okay so long story short i was flying at the beach and had a fly away moment because i think the compass went haywire near some metal structure and the mini 3 came down pretty hard in some rocks. one arm looks fine but the motor on that arm is definitely toast ? just makes a clicking sound and barely spins. the other motors seem okay.

ive done motor replacements on freestyle quads before so im not totally new to this but the mini 3 pro is kind of a different animal, way more compact and i dont want to rip a ribbon cable or strip something tiny in there. DJI wants like 180 bucks to look at it which is insane for what is probably a 25 dollar motor.

anyone done this themselves? is there a good teardown resource somewhere or am i going to be making this up as i go

there are a few teardown videos on youtube, i think sydneydrones or someone similar did one. the mini 3 is not as bad as some of the older DJI stuff but you do need to be careful around the flex cables. from what i remember the bottom shell has to come off first and there are some hidden screws under the rubber feet.

the motors themselves are soldered to small ESC boards inside each arm so depending on what your actual damage is you might be replacing more than just the motor. if the motor wires got yanked hard in the crash the solder points might be lifted. worth looking at before you order parts

honestly the compass interference thing at beaches is so common and DJI really should do better with their warnings on that. i had a similar issue near a lifeguard tower once. anyway not helpful i know.

for the repair though ? 180 bucks from DJI is wild, i get it, but just be aware that if you open it up yourself and something goes sideways you've lost any warranty claim and some of the DJI repair centers can actually tell if its been opened. not saying dont do it, just worth knowing before you crack it open