scubapics Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 Here is my guide for disassembling the door mirrors without the need to cut any cables. 1. Remove door mirror from car. There are other guides that cover this so I won't detail that here. 2. The cable can be removed from the connector which will allow the cable to be removed easily with out cutting any wires and also makes disassembly much easier. Here are a couple of photos of the cables in the connector. Don't assume that all years/models have the same colour coding - make sure you take photographs or write down the wiring order for reassembly. Note the two black wires have the same key coding. It does not matter if these go back reversed as they are for the heating element behind the mirror glass. 3. The connector has two clips. Each clips is held in place by two latches. Unhook the latches using a jeweller's screw driver. 4. Remove both clips. 5. Each wire is held in by individual plastic latches inside the connector. These latches need to be levered away from the wire/metal connection. The latches can just about be seen in the photograph. Use a small flat bladed jeweller's screwdriver the lever the latch open by just a millimeter or so. Holding the latch open, the cable can be removed from the back of the connector. The wire should slide out with the lightest of effort. Any more effort than this means the latch has not been released and if you continue, you will break something. Make a note of which way round the wires goes into the connector as it will only latch in place when inserted the correct way round. 6. Remove the rest of the wires in the same way. 7. Remove the black insulating / water proofing tape from the rubber seal and cable. 8. The rubber seal is not glued or screwed in place. Just pull it away from the mirror bracket and pull the cable through. You may wish to wrap the cable ends with tape to prevent them catching on anything when pulling the cable through. 9. Remove the cross head screw from the mirror bracket (next to the faded black/white label in the photo). 10. Now remove the cover plate using a jeweller's screwdriver in the drain hole. No force was needed - it almost fell off. 11. Remove the three cross head screws shown in the centre of the photo. 12. The mirror bracket should now be free of the mirror housing. Pull the cable through the mirror bracket to complete the separation. 13. Put some tape over the bottom edge of the mirror housing to prevent it from being damaged. I used two strips of masking tape. 14. Releasing the mirror from the holder can be a bit daunting at first. Looking though the gap you will see two slots in the black backing of the mirror in which you can place a flat bladed screwdriver (not a jeweller's one this time!). The screwdriver fits between the black mirror backing and the white mirror holder. Now lever the screwdriver handle towards the mirror or towards you if the mirror is facing you. This will pop the mirror off the holder. 15. Repeat for the second catch. 16. Here is a photo of the released mirror. The final attachment is just two slots. Slide the mirror out then disconnect the two spade connectors of the heating element. The cables are not polarised so no need to worry about which way round to reconnect them. 17. Now remove the three screws that are behind the white mirror holder through the circular holes of the white holder. Two on the left and one on the right. 18. The motorised mirror holder can now be removed. Flip this over to see the two connectors on the back. 19. The connectors can be removed by levering off with a small screwdriver. They pop off with little effort. Alternatively you could leave these connectors in place and move on to the next step. 20. Remove the last two screws inside the mirror housing. 21. Finally remove the last two counter sunk screws from the underside of the mirror housing to release the hinge motor. 22. Pull the hinge motor assembly and cable through the housing, sit back, have a cigar, the job's done. Put back in reverse order. Don't forget to put some new insulation tape on the cable/rubber seal grommet to prevent water ingress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoogyRev Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 Nice guide Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neilp Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 Brilliant guide and excellent pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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