Mirror goes up and down but not side to side
 

I've got a weird problem that has developed on my 81' 911 SC Targa.

When activating the right mirror it moves up and down and side to side, when I switch to the left mirror it moves up and down, then if you try to move it side to side it goes up and down also?!? Anyone encountered this before?

Yes, this can happen. Your mirror type is the older type with only one motor per mirror, as opposed to the later type which is two motors per mirror, ie one motor for up/down and one motor for left-right.
So, your mirror has only one motor and the change between vertical and horizontal move is done through some sort of a small clutch mechanism that activates for horizontal move. Yours appears to have failed. Or the wiring to it needs to be checked.
There are threads here that fully explain how to deal with this.

I had this problem. I removed and cleaned the internal components of the switch and reinstalled. That fixed that issue.

If you mean the joystick switch, since the issue is only on one side, this switch cannot be suspected.
It has to be something inside the faulty mirror itself or the wiring to it.

Yes, I had the issue on both sides. So, maybe not the same solution.

Thanks for the input everyone, fascinating that it works from one motor. I'll pull apart the mirror and report back what I find.

Amazing, every time I do a job on the Porsche and think I'm all done it leads to another job. :)

TJ01WA --- YouTuber "@Dr.garage911" is your friend. Here's his video illustrating, diagnosing, and repairing almost exact same issue you describe in a series of 2 ~ 3 short 10 min videos. Bonus: his Porsche also an '81 SC (Coupe though). Start with Video/Chapter #140 link below. Then, 141, 142, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsIgaG46DB0

You will see on his channel that his 265 video chapters are the closest thing there is to a video version of "101 projects...".

Good luck!!!

NOTE: there is no dialogue in the video. Instead captions are in English and Japanese.

I had this exact issue on my ‘84 a couple of months ago. It seems that the mirror was replaced at some point and the wire connections got chaffed or what have you inside the door and there were some cross connections in the door. Same issue with the mirror responding in only the one plane regardless of the way the way switch was moved. If the other suggestions don’t work check the wiring. Good luck!

:) this is quite a common issue, the toggle switch is not the best!
Ant...

My mirrors quit working thanks to cracked diodes across the solenoid terminals. Pulled the diodes out, and the mirrors came back to life.
Funny thing: the older wiring diagrams don’t even show diodes. Either Porsche added them later or the diagrams were wrong.
Years diode‑free now, and the mirrors still work fine. If yours are dead, check those solenoids — the diodes may be the culprit.
There's a photo of the guts of one of my mirrors in this thread:https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/328635-1986-porsche-911-power-flag-mirror-problems-any-help.html

Diagrams referred to in this thread are wrong, as they don't come from the factory, but from the Bentley manual, in which model years are inverted. Because of this, any post where it is said that older mirrors used two motors and later mirrors used only one motor plus a solenoid should be understood the other way around.

I've never seen a diagram of the older mirrors with two motors. Has someone mentioned that in this thread?

Yes, in the thread you pointed, post #5. I know it's an old post, but Doug says "Here's a schematic for '86-'89 mirror control." The schematic shown is in fact for older mirrors. Not his fault though, the Bentley manual has it wrong. I just wanted to point that out, as this mistake shows up regularly.

Thanks. What year did they switch to the two motor? I remember trying to fit a two motor into my flag housing but decided not to do it. Can't remember why. Too much effort I suppose.

Apparently the change took place with MY87.
Here's the factory diagram for 86, showing left mirror with one motor plus solenoid and diode:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1765206491.jpg


And here's the factory diagram for 87. This time the mirror has two motors:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1765206545.jpg

I usually trust the factory diagrams much more than the Bentley.

I agree!!

So just remove the diodes ? No need to replace them?

That's what I did. As I mentioned, the older electric mirrors didn't have them - per the diagram anyway. To be perfectly correct however, you could solder new ones back in.