Hooboy. That folding side mirror still folds, but every bump in the road changes the view. The folding motor mechanism is trashed, and a new mirror assembly costs (gulp) $1800. The local shops won't take on replacing the motor, the job is way too complicated. What to do?!
Well, it
is a painstaking job, the shops aren't lying. I think there's exactly one person in central Arkansas who will do it for you, and that's me. The problem isn't limited to Armadas and QX80's, many Infintis from the M's to the Q's have folders with almost identical construction. But the truth is, it's merely a painstaking job, not impossible. Not even for a DIYer, provided you know the anatomy of the mirror. The tools needed are simple, a 10mm socket, #2 phillips, T25 torx, plastic prybar, pocketknife, needlenose pliers, and a set of fine picks. Replacing most of the other parts in the mirror, like the turn signal or tilt actuator, will simply be a subset of the process here. For replacing the folding motor or puddle lamp, the foam on the harness needs to be stripped, so have some self-stick foam pads on hand to fix it up after repair.
Let's get started. I'll assume you know how to remove the inside door panel on your ride, it needs to come loose but not off. Referring to Fig 1, underneath you'll find a single connector (green arrow) and three 10mm nuts (red) holding the mirror to the car. Beneath the mirror and usually out of sight are the side camera and LED puddle lamp (Fig 2). The mirror pane simply pops loose as shown in Fig 3, put a plastic prybar under one edge and lever upward till the pawls let go. You can see the pawls in Fig 4 (green arrows), they're all that hold the pane to the actuator. Once the pane is loose, detach the connectors for the heater element and LED as shown in Fig 4. Be
very careful with the heater connections (yellow arrows), they're bonded to the pane and there's no good way to reattach them if they let go. They can be very stubborn, so I usually use a slothead screwdriver the right size to lever between the pin and receptacle to avoid yanking upward on the pin.
IMPORTANT: Fig 5a-b only apply if you're replacing the folding motor and not some other component, but it's crucial when replacing the motor. You'll be completely un-pinning that connector, and
in many cases there is no reference for the wire colors in the subassembly. Take very clear close-up pictures of the connector wiring, from two angles if necessary to show all the stripe colors. The results of certain mixed-up wires can be catastrophic, so take no short cuts!
Now comes the most ridiculous part of the job, getting the "helmet" off it. This can actually be a bigger PITA than unpinning the connector, because the rim of the cover fits underneath the other pieces, making it very stubborn to slide out even with the pawls released. It's a 4-handed operation, so I usually resort to either an assistant holding the pawls while I pry the rim of the cover, or two picks jammed behind two adjacent pawls to hold them released while I pry. Fig 6 shows the back of the cover so you can see the problem. Only the three red pawls are really accessible, the blue ones are buried and the yellow one is generally immovable until you get the red ones to let go. Fig 7 and 8 show one of the pawls released and the "lip" on the cover which makes sliding it loose difficult. Once you get two pawls relieved and get the cover to budge, slide a knife blade under the edge as shown in Fig 9 to keep pressure on the other pawls as you pop them.
With the cover removed, next we take off the camera cover and turn signal. The screws shown in Figs 10-11 hold the camera cover in place, it will pop loose as soon as they're removed. The two screws in Fig 12 are the ones holding the cam to the cover, but leave the cam attached unless that's what you're replacing. The hidden screw in Fig 13 is for the actuator frame, but the frame needs to come loose for most other operations and chances are you should take it out now. The remaining two screws in Fig 14 hold the turn signal in place. Once the signal is out, the connector simply pulls loose. It doesn't have any retainer pawl like most connectors, rubber friction is all that holds it in place. Fig 15 shows the stripped result.
Fig 16 shows the puddle lamp, the cover simply pops loose with a plastic prybar. There isn't much slack in the wires and the cover makes getting at the pivot screws problematic, so pop the cover loose from the lamp (pawls, red arrow). Let the lamp hang unless you're replacing it. Then take the mirror base loose from the body by removing the three T25 pivot screws.
Now comes the connector fun. The harness runs through the center of the folding motor, so there's no way to remove it without either unpinning the main connector or removing and partially unpinning all the connectors at the top of the harness. The latter is a truly royal PITA, so I always disassemble the big connector. Start by prying off the face cover as shown in Fig 18. The connector is a "double-locking" type, so you then lift the secondary lock as shown in Fig 19 and slide a tool behind it so it stays lifted. Nissan/TechMate makes special tools for unpinning operations but I never use them, a good set of jewelers picks will do everything you need. This set is $4 at Harbor Freight and it's sturdy and precise:
https://www.harborfreight.com/test-prob ... 61872.html
The primary pawls are mighty small, so I also suggest a pair of 3 or 4 power reading glasses so you can get good focus on the work. To remove the pins, place the tip of a pick where the tip of the red arrow is in Fig 20 and lift the pawl in the direction of the arrow while pulling the wire from the back side. The pin will pull back past the pawl but won't come out all the way, but looking into the hole, you'll see that the pawl stays lifted. At this point the pin is loose but caught on the secondary lock. It simply needs to be forced past it, which takes a little oomph. Pull hard and the pin will pop out. Fig 21 shows what you're left with when the operation is complete. The inner plastic cover on the mirror base is just held on by tape to the harness, so at this point unravel the tape and remove the plastic (Fig 22).
Now it's time to gut the assembly so we can get at the folding motor. Fig 23 shows the first of a bunch of screws holding the motor, but it's the only one which holds the motor to the mirror body. Once it's removed, the whole guts of the mirror will detach as shown in Fig 24. Then remove all the screws shown in Figs 25-27 and the folding motor will be freed, only being held by the wire connectors and the main harness running up the middle.
Snake the main harness out through the tube in the motor and then detach both of the motor connectors. The smaller connector to the motor is a friction type like the turn signal connector, but it can be very stubborn. I usually work a knife tip in between the rubber and the cavity wall and spray a little WD40 in there to loosen it up. The larger gray connector has pawls holding it to the frame as shown in Fig 28, pinch it with a needlenose where the arrows indicate to remove it. At this point we begin reassembly, screw the new motor in place and snake the harness back through the tube. Some temporary masking tape to hold the loose ends in a bundle makes the job much easier. Reattach the two motor connectors and snap the guts back into the mirror body. There's a single pawl shown in Fig 29 which will only snap tight if the guts are aligned correctly. If it won't snap then you have either a misalignment or a trapped wire preventing it from seating. Most commonly the turn signal connector gets trapped, make sure it's coming out in the right place before screwing anything down. Once aligned, reinstall the screws from Figs 13 and 23 to hold the frame. Don't reinstall the screws on the back side, those also hold the turn signal and you'll end up removing them again. Fig 30 shows the intermediate result. Now thread the harness back through the mirror base, work the slack out and reinstall the three torx pivot screws as shown in Figs 31-32. On the base, snap the puddle lamp cover back onto the lamp, pull any slack out of the wires, then snap the lamp assembly back in place. Thread the inner plastic cover back onto the base and re-tape it to the harness with electrical tape, then put new foam on the harness as shown in Fig 33. Don't skimp on the foam, that harness lives in a bad place between the inner and outer door panels. At best you'll wind up with a rattle in the door, at worst a chafed wire and a mirror that quits working.
Now make sure all your internal wires are in good places. You'll be able to pull the slack out of the camera cable and snap the connector back into its spot in the actuator frame, but make sure the cable is routed as shown in Fig 34.
It needs to go under the lip in the frame, not over (red arrows). Once the wires are straightened away, plug the turn signal back in and attach it with the two upper screws per Fig 35 (red arrows). Then snap the camera cover back in place and reinstall its outer retaining screw (yellow arrow) and inner screws (Fig 36). Lastly, pop the outer cover back on and reconnect and snap in the mirror pane. That all goes back together much easier than it came apart!
Finally, re-pin the big connector. I didn't bother with pics because the pins just slide back in. Similar to taking them out, sometimes they need a little force to get past the secondary lock, but they'll only go in all the way and lock in place in one orientation. So if your "after" looks exactly like your "before", you're good to go. Reinstall and test.
Hope this helps, enjoy! Happy motoring!
