Driver's mirror won't go down

[shmelvin]

My drivers mirror will not go down, it goes up and sideways, is this a common issue, if so what's the fix.

 

[Handy Andy]

Several, but you may not like them...

Replace the mirror itself - motor and all...
Then try to see if it goes down...

IF it doesn't then the wiring harness to the door from the engine compartment has to be checked and repaired as needed.

You can try and remove the door trim to see if the wiring connector - by the Window controls - is not corroded - it may also help in diagnosing a corrosion problem in the mirror for if the down (Reversal of up) is not engaging then the mirror control in the door panel just needs to be replaced - but you have to verify that the mirrors own wiring is intact and working.

Requires removing the cap of the mirror to reveal the innards and see if the gimbal - pivot is not jammed with something preventing it from going down.

If it just goes up and not down at all - and it's not jammed - the wiring or the door control to it is faulty.

Jammed might be more of the condition - if a rock or someone knocked against it while it was parked unattended in a parking lot somewhere - the mirror gimbal that the motors pivot their gears on - is possibly damaged or off track.

To take it apart requires some skill but not impossible - you have to remove its cover or the skull to reveal the motors and the gimbal. Once removed, you can have someone operate the controls and you can observe the gimbal in operation and figure out the physics of how it works - more than likely the up down "gear" is stripped so it can't pivot down

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How? This runs on DC power, so a simple DC motor can run in one direction - but if the wires are reversed as in reversed polarity - the motor goes (spins) in the other direction.

So, if you have "up" that's half the battle - but the wires still need to be reversed so the Mirror may still be ok, but the door panel will have to be removed to get access to the Mirror control (Or the dashboard - depending on the trim and year) and see if the logic in it is faulty - it's the more expensive one to replace (home and directional key)

So to help see if up and down work on the PASSENGER side...

Does it?

Ok, then the LOGIC UP and DOWN work, so this isolates to a wiring issue to the Drivers' side mirror (left one I hope)