heated mirrors not working, fixed

[supraruss]

Hi all,

It's that time of year when you need to defrost your car when the temperature starts dropping and being the first winter with our Jazz I noticed that whilst the rear window was defrosting, the mirrors were not.

They are on the same wiring circuit as the rear demister in our car using the same single button to switch on and off.

Naturally assumed that as the rear demister worked it was likely a wiring issue as both mirrors were not heating up at all.

Using a basic multimeter I was quickly able to confirm that power was reaching the wires powering the heated element in the mirrors on both sides. So that only left the glass itself.

Bought two from eBay, not genuine Honda as they were extremely expensive, managed to get two new ones for about £30 delivered.

Fitted, tested and working perfectly, heating up nicely within a few minutes.

Quite easy to do, very gently pulling the mirror glass at the edges to eventually pop the glass out and then two wire connections for power to the heated element.

Nice to have them demisting nicely.

[GBH]

That's a very good point you make. I think that having one mirror not demisting would lead most people to decide that the non-working one needed replacement, but having both not working could lead many down the rabbit hole of looking for a system (wiring) fault.

[supraruss]

Yes absolutely, I did worry at first as seemed strange that both did not work despite them being fine in all other aspects, folding and motor working okay.

I thought before going to extreme check the areas I could easily get to first and thankfully saved time quickly discovering it was indeed the actual glass mirrors, phew. Plus didn't want to fork out about £180 for honda genuine so risked an eBay purchase and they are fine. Not sure if they will last but only time will tell.

I honestly find parts prices from main dealers extortionate now. Especially those parts that are simply repackaged parts made by other known manufacturers so where possible I try to buy the known brand rather than the manufacturer labelled part. Not always easy to work out but saved a fortune doing that.  In this case it was entirely an aftermarket part not branded so I took a risk but hopefully will be okay.

Generally the car has been very reliable. Dare I say typical Japanese expectations lived up to. I'm a Toyota man but appreciate a Honda as well.

[michaelC]

Thanks for sharing this. My right wing mirror doesn’t demist at all, but the left passenger side does, as well as the rear window. I think I might have the same problem as to then, and hopefully just replacing the for around £30 will help fix this too.
Can I ask for the link to the seller you bought from please, so know it’s a reliable vendor? Thank you!

[Sean Regan]

Yes absolutely, I did worry at first as seemed strange that both did not work despite them being fine in all other aspects, folding and motor working okay.

I thought before going to extreme check the areas I could easily get to first and thankfully saved time quickly discovering it was indeed the actual glass mirrors, phew. Plus didn't want to fork out about £180 for honda genuine so risked an eBay purchase and they are fine. Not sure if they will last but only time will tell.

I honestly find parts prices from main dealers extortionate now. Especially those parts that are simply repackaged parts made by other known manufacturers so where possible I try to buy the known brand rather than the manufacturer labelled part. Not always easy to work out but saved a fortune doing that.  In this case it was entirely an aftermarket part not branded so I took a risk but hopefully will be okay.

Generally the car has been very reliable. Dare I say typical Japanese expectations lived up to. I'm a Toyota man but appreciate a Honda as well.

On my previous car, a CRV, I had a mirror that stopped working, I too bought one on eBay, worked just fine.

[michaelC]

Thanks, these posts have given me confidence to try it myself!