rear view mirror filling up with water?

carboncow · Post by **carboncow** » 29 Sep 2010, 14:20

This is a new one to me in 20 years of wrenching on european cars. Wife just called to tell me there are bubbles in the rear view mirror such as it's fill up with water. We've had some rain the last few days but have not really had the car out of the garage that much. I have not seen this yet...

Has anyone seen a failure where a sunroof drain plug or another leak filters water into the overhead console and thus into the rear view mirror!?!?!?! I cannot even image how this could happen w/o water being everywhere.

Or is she describing some other failure trend? I guess I'll know more in about 4 hours when I get home to inspect!

jda2000 · Post by **jda2000** » 29 Sep 2010, 14:25

no, it's not water, but the dreaded lava like failure of the auto tint feature of the mirror.

do a search on rear view mirror failures, there is a fix.

carboncow · Post by **carboncow** » 29 Sep 2010, 16:23

haha! Thanks, I don't even think I knew it has auto tinting...that would have made more sense to me!

Post by **JRL** » 01 Oct 2010, 13:26

The fix is replacing it.
I do not believe there is a fix and new ones are VERY expensive
To add insult to injury, you cannot install a used one, It's tied by the computer to the alarm system

Post by **igel513** » 03 Oct 2010, 08:07

How about replacing w/ a used one and just disabling the alarm if the intention is to save $$$. Will it affect other elec'l components

jda2000 · Post by **jda2000** » 03 Oct 2010, 10:11

the dealer cost of about $800 for a new unit plus the software download.

The cheap fix, is to buy a used unit preferably '04 or newer. Transfer the circuit board from your damaged mirror to the replacement mirror and reassemble. Everything will operate fine since you transferred the old circuit board, (which operates the alarm, sunroof and power locks system).