Swapped out my side mirror glass today and learned something that I hadn't seen documented before, so I thought I would share.
Sometime in 2004, BMW changed the mirror glass construction. This involved changing the side of the glass that the heating terminals are on. Later cars got a different harness that has the plugs on the correct side for the new glass and BMW started offering a small adapter harness for compatibility with early model harnesses. Part number for the adapter is 51167836442 and it costs a ridiculous ~$25 per side. After seeing the price, I decided that I would just modify mine instead. I originally planned on extending the original connectors, but upon taking things apart, I realized that that was not necessary at all.
The wires that are there are more than long enough to reach, as long as you take a few things apart and route them correctly. The necessary steps to get this done follow.
Note: I took the pics in steps 3 and 5 when putting things back together, so the heater wires are already on the side you want them on in those pics.
Steps:
1. Take off the mirror glass. No pictures of this, but MirrorJohn has some pretty good instructions: https://www.mirrorjohn.com/diy-how-t...other-bmws.php
2. You should now see something like this (not my pic):
Note that the heater wires (brown and black with female spade connectors) are coming out the bottom left. Since this is the driver's side, we want them to be coming out the top right so that they play nicely with the new glass.
3. Remove the adjustment mechanism by undoing the three T15 screws (circled in red) holding it in:
4. Once the adjustment mechanism is free, unplug the blue plug going to it.
5. Remove the black plastic plate behind the adjustment mechanism by undoing the five T15 screws (circled in red) holding it in:
6. The painted shell of the mirror will now be free (but will not fall off). Remove any tape holding the heater wires to the rest of the harness and move them over to the side closest to the passenger compartment (i.e. right on the driver's side and left on the passenger's side).
To move the wires over, I first moved them past the two outermost screw posts (green arrows) and then made sure they went under the topmost screw post (red arrow):
7. Put all the plastic bits back together in the reverse order that they came off. Make sure that no wires get snagged when tightening screws.
8. Plug the heater wires into your new mirror glass and install it onto the car. I first closed the spade connectors up a bit with some needle nose pliers to make sure they would grip the terminals on the mirror tightly.
9. Move the mirror around and fold the mirror housing up to make sure your repositioned heater wires are not snagging on anything.
10. Have a beer to celebrate saving $50 in exchange for five minutes of your time
Hope this is useful to someone. Takes less time than extending the wiring and is completely free!
Sometime in 2004, BMW changed the mirror glass construction. This involved changing the side of the glass that the heating terminals are on. Later cars got a different harness that has the plugs on the correct side for the new glass and BMW started offering a small adapter harness for compatibility with early model harnesses. Part number for the adapter is 51167836442 and it costs a ridiculous ~$25 per side. After seeing the price, I decided that I would just modify mine instead. I originally planned on extending the original connectors, but upon taking things apart, I realized that that was not necessary at all.
The wires that are there are more than long enough to reach, as long as you take a few things apart and route them correctly. The necessary steps to get this done follow.
Note: I took the pics in steps 3 and 5 when putting things back together, so the heater wires are already on the side you want them on in those pics.
Steps:
1. Take off the mirror glass. No pictures of this, but MirrorJohn has some pretty good instructions: https://www.mirrorjohn.com/diy-how-t...other-bmws.php
2. You should now see something like this (not my pic):
Note that the heater wires (brown and black with female spade connectors) are coming out the bottom left. Since this is the driver's side, we want them to be coming out the top right so that they play nicely with the new glass.
3. Remove the adjustment mechanism by undoing the three T15 screws (circled in red) holding it in:
4. Once the adjustment mechanism is free, unplug the blue plug going to it.
5. Remove the black plastic plate behind the adjustment mechanism by undoing the five T15 screws (circled in red) holding it in:
6. The painted shell of the mirror will now be free (but will not fall off). Remove any tape holding the heater wires to the rest of the harness and move them over to the side closest to the passenger compartment (i.e. right on the driver's side and left on the passenger's side).
To move the wires over, I first moved them past the two outermost screw posts (green arrows) and then made sure they went under the topmost screw post (red arrow):
7. Put all the plastic bits back together in the reverse order that they came off. Make sure that no wires get snagged when tightening screws.
8. Plug the heater wires into your new mirror glass and install it onto the car. I first closed the spade connectors up a bit with some needle nose pliers to make sure they would grip the terminals on the mirror tightly.
9. Move the mirror around and fold the mirror housing up to make sure your repositioned heater wires are not snagging on anything.
10. Have a beer to celebrate saving $50 in exchange for five minutes of your time
Hope this is useful to someone. Takes less time than extending the wiring and is completely free!
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