Pardon me for asking this, but "search" isn't working for me right now.

I need to know how to totally remove the entire rear-view mirror assembly from the car.

My drivers side mirror has come unscrewed from the steel core that houses the spring. I took it apart and saw that the mirror control wire runs through this spring, up inside the mirror.

What I want to do is basically unplug the entire mirror assembly, remove it, screw it back together and put it back on the car.

Basically, how do I remove the actual mirror to access where the wire goes so I can unplug it?

 

First take of mirror class by rotating it to one extreme and prying it it out. Watch for heating wires. Can't remember for sure if all angular mirrors use same mirror motor so use caution. On Cup mirrors class is held by plastic ring that needs to be rotated.

Motor can be taken out by removing three small bolts. There should be small connector behind it. Next you can take mirror housing to two pieces to gain better access but this isn't necessary. Connector on body side needs to be dismantled to be able to push wires through mounting base.

 

DO NOT REMOVE THE MIRROR!! You'll make the job much harder.
Undo the two bolts that hold the mirror base on the door and you'll be able to place the mirror upside down on a table or other support, depending on how long your cables are, (be sure to protect the paint on your door) and put the base on the bottom (now the top) of the mirror. Get someone to hold the mirror assembly while you take a large screwdriver with a blade large enough to fit in the bottom (now the top) of the central hollow bolt while carefully moving the wires out of the way with the blade. You'll have to compress the heavy duty spring WHILE you turn the bolt to get it to catch in the threads on the mirror. Once that's done turn it about three full turns and reattach the mirror to the door.
I hope you're not a featherweight because that spring is a bitch.

 

Vilhuer - I must have the Cup mirrors then, because I did pry the glass off, but when it was apart, I noticed there was a plastic plate that had grooves in it. When trying to re-assemble, it wouldn't really attach to anything until I noticed this plate rotated on the backside of the glass. I found the lil' nib on the plate you have to rotate to the right and it went back together ALOT easier than taking it apart.

ErnestSw - You are correct about not removing the mirror. I did remove the housing from the car first by removing the one allen bolt (my car only has one bolt holding it). After it was all apart, I still could not remove the wires out of the mirror housing, due to the big plug connectors. I guess to remove the entire assembly, it has to be done from inside the car. When I first looked at that spring assembly, I thought, "Hummm - looks like I could find a big-*** screwdriver and press really hard and get this to catch - but these wires don't really help". This was the reason I tried taking everything apart, in hopes of pulling those wires out.

Sadly, after I had it apart enough to pull the spring out a bit, I saw that it was badly stripped. It's either stripped or there isn't supposed to be any threads for the first 1/2 inch. Looks like I need a whole new mirror assembly (looks like the housing itself is stripped too).

Another thing I found when I had it apart was that the "left/right" motor arm isn't catching on the "right" movement. The area where the lil' "ball" hits is chipped on one side so that the ball slips by it. As I won't be using this mirror eventually, I may Crazy Glue the arm to the thing it's supposed to catch. I know this probably isn't a good thing, as it looks like the arm needs to be free at some points in it's travels...but I'll take what I can get for now.

Thanks for the help....oh, and what the hell is that lil' black "nib" that sticks out of the bottom of the mirror housing??? It plugs into what looks like a Temp Sensor connection inside the mirror. Does this have to do with defrosting the mirror??

Jeff

 

Hi,
The lil' black doohickie is the outside temp sensor.
If you're going to replace the mirror anyway, consider disassembling the mirror and turning the hollow mounting around 180 degrees and using the end with the threads on it. You might even consider cutting and splicing the wires.

 

I'm so daft - which part are you saying to flip? Would it be the "neck" part of the mirror stalk? Wouldn't that be hard, seeing as one side has those bumps in it for when the mirror turns....or am I guessing the wrong part here?

What about the large screw that goes inside the spring?....I think that is stripped too. I appears to be missing the threads from the first 1/2 inch.

 

I'm assuming that it's the large hollow screw with the wires going through it that is stripped. If that's the case you would have to cut the wires to flip it. The two or three "bumps" between the bottom of the mirror and the mounting piece are the only points of connection between the two pieces. The spring holds the tension between the two.
Look at your right hand mirror and see how it rotates either forward or back, I can't remember which. The ONLY thing holding the mirror to the base is the hollow bolt with the wires through it.

 

As for me I took off the whole mirror from the door by removing the (1) allen bolt. I then rolled up the window to give me more wire slack. I dremmeled a notch on both side of the hollow bolt so I can put a huge flat head screwdriver on it for torque and I press and twisted the bolt in like I was driving a knife into an elefant. A 1/2 turn to get the bolt on and undo the stress on the wires. Another 1/2 turn and relieve stress. So on and so forth. 10 minutes to fix and 3 hours to think up the process.

 

ErnestSw - yes the hollow screw appears to be stripped. I didn't notice that the screw could be flipped, but I will look at it again today. If you flip it, wouldn't the end that you would use the screwdriver on be the end trying to screw into the mirror? I dunno.

Another thought - what if I removed the spring and just screwed it together? I know I would lose the folding feature of the mirror, but I never use that anyway. I wonder if that would work?

Also, where do those wires from the mirror go anyway? Is it into the door only or do they somehow make it into the car? If I could trace the wires back to where they plug in, I could unplug it and remove the whole shebang and it should make it easier to work with. I'm guessing I'm looking at a door panel removal, yes? I have to take the door panel off anyway to fix a wonky window.

 

The screwdriver will go into either end of the hollow bolt while holding the wires out of the way. I'm not sure that the other end will work, but I don't see why it wouldn't. The other possibility is that you can screw the hollow bolt in past the stripped threads without flipping it over. There should be enough room to do so. Don't leave the spring out. You'll end up with a rattling mirror that will eventually break.
If you have to do the window anyway you might as well detach the wires to the mirror in the door.

 

IMHO easiest way to deal this is to have whole mirror assembly on table far away from car. If plug behind class is same round type I have seen, metal connectors inside plastic can be taken out of it quite easily without cutting or damaging them in any way. Then just push/pull wires through hollow screw one by one and you have it all on hand.

Can't remember exactly how we took metals out from connector but on each metal there is small ledge that holds it from backing out. With some suitable tool it's possible to carefully lift that ledge and wire is freed for separation. Naturally each of them needs to go back to same hole it came from. There's no need to even have access to inside of car to do this. Keep close eye of your mirrors, we're coming to take them away and do it without wire cutters while leaving wires intact.

 

Thanks Vilhuer - you have now given me insentive to do this without cutting any wires.

The connectors inside the mirror are two rectangular plugs and two other wires that sit on the back of the glass. The hard part though is the temp sensor wire. It has a large plug on the end of it and I don't know if I can pull these wires out....may have to splice these ones.

My fear is I get this all apart and the threads that are stripped are too many and I can't screw it back in. Maybe I'll then try a weaker spring or something.