Mirror clicking; glass doesn't move
 

W/r/t my '05 LS430, I am hoping someone here might have some wisdom: my wife is a lot shorter than me, and occasionally she drives the LS. We set it up so that "1" on the door adjusts the doors and mirror to me, and "2" adjusts them for her. Works fine except when I try to go back to "1" -- which is supposed to angle the mirrors a little less aft -- I just get a bunch of clicking from the RHS mirror; you can see it trying to move but it doesn't. (I'm not talking about the mirrors folding; that function works fine; just the glass inside). I assume something must be stripped? Is there any easy way to fix it?

I haven’t been inside THAT mirror, but I have been inside Acura and Volvo mirrors, they are pretty much the same.

Yes, it sounds like the (typically) plastic gears inside have stripped. Not much you can do about that. You can sometimes find aftermarket repalcement mirrors pretty cheaply. Some need painting, and some you can pop off the color component as it’s a shell, and pop it on the new one and it is back to OE look. I did that on a Volvo earlier this year, $60 total, 15 or 20 minutes. Not sure how the shell on that specific model is attached or built in.

After 20 years, the gears or glass is likely stuck and could use a little persuasion. Just try gently pushing the mirror in the direction you want, using your fingertips. The gears will make an audible clicking noise. After that manual adjustment, it will likely work properly again using the remote switch. You will likely 'lose' your preset for that mirror though. Once you place the mirror in the perfect position, push your memory location again to re-learn it.

My passenger side mirror does this. I noticed that when it does the auto fold in and out thing that side the whole mirror goes too far out. I guess it has been replaced and not lined back up correctly. I haven’t fixed it yet. I just have my son roll his window down and pull it back in lol