOT test due in a few days.
 
I've had another look this morning and I can now see that the part of the sprung spine that locates the mirror head has broken off and is trapped inside the head. I'm planning to effect a 'temporary' repair by securing the upper end of the head with a small zip tie. Providing the eye on the rim of the head proves sufficiently durable, the fix may well prove quite durable.
 
Without knowing what you are trying to repair Steve, is plastic welding any good?/

Thanks Darren for the suggestion. I guess that I should have posted pictures at the outset.

Here's the mirror motor, without the head or the rubber surround:

A2 Mirror motor.jpg


And here's the reverse of the mirror head, with the remnant of the securing spring visible in the centre:

A2 Mirror head (reverse side).jpg


The motor unit is in the fairing, and sits at an angle. There are actually two motors, which control the angle of the mirror by exerting movement at 3 and 6 pm. I've managed to refit the plastic arms which move in and out, and it is simple to clip them to the head.

Running down from 10.30 to 1630 between the two motors is a narrow spine which is made from a hard springy (probably plastic) material. The mirror head had been clipped to the top of that spine, but the area in question has broken away and is trapped inside the head.

The narrowness of that spine and the pressure that the joint would be under suggests that glue is unlikely to be successful in holding the head back in place.

I'm planning on drilling a couple of holes in the backplate at about 10.30, glueing the head back onto the spine, and then securing it by running a small zip tie down to the holes I just drilled. I'm not expecting the glue to hold for any period of time, but the zip tie should hold sufficiently to provide full mirror movement again.
 
https://audi.7zap.com/en/rdw/audi+a2/a2/2002-248/8/857-857040/#4

So if my reading of what you've said is correct, part 4 on this diagram is an assembly that comes as a "sealed" (but multi-part) unit ; and yours has basically broken in half at the interface between the motor drive part and the mirror retainer part?

Many thanks for that link. I've now ordered a replacement motor from a seller on eBay on 24hr delivery, so hopefully I'll be able to swap out the part in question before my MOT.

Yes, your summary is correct, but when I started the thread I hadn't appreciated that the motor unit had broken and was thinking that it was simply a question of understanding how to reassemble it. I may yet need to bodge the repair if the new motor doesn't arrive tomorrow.
 
Fingers crossed! These sorts of questions are always useful for when the time comes that one needs to do it oneself and knowing where to look or what to search for is useful. Good luck!
 
The new motor unit arrived this morning and took less than 10 minutes to fit. Everything is now back to normal and I'm all set for my MOT first thing tomorrow.

The three T9 Torx bolts that held the motor in place were really easy to unscrew, can't have been any more than snug. The hardest part was getting the electric cable unplugged, the sprung clips that held it in had turned stiff with age.

The eBay motor unit was an unbranded clone, pretty much as I expected for £9.99.

Thanks to everyone for their advice.
 
Brilliant - thank you for coming back and confirming. Would you believe that similar units (for Q7 / Touareg etc.) are ~$138 even on Ali-express?
 
Steve - how is the motor performing? I've got one sticking here and I have asked A2Steve for a replacement but given this is only a tenner for a new 3rd party replacement it might be worth a look.

I took the existing motor out as it was sticking on the up and down but not on the left to right and used wd40 on it in the hope of freeing up but not really sure there is much in the way of maintenance that can be done on the old units...
 
Nice one - operationally is it nice and smooth given how new it is compared to the old one? I've always found the motors aren't smooth in either side they tend to jump in small increments?
 
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