Greetings 850 brothers!

For the past several weeks, we are experiencing an inversion which causes heavy frost on the windows in the mornings. I noticed last week when I enabled the defrost switch, only the drivers side heated mirror did not defrost.

I'm able to remote control the mirror just fine. How would I troubleshoot this issue?

Thank you!

 

I have the same problem. Everything else on the car works, so it's kind of a bummer.

 

I'll tear one apart when I go to the junk yard tomorrow and let you guys know.

 

I'm having issues with mine, too. But, my issue is a bit different. I've used the heat twice and each time it's...discolored the mirror. I don't know if I need to buy new glass or just get a whole new mirror.

RSPI, have you ever seen anything like this?

 

I'm soooooooo happy other 850 owners are experiencing the same issue.

Thank you RSPI for taking the time to look into a fix

 

No problem.

I've never seen a spot on the glass.

I think the junk yards charge about $15 and they go on fast.

If the car is not YELLOW, it's easy to match the color.

 

Thanks. I thought it was wierd. Don't worry for now. I picked up a new glass off of Ebay. If it doesn't work, I'll hit you up.

 

This is no replacement for some OEM heated mirrors but I carry this stuff for my windshield as it works fast and I don't have to wait for the engine to warm up to see out my windshield and I can get on the road faster. It's also so much better than having to scrape ice and works on all the glass and mirrors.
Only down side is it does leave a bit of an oily residue, like antifreeze but it's never bothered me.

Also works great for getting a window unfrozen for getting the mail out of the mail box, banking at the drive through or picking up coffee from a drive by kiosk.
Nothing worse then having the window frozen solid when you pull into a drive through.

 

The heated mirrors work in the same way your rear windscreen defroster works, so if one mirror works and the other doesn't, my guess would be the element in the glass has gone bad. The glass (with the black plastic backing) can just be replaced, it has terminals on it for the heating elements.


Ebay has them for about $20

 

The solution was found on Swedespeed:

Heated driver's mirror issues

 

Just FYI, I'm the person who started the Swedespeed thread. When I was prying out the mirror glass, I broke something internal. I installed the new mirror and it looks fine. But it moves a bit. When I'm driving, it shakes quite a lot. I can live with it for now, but I'll need to replace the whole unit eventually.

So, when removing your mirror, be careful. With our old cars, the plastic is brittle.

Good luck.