Funny, I just joined this forum for the EXACT same issue. My father gave us his 2012 XC60 R-Design. I have a tight garage and folded the mirrors to get in, but upon unfolding, the driver's side hyper-extends past its normal position.

I did a LOT of searching and decided to take the mirror apart. I am stumped as to what process or mechanism tells the mirror to stop. The dealer was pretty useless and said that the entire mirror needs to be replaced, no notion of "re-programming" or "re-calibrating" it. I see that the mirror motor assembly costs about $200, but I'm really trying to figure out what means is used to signal the miror to stop. There is a metal "post" that seems to be a logical stop point on the base, but no corresponding latch/sensor/switch on the plastic mirror housing/motor side.

I've got the entire thing disassembled as of right now and would appreciate any insight. I'm happy to share my photos/findings as of this point. The motor simply has two wires going to it, so it isn't a stepper as far as I can see. Unless the car uses simple timing to determine the position, there doesnt' seem to be any circuitry or smarts in the mirror itself to signal the correct "open" position.

 

I have a 2012 XC60. This is not the first time this has happened.

I have the mirrors set to fold against the car when parked. When I turn on the car the driver mirror unfolds, goes right past the normal position and keeps going until it is facing our and useless.

I have to manually pull it back to the normal position. When doing returning it manually to the normal position it does not click or anything like that - it is one fluid motion from completely open to closed. So it doesn't seem to have a memory position.

The last time this happened I had to take it to the dealer and if I recall correctly they charged me to fix it. I don't think it was a part, just programming or something.

I searched the forum, and I did see a post for something related that referenced another post about this but I couldn't find it. If someone can point me to that it would be great.

If anyone has any pointers on how I can resolve this myself, please do let me know. Thanks.

Have you tried resetting the mirror position in the MyVolvo Menu?

 

I do not see an option to reset the mirrors in the menus. There is only one option to reset and it is to reset all settings to factory default. Any pointers on where this mirror reset option exists? Thanks.

 

My recollection of the operation of this system is that it runs mirrors until the motor current goes up considerably. Fold back would do that and the normal position detent would do it. The forward position is a yield/don't break feature. When the mirror overtravels does it even slow down or pop or do anything to indicate there is a detent for normal position?

If the detent, whatever mechanism that is on the mirror, breaks then the dealer may be right that a new mirror is what it takes to fix it.

 

I have/had this theory also...that the motor circuit detects when the motor current rises and stops the folding action. I could mimic this feature by stopping the mirror at the "correct" position with my hand. However, the folding/opening function of the passenger mirror (which still works) seems to just "stop" at the correct points without it appearing that the motor is hitting something and "straining". Not sure if my description makes any sense.

There is a spring which presses the mirror housing against a three-position ring at the base of the mirror, however I believe that is for the safety feature to allow the mirror to fold and unfold if impacted. In doing this, it "pops" out of its position. However, I do not believe that this ring actually rotates in normal operation. The working mirror never "pops", or moves up when using the electric fold/unfold feature, but this can be felt when manually pushing it.

While there does appear to be a metal tab on the base of the mirror, and a plastic notch to limit the "closed" position travel, I can't for the life of me figure out a corresponding mechanical limit point to the "open" position. Nor does it appear that there is anything damaged, missing or broken that would work as a detent or stop point for the open position. I wonder if perhaps it uses the stop position to "calibrate" its start of travel, and then some other mechanism (motor run time??) to determine the open position. Again, the passenger side mirror doesn't seem to hit any sort of mechanical stop point to cause the motor to "strain" and stop...the motor just runs and STOPS.

At this point it is an engineering curiosity for me, and I happen to like the challenge. I even went to far as to try to look through some wiring diagrams, but there was nothing apparent regarding some sort of sensor or switch.

 

Here is a video I've taken of the mirror internals.

 

I looked at the YT video and I don't see any stop feature either. There is no counter circuit shown in WD and the two wires as the only connections to motor don't allow for that.
I can block the mirror and it stops so that seems to indicate it has a current monitor circuit for the feature. I wonder if there is a stop of some sort that should be in the gear.

 

Interesting idea. I was actually able to disassemble the entire motor and the round gear does come out. Perhaps there is supposed to be a stopper on the actual gear itself. I'll take a closer look.

 

Try recalibrating the door mirrors.

Press and hold both mirror buttons while both mirrors fold in and then back out. They should stop at the proper place.

 

Happened to my 2011. I replaced the mirror with a used one from Erie Vo-Vo. I also turned off the automatic folding when I lock the car and only fold them in when I need to so it’ll last longer.


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If I need to replace the mirror, can I replace only the "drive unit"? I believe it is art number 31385259:

https://parts.volvocars.ca/p/Volvo_2012_XC60-30l-6-cylinder-Turbo/Drive-unit/46945195/31385259.html

There are multiple part numbers I have found for the mirror drive unit, so I want to ensure this one is correct if I go down this path.

Is it hard to replace?

 

Well, be prepared to do a lot a fiddling. The mirror in my 2011 failed because the motor shorted out from severed wires. The used replacement I got had the same issue as yours but still had a working motor. So instead of sending it back, I basically combined the two broken mirrors to make one good working one. It took me about 4-5 hours to do it. Volvo did not design the mirror to be serviceable and it took a lot of work. I actually had to cut a couple of different parts of the plastic just to get the wires ran through. It's a bit of a faff but if you're mechanically inclined you'll be able to figure it out! Just be sure to carefully store and label all of the screws you remove

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Same issue on my 2011.5 I gave up and turned off the folding option...will follow your troubleshooting!

 

I've had this happen twice on my 2010, replaced the mirrors twice. Now it's happening again and since I have 156k on the car I'm not doing that again so I'm following this closely.

 

Yeah, I'm not really interested in replacing the mirror because everything "works" otherwise. To those that replaced the mirrors, did you do it yourself, or was it done by the dealer? I'm curious if they do any software "tricks" to register the new mirror or something that could also calibrate it.

 

No tricks needed. It's all plug and play. I even replaced the BLIS camera on mine since the lens was scratched and it works flawlessly.

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I replaced the whole mirror assembly

Same thing happened to our 2013 XC60. Took to independent garage who replaced the driver mirror assembly ($500 + labor?). They indicated that a 'stop' broke and that it was the weak link in the assembly. Repair time was listed as 1.5 hrs (pull door panel and unbolt assembly). I got the assembly back but have not gone thru it yet to satisfy my own curiosity. They are a reputable group, so I believed them, as mirror was useless in current condition.

 

Same thing happened to our 2013 XC60. Took to independent garage who replaced the driver mirror assembly ($500 + labor?). They indicated that a 'stop' broke and that it was the weak link in the assembly. Repair time was listed as 1.5 hrs (pull door panel and unbolt assembly). I got the assembly back but have not gone thru it yet to satisfy my own curiosity. They are a reputable group, so I believed them, as mirror was useless in current condition.

If you still have your assembly and are willing to take it apart and see what's inside, perhaps it would give us some more insight as to what could be missing. I too feel like there should be a stop somewhere, but I can't figure out how it should work and allow for the spring "break away" feature to still work.

 

Hi Guys! I found the solution. After I posted the video to YouTube, a viewer from Sweden saw it and sent me the solution. The issue is there there is a pin on a spring in the motor housing that gets seized up because of road grime, etc. The solution is to remove, clean and lubricate this pin. I have attached photos from viewer that gave me the hint.

I was able to fix my driver's side mirror. In a stroke of ultimate co-incidence, my passenger mirror started doing the exact same thing 12 hours later. I did up a full video from start to finish showing the fix.....

Super thanks to the YouTube Viewer from Sweden that helped me solve this mystery!

Here is the link to the new video:

 

THANKS!!! Great Video! I'm in TX and my 2010 is still fine and likely may not give the problesm since there is no salt used on roads here. At least minimal amounts in rare storms.

 

Great video! Thanks! I will tackle this at some point for sure...

 

Thanks for this post. I've completed the "repair" but broke the push nut. Anyone find a replacement that fits well?

 

Just an update for anyone as clumsy as me that may break their push nut metal thingie:

Check any hardware store like Lowes/Home Depot in the states. You are looking for a push nut that is ideally 15/16" OD and .5" ID. If you can't manage to find one with the correct OD just grind it down a bit with a rotary tool ( mine came with a plastic cap and didnt quite fit at first.
I also managed to lose the plastic washer that goes over the spring Dunno how I managed that one. Anyhow, any nylon washer should work. I found both parts at Lowest in the specialty nut drawer. $2 and fixed the issue.

But alas, I did not check the position of the mirror before fixing it (it was broken when I bought the car)...so now that its "working" one mirror opens while the other closes...I'm hoping I can fix this with VIDA.

 

This is the absolute best video of the repair that I have found. No cutting, breaking, or excessive force. Having just followed the steps, it's most likely how the Volvo Techs do it.

 

Had to undo my previous work and reverse wires plugged into my motor. Don't be like me, check that everything is plugged in correctly the first time.

 

Has anyone had this problem but the mirror has snapped off? My came out to my mirror hanging off this morning, having not had any issues previously. My first thought was that someone had pulled it off, but maybe not?

 

Very helpful thread… We just completed this fix on our XC60, and wanted to add that the press washer gets chewed up fairly easily and quickly becomes unusable.

It’s far easier to just cut that washer out, and replace with a new when reassembling the mirror housing (one after cleaning/fixing the push pin).

In case anyone is wondering, the washer is a 12mm “starlock” locking washer, which can be ordered online. It has to be hammered on with a socket (like in the second video) until the teeth latch into the center groove.

 

Is there any relation to this issue and the issue I have of the passenger mirror itself never returning to its proper position after reversing, or, even when the reversing option is turned off in the Menu, it still tilts downward and never returns to the preset position?