Side OEM towing mirror short and melted

[[email protected]]

Anyone else heard of the OEM side mirror experiencing a short and melting part of the mirror housing? Washed my truck today and noticed the damage and have no clue when it happened. The mirror is original equipment and has not been hit or damaged. I'd like to know if others have had this problem? Possible manufacture defect?

[rbrjr1]

I didn't think any voltage running through the mirror would cause that kind of damage/heat/etc.

could it have been something that "happened TO" the mirror from the exterior..?

[djw88]

does it still work? if it still works as normal I'd assume it was something else.

[Ozer]

Thats a lot of heat to melt that hard plastic. Did you drive thru a forest fire? j/k..

Id be interested to know what happened

[It's Tim]

Truck is 5 years old?

Is this a flood / salvage vehicle?

[[email protected]]

Thanks for the replies. For the record, I'm the original owner, and the vehicle has not been in any accidents or flooded (and no leisure drives through forest fires:-) ). I have not struck the mirror while driving, and the mirror shows no signs of damage other than the melt. All functionality still works in the mirror except for the front-facing turn signal. Unsure whether the mirror heater still works; I'll wait for the dealer to figure that out. Took it to the dealer and they have scheduled me to bring it in next week to diagnose the problem. Their working theory for now is that perhaps the mirror heater malfunctioned and may have overheated. Just glad it didn't burn up the entire vehicle and possibly my home while in the garage!

[rbrjr1]

that's crazy.

 

I wouldn't think it's going to be the mirror heater, that's a very thin heating element inside the glass of the mirror itself. (similar to a defroster on the rear window).

 

if that had been the issue, it would have manifested itself on the other side of the assembly and/or destroyed the positioning motors/brackets inside the housing.

 

keep us updated..

[rbrjr1]

Updates..?

[Donstar]

On 1/15/2020 at 3:20 PM, [email protected] said:

Anyone else heard of the OEM side mirror experiencing a short and melting part of the mirror housing? Washed my truck today and noticed the damage and have no clue when it happened. The mirror is original equipment and has not been hit or damaged. I'd like to know if others have had this problem? Possible manufacture defect?

Welcome to this forum!  You have an interesting issue and we are hoping for an update.  My guess is vandalism.

[[email protected]]

Well, the good news is that I have a new mirror on the truck. The somewhat bad news, in my opinion, is that there's still no definitive cause of the melt. The dealer did not take the melted mirror apart to determine if there was internal wiring damage. They did check all fuses and relays and said that they were all good. I did bring the old mirror home with me and plan to crack it open to see if there is any damage to the internal wiring, etc. I'm waiting for a warmer day to work on this, as it is 18 degrees F today and I don't have a heated garage. Once I open it up, I will post an update.