Repairing the wing mirror indicator on a 211

[television]

Nothing in the mirror uses much current at all, when using heat shrink sleeving, always keep it away from the solder join or it will shrink before you can slide it over the join.

 

[Monzeglio]

I bought a 2004 W211 E320 CDi Elegance estate yesterday (!) with an o/s indicator that wasn't working. The dealer assured me 'it's the bulb'. I was a little despondent last night after a quick websearch revealed that multiple wires were most likely broken in the mirror loom at the fold point. However this morning, armed with some insights from this forum, I popped to my local Maplins for wire, shrink sleeving and a basic soldering kit (less than £30 total), then picked up some tin solder from Toolstation (£1.65) before stripping the mirror from the door. Took about 20 minutes to get off and then after some amateur multimeter probing I discovered a wire with no continuity which was actually fractured. I ended up changing two wires as a second had copper showing even though it wasn't broken. It all went back together well, the most difficult bit being routing the wires through the mirror body in the neatest way to avoid any fouling of the power-fold mechanism, and the indicator now works as it should with no dash warnings. I cleaned and lubed the inner workings and it now folds almost whisper-quiet, certainly a lot quieter than the passenger side mirror, which is most likely on the list for a little preventative maintenance.

So thank you for the collective wisdom and I will use the fold function only when absolutely necessary...

 

[mikedjay]

I would like to add my thanks to the contributors to this thread, just have the "pleasure" of having to sort my right hand mirror indicator wiring.

The advice and guidance was invaluable.

Many thanks....

 

[RUBBER_UNDIES]

I did the same job on mine last week.

Just got a second hand wiring loom and swapped it with the old one. Involved a full strip down of the wing mirror.

Excellent guide though. Someone will definitely need it at some point.