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Driver's door mirror

NorthernBloke

NorthernBloke

New member
Went shopping yesterday and when I got back to the car I noticed that the drivers door mirror was pushed back against the car. I assumed that someone had caught it and it would push back.

Well, the 'kin glass is cracked and the mirror is hanging loose [:mad:] i.e. there's no spring tension to hold it onto the cams on the door mount. There is a thread in the base on the door which I assume screws into the mirror but it looks like a mirror, and possibly door card, off job to fix. Can anyone advise me on how to do it?

Oh, and can anyone recommend somewhere to get a replacement mirror glass at a decent price - the car's a 944 S2

Cheers

Andy
 
The mirror base comes off without removing the door card - there's a socket headed screw that you can access from the top of the base if you fold the mirror forward (or maybe back - you'll see it anyhow). Apart from that there are just two legs that lift out of the holes in the door when the screw is removed.

The mirror body is not screwed onto the base, it is held together by a pair of pins with flanges on one end to catch the mirror pieces. One is hollow and the other fits up inside. The thinner one is then turned 90 degrees to lock into the larger one. The whole thing is held under tension by a spring that sits around the whole lot. It's a complete bugger to work with and I have always used an OPC who (I believe) have special compressor just for this job.

Sorry, that description is rubbish, but if you get the mirror off then you'll see what I'm talking about.

If the problem is between the mirror back and the piece it attaches to then that IS screwed together. You can get at the screws by taking the glass off (by sticking a small flat screwdriver up through the oval hole in the bottom and turning the big knurled plastic lock ring. That then releases 4 tabs on the back of the glass and it should come off with little force. Don't pull too hard or the plastic part of the motor could be the bit that breaks first. The glass has a ring on the back with the 4 tabs around its edge.

If all else fails loads of people have standard mirrors spare after fitting teardrops. I have a pair of glacier blue ones somewhere for example.
 
Cheers for that Fen.

I know exactly what you mean and the screw - I saw it but thought there may be bolts into the door as well - phew [:)]

I'll give it a go and see if I can sort it and if worse comes to worse thanks for the tip about spare mirrors.

Cheers

Andy
 
Any luck?

My experience with this was:

Mark and cut the cables so that you can remove all the bits from the outside of the car.

With all the bits off the car you can get enought pressure on the socket head screw thing to compress the spring and engage the thread. The socket type tool is the same as the one for the head bolts on a Mk III Cortina. I bought one twenty years ago and never used it untill I had this door mirror problem.

Get some crimp connectors from Halfords and reconnect the wires.

No need to take the door card out it can all be done from the outside.

I waisted about three hours trying to do the job without cutting the wires!

Regards
 
I've not attempted it yet Robbie as I haven't needed the car but I do appreciate your input. Bit of a pain having to cut the wires - no plug I take it [&o]

Oh well, I'll make sure I've got plenty of inline connectors before I start

Cheers

Andy
 
I forgot to mention the wires. There IS a plug but it's inside the mirror back and it's too big to pass through the centre of the pin like the wires do. [:(] A bit of a ship in a bottle.
 
I've just been reading through the workshop manual and "apparently" you can push the wires out of the plug itself before removing the mirror.

I'll let you know how I get on

Andy
 
ORIGINAL: NorthernBloke
I'll let you know how I get on
Click to expand...

Looking forward to it Andy.........my drivers mirror only half defrosts, and it's been like that for 5 years because I'm too cowardly to tackle that spring [:eek:]. If you sort yours then it will give me renewed courage.....maybe [:-]
 
ORIGINAL: NorthernBloke

I've just been reading through the workshop manual and "apparently" you can push the wires out of the plug itself before removing the mirror.

I'll let you know how I get on

Andy
Click to expand...

A couple of points which might help:

The wire colours and termination points were different on my car ('90 turbo) to the manual.

To push out the pins on the plug you will need a special tool otherwise you will damage the barbs which hold the pins in the block. There isn't a manufacturer stamped on the plug so you will probably have to go to an OPC to get the tool.

I just marked all the wires carefully and ditched the plug for the crimped bullet connectors.
 
Well, I decided to bite the bullet today and attempt to fix the mirror.

The concerns about the plug turned out to be the least of my worries - a small philips screwdriver popped the wires out no problem. Instead the allen bolt, that holds the mirror on, first decided to round off and then, after forcing a torx bit in, the 'kin thing sheared in the captive barrel nut inside the door [:mad:][:mad:]

So, door card off after all, and tomorrow I shall be "mostly using a stud extractor" and if that fails a drill and tap [:(]

I'll let you all know how I get on. Oh BTW the mirror went back onto the base no problem either - appropriate torx driver, hold mirror and base together, push to compress the spring and turn. Piece of cake [:)]

Andy
 
All sorted [:D]

Drilled out the stud and although there was still a thread I re-tapped it just to be sure. Popped the mirror back on, the wires back into the plug and put everything else back together.

Phew

No excuse now Paul [;)]

Andy
 
Hmmm yes that sounded really easy - hahaha [:D]

Don't hold your breath waiting for me [;)]

Summers coming anyway - who needs 1/2 defrosted wing mirrors?
 
Paul, if yor problem is electrical then you just need to drop the glass out to get to the wiring. If it half defrosts that sounds like a stuffed element to me anyhow...
 
Fen, to get just the glass off do I follow this bit from your previous post:

If the problem is between the mirror back and the piece it attaches to then that IS screwed together. You can get at the screws by taking the glass off (by sticking a small flat screwdriver up through the oval hole in the bottom and turning the big knurled plastic lock ring. That then releases 4 tabs on the back of the glass and it should come off with little force. Don't pull too hard or the plastic part of the motor could be the bit that breaks first. The glass has a ring on the back with the 4 tabs around its edge.

If so I think I could cope with that. I've read so many mirror instructions over the years that I have gone all cross eyed and think I may have been imagining it is harder than it is. If I simply stick a screwdriver up that hole to release the glass then this could be the day it gets done [:D][:D][:D]
 
Hey guess what? [&:]

Thats right [:D]

I finally did it [:)][:)][:)]

I misunderstood your instruction though Fen. I thought the locking nut came unscewed by using the screwdriver as you normally would, but then I found the attached picture and it all became clear. Anyway the connections were pretty corroded so I've cleaned them up.

Heavy breathing on the glass does seem to clear a bit better, but I think one of the elements has packed up. I wonder how much a genuine mirror glass will be be?????

I hope it frosts tonight [8D]

Tq488865644.jpg
 
I have a spare pair of mirrors that I believe both have working elements - I'll stick one in a Jiffy bag and send it to you if you email me your address.
 
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