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Well, after a bit of work and ingenuity, I have successfully completed the addition of electric folding mirrors to my 2001 E430.

As I promised in an earlier thread (https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...olding+mirrors), I'm now going to share the process with my fellow members. Special thanks go to Mike v.d. Ven for his help in locating the correct parts. I could not have done any of this without his help.

Step 1 - New Switch and Wiring Harness

I installed the correct wiring harness first, as this involved removing both front seats, as well as several trim panels. The part number is A210 540 85 13 (see photo)

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There are a number of electrical connections to be made with the harness:

a. fuse block (located in engine compartment)
b. motor wiring for each front door (two pins each side)
c. switch on center console (connector for this is part of the harness)

I don't have a photo of the fuse block connection. It is made to the terminal marked for the folding mirrors. Remove the trim pieces in the driver's footwell to access the wire channel into the engine compartment.

Here's a photo of the motor connection for the passenger-side door (driver's side is similar). The connection is made at the black connector located in the wiring channel beneath the door opening.

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The new harness is routed rearwards from the driver's door motor connection, then under the driver's seat (in the black plastic channel) towards the center console.

This view shows the center console removed, but the carpet has not been moved out of the way yet:

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Once the carpet is moved out of the way, you have full access. As the new wiring is placed in the channel, make the solder connection for switch illumination. It's a blue and gray wire, and is terminated with the other wires of the same color (all these wires provide power for illuminating various switches on the console or dash).

I left this connection out of the list in the first posting...

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The six-pin connector (white plastic) is routed forward toward the gear selector, and will be mated with the control switch later. I did this part last, since it involved making an additional hole in the center console wood trim.

There will be three wires remaining to be connected at this point: one yellow, one green, one brown. The green and yellow wires provide the power to the passenger-side mirror, and are run under the passenger seat. The brown is the ground, and has a connector attached.

Sorry for the blurry image. Rotate it 90 degrees clockwise to orient it properly. It shows the wire channel that starts at the center console and continues under the front passenger seat. The green and yellow wires are routed in the channel toward the door. You'll be making the ground connection under the passenger seat too, just in front of the channel.

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The connection to ground about to be made:

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The new switch: part number A210 820 20 10

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That was the completed ground connection!

Here's the new switch (A210 820 20 10)

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The first part of this process is removing the mirror shell. It's not difficult, once you located the tab holding the mirror shell in place. Press the tab with a thin screwdriver to release the mechanism, and slide the cover off.

Then detach the whole thing by unscrewing the three screws holding it in place.

The old unit:

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The driver's side folding mirror frame, as I received it from Mike:

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Same item, viewed from the front:

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In order to maintain all the functions of my existing mirrors (power adjustment, heating, memory, blinker), I re-used the wiring harness from the old mirrors. You have to modify this wiring to make it longer. If you don't, the folding action will try to stretch the wiring (you don't want that!).

Modifying the wiring was the longest single part of the whole job! It helps to know how to handle a soldering iron!

Elongating the wire to the adjusting mechanism:

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The lengthened adjustment wiring connected to the adjustment mechanism.

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The lengthened leads to the blinker connector:

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I retained all the connector pins from my old harness. They are fairly easy to remove from teh connector, and it's a lot easier to feed them through the new plastic mounting gasket. Once they've been pulled through, seal the penetration with silicone sealant, and re-insert the connector pins into the connector.

The image below shows the connector body with the two motor leads (yellow and green) already inserted. Mike was kind enough to have terminated the leads for me before shipping the new assemblies.

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The completed connector, now attached to the mirror assembly.

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The completed passenger-side unit, ready to be installed.

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Passenger-side assembly being attached to the vehicle:

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The completed project....

This photo shows the new passenger-side unit, in the folded position (without the mirror cover).

E55 KEV

Can you list all the part numbers and the cost? Can the parts be order at MBZ dealers? Do you have a picture of the install console switch? Thanks.

Kar don

I dont know why you had to elongate the wires.... don't the stock mirrors fold in too? Just unpowered.

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AlBoston:

You can't route the wires the same way as the manual "folding" version. The motor is in the way.

Trust me...if I didn't HAVE to lengthen the wires...I wouldn't have.

MBenzNL

These updated w210 mirrors at least leave some space for making the wires longer...I did the same on my 202 passengerside for the additional auto dimming glass and it made (un)folding nearly impossible.

Quiet a job just to be able to fold the mirrors, but that is exactly what modding is about! Nice documentated install!

greetingz,

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Please be patient and I will compile a list of part numbers for this modification.

Part numbers for the new switch and wiring harness are listed in earlier postings of this thread.

Thanks again for the help, MBenzNL.

Fanatic

Well done. Thanks for the details.

How about some pics with the cover on?!?