umichchris

hey everyone...

im trying to retrofit these OEM M5 mirrors in my February 2004 built E60. i think these mirrors are LCI but im not really sure. nontheless ive included pics.

heres what i know so far...my pre-LCI wiring harness from my old mirrors (non autofold, EC function, heated function, puddle lights function) have the following:

These all mostly fit directly into an 8-pin connector (save for the puddle light and heated wires...4 total)

• black and purple --> electrochromatic function
• black and brown (off to the side separately) --> heated mirror function
• gray and brown (off to the side already) --> paddle light funciton
• blue, pink, red, orange, green --> no idea....mirror movement motor functions and power?
• Yellow and white --> auto fold motor (?)

now on the flip side, on the OEM mirrors there is a single large wire coming out the entire wire assembly with only three wires. im sure on LCI cars this probably plus right into another wire and your all set. but for me i need to re-wire everything manually i suppose. anyone know what that wiring diagram is?

ive already taken apart the M5 mirrors and see the ECU with 12 wires directly connected to it and three on a separate wire coming out of the entire assembly routed to go inside the car/door.



i want to get this all wired up and then code the car (already researched the options to add to my VO and which modules to code via NCS). I just need help getting the wiring down solid. help!

bruce_miranda

I've now forgotten how many times I've told people what to do here. So again

Cut the Yellow and White wires of the fold motor on the M5 mirrors from the ECU.

Now transplant everything from your old mirrors into the M5 mirrors. You will get stuck trying to plug the old harness into the new M5 glass. Here you have two options cut the plugs out of the M5 mirror harness and use it or source yourself a couple of Hirschmann connectors PN 805-187 (my solution).

Extend the Yellow and White wires of the fold motor and bring them out into the plug which has got the most pins and on your mirror you'll see the two slots empty.

p.s. This is exactly what I did to my M5 mirrors when I sold them.

umichchris

bruce, thanks for the info...a couple questions, the motor from my old mirror doesnt fit into the housing. the screws are in different places and the base does not fit. however i could alter the connector plug from my original harness to connect to the base of the M5 mirror motor. so ill give that a shot. i will remove the LCI ECU and discard it. however, when it comes to the power fold yellow and white wires....im not sure where to connect that from your description above.

the connector on my mirror plug does in fact have two pin connectors empty, but how do i know where to plug them in....if i connect them in reverse or in the wrong empty slots by mistake will it cause damage? or should i try them in either position and see it works via process of elimination?

bruce_miranda

I remember I wrote the positions of the wires when I did this before. I'll check if I still have the paper but otherwise I'm sure you can find this information in the wds.

I don't understand the bit about the mirror motors. All the motors I've seen just has 1 screw holding it in the centre. Are you able to post pictures. However the M5 motors should be ok in your car, there are just two types of motors, 1 with memory and 1 without.

umichchris

I'm referring to the mirror mount base. The mirror clicks in via the four clips and has motorized directional movement via this base. True, the LCI M5 mirror has only one screw in the center for this piece, however my mirror base from my old mirrors has three screws that secure it to the mirror housing. Do I was unable to transplant all the parts from my old mirrors to the new ones.

Instead I just used the same wiring diagram for my previous mirrors, filled down the connector so it would fit and put things back together. But alas...it did not work. I will try to take some pics today...but for now I am lost.

Also, the M5 mirror does not seem to sit right. When the swivel base clicks into position, it's weird looking for sure. I'm very worried right now. I'll post pics to show what I'm talking about. I wish we had an iPhone app...it would make posting remotely much easier! Lol

umichchris

ok, i really need help here guys.

i have my OEM M5 mirrors that are LCI and im trying to install them into my pre-LCI Feb 2004 build 545i. i cannot retrofit my old mirror motors or ECU units into the new housing. i have attached pics so you can see that my OEM ECU/Motor housing does not connect to the mirror base via a single bolt connection, but rather three separate bolts. In addition, the wiring is completely different.

i tried to wire in my old ECU/Motor base assembly by sticking it on via industrial strength double sided tape and using the old wiring diagram. i took out the yellow and white wires and connected them to the power folding mirror motor....but alas it did not work. the only thing that works are the puddle lights. add to that, the two sided tape only lasted 12 hours and the assembly began to sag/fall out.

i need to know how to re-wire the LCI (three wire connector) assembly to work in my car. otherwise im going to give up and sell these bad boys becuase they are not working...let alone no autofold (havent coded yet of course) but no regular mirror motor function.

there must be a way to make this work. help!

Pics attached: Pre-LCI 8-Pin wire connector and OEM wiring configuration....both sides. Pre-LCI Mirror Assmebly Motor (for actuation of the mirror glass). Please note the three slots where three bolts connect this to the base of the assembly as opposed to the LCI route with one single bolt in the center.

umichchris

Can anyone help me out? any thoughts? any useful links?


i seriously might have to give up and take off these OEM mirros and go back to my replicas. ive had them for weeks now....w/o any functionality :/

BlaSTiWi

AFAIK there's no way to re-wire newer 3 pins to older 8 pins or vice versa ... is not just simply due to LCI (my factory stock pre-LCI already w/ 3 pins) but more of all MY after 9/'05 no longer use door module like yours by each door instead it uses a single body gateway module behind the glove box (under the fuse box) and control all (I mean everything movement, heat etc) mirror function via only 3 pin signal ... so your only way out is to use your old ECU (if you can hack the 3 bolts and single bolt problem) or get another pre-9/'05 mirror ECU that maybe have the right bolt fitment, if any.

So post-9/'05 M5 mirror you got expecting control signals over 3 wires but your car uses older 8 wires control signal ... as you probably already know the signals are not simply + and/or - but more of CANBUS data signals. It's like trying to fit a PC power supply into an Apple computer, maybe

umichchris

ok....so say i were able to figure out the bolting issue and transplanted my old mirror motors into the new post-05 mirror assemply....is there anyway to wire the autofold feature to work still or no?

does anyone know if pre-05 E60s ever had the autofold feature?

i feel like im totally screwed here.

BlaSTiWi

Well, the autofold is a big maybe ... US version for pre-LCI only has autofold capability on the M5 (and the started MY'06, I think) then widely w/ the LCI model while in Europe they been available from the get go ... so big question is not sure how door module function (since I don't have one) if the car request (if coded) to fold the mirror maybe the door module send signal to the folding motor (but do we even have the wiring?) and it talks to the mirror ECU but the ECU is US market and not aware of folding function that'll be pointless.