Over-rotating Passenger Mirror Fold

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G213

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Here’s a weird one for you…

First time I activate the power folder mirrors, driver’s side works fine. Passenger side doesn’t stop at the appropriate place and continues to rotate until the mirror has rotated completely out.

Activate the power fold mirrors again, they both close all the way. Unfold a second time, they both stop in the proper spot.

Can anyone help me to understand how these things know when to stop or how they are geared?

Backstory….for whatever reason, I went through a car wash one day and this issue started. The passenger side mirror would always over-rotate, no matter what. I messed around with it for an hour and finally got it to stop in the proper out position. But now, it requires the double fold to properly work (again, just the passenger side, driver side works as expected)

I’ve pulled the battery, “reset” the mirrors by pushing the passenger one halfway and hearing the “clunk” (although I’m afraid to try anything else because at least it sort of works at the moment). Like I said, it took me over an hour just to get to the point I’m at now.

Any ideas? I can create a video and post it if that’s easier to demonstrate what’s going on.

Help me out and I will happily have a a 6 pack of your beer of choice delivered to your house (yes, I’m serious)
 
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G213

G213

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Tried an overnight battery pull, thinking it was possibly software related; still seeing the same issue.
 

99WhiteC5Coupe

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Tried an overnight battery pull, thinking it was possibly software related; still seeing the same issue.


I have a 2015 Expedition Limited with the power-fold mirrors.

There is a reset procedure in the owner’s manual. Have you tried that process?
 
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G213

G213

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Yeah, the one in the owners guide that says unfold/fold until you hear the loud click? Tried a few times, no dice.

What’s weird is it’s sporadic. First unfold, it over extends. Refold then unfold, works fine.

Another thing I observed.…so let’s say I park, fold the mirrors and turn off the truck.

I come back, start up, then unfold. The mirror starts to over extend.…if I let it overextend all the way and then refold, it continues to over extend. It’s only if I unfold, then fold while it’s traveling that it works right. Any folds after the initial one work fine.

I’m absolutely stumped.

I was thinking there’s indentations or something in the gears that tell this thing when to stop, so I tried bumping it manually and resetting, no change.

That’s where my idea of the battery pull came in, thinking there’s something in the BCM (or other module) that controls this thing and where to stop. But the battery pull didn’t do it.
 
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G213

G213

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Ugh, this is driving me nuts.

For a while everything was working fine, both mirrors would fold and unfold properly. Tonight the stupid passenger side started acting up again; same story and behavior as before. Took me about an hour of screwing around with it to get it at least in the out position. Haven’t tested it again yet because honestly I’m a bit mad at it right now lol

Battery pulls seem to have no impact. I’m still trying to understand how the mechanism is setup; I’m almost thinking I’ll have to buy a replacement and tear it down to understand what’s really under there.

Open to any ideas or knowledge.
 

ogre20012001

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I’m having this same issue with my drivers mirror
2014 limited 4x4
I just purchased this vehicle.

After a few tries my mirror fold stops working.

Please help.

I don’t know how to get the mirror to stay in the out position
 
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G213

G213

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Let me preface this by saying I am a stubborn SOB...I am reluctant to admit defeat and always want to learn how things work out of sheer curiosity.

That said, my Expy is my daily driver and occasionally I will get to a point where I have to say "stop". Accessing the power fold motor was one of these cases.

Like many things on the 2.5 gen Expys, the mirrors are direct descendants of earlier F150 designs. After poking around on some F150 forums, I discovered some conversations around replacing the plastic gears within the power fold mechanism with brass parts. See thread here. The steps outlined were identical to my mirror.

I tore my mirror down to the plastic frame, but accessing the power fold mechanism itself requires removing a push nut which holds back a large spring under high tension. The spring holds a metal "disk" which has indents for the proper areas in which the mirror needs to stop rotating. I was able to observe the disk by looking into the arm of the mirror and it did in fact, snap into the proper position if I moved the mirror manually.

How exactly this works to me is still unclear. From the pictures in the thread, it looks like the gears have preset stop points and the disk is there to keep the mirror in place. But then the question becomes why the "lock" position of the mirror can change if the pressure disk has a set rotation?

Ultimately, I bought a replacement mirror and called it a day. It works perfectly (as expected) and I'll take it as a win. ($400 part versus who knows how much the stealership would have charged)

My advice; bite the bullet and replace the mirror. In my case, I'm a literal "parking garage weekend hobbyist mechanic", but as noted in the thread above, it can be accessed. However, I still wouldn't know exactly what the problem was; my gears may have been damaged to; I can't say for sure.

Since I ended up replacing the mirror entirely, I’m planning on finishing the tear down once a couple extra tools I ordered show up. I’ll post any findings.
 
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