W126 door mirror glass - how to replace?

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br1anstorm

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I suppose door-mirror damage happens to most of us sooner or later... but the mirrors on each model vary so much that it is hard to find specific how-to help.

I have an LHD Euro-spec 1990 W126 coupe (560 SEC), and last week on a country road the passenger door mirror (ie the offside) got whacked by the mirror of a Nissan coming the other way driven by a little old lady who was clearly not good at judging distances. Could have been worse, I suppose.

The mirror-glass is cracked. I need to replace it, and I've found a complete offside door mirror from a W126 in a scrapyard. The mirror-glass is the same shape, with heating-element like mine, BUT...

I can't simply swop the entire mirror unit, because the back-panel of the housing is the wrong colour, and because the scrapyard one is of course a driver's side mirror with manual lever-adjustment, whereas (my car being LHD) my broken one is electrically-adjustable. So I need advice on how to remove and replace the mirror-glass only . Is it clipped or bonded on to some sort of backing-plate attached to the motor inside the housing? And how does the heating-element connect?

Any pics (photos or diagrams) would help. I really don't want to damage the motor when removing the broken glass, and I certainly don't want to crack the replacement glass when trying to remove it from the scrap-housing and fit it on to my car!

br1anstorm
 

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Would you just like the instructions for changing the glass Brian
 

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It just leavers out, pull the broken one out first, and put a bit of grease on when fitting replacement. Hope this helps
 
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br1anstorm

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Malcolm - yes, all I want to do is remove and replace the glass, so instructions for that should help... not least because I don't think, brianbrian, that it just "levers out"!

I think there may be some kind of spring-clip which holds the glass on to the backing-plate (the bit which the motor pivots). But I can't figure out how and where to unclip it, and/or which way to pull or push the mirror-glass to get access. There's also the electrical connection, which of course I can't see yet.

Does it need some kind of special tool or hook? Because it's glass, and fragile, I can't risk forcing anything.

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It is best to remove the cover first can you PM with an Email address
 
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br1anstorm

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Thanks Malcolm, pm sent.

But I can't quite figure out what you mean by "the cover": on the W126 the housing seems to be a unified piece...

Rgds

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You will understand,, and I have sent it
 
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br1anstorm

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Thanks, Malcolm, I have just looked at what you sent. I think I see what you mean - the mirror has to be bent back to get at the fixings inside the housing.

The pics help (up to a point). Those photos make Haynes manual diagrams look like works of art!

Will report back when - I hope - the transplant has been successfully carried out...

br1anstorm
 

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There is very little on WIS for these cars,,and yes the pictures are awful, but that is all of the official stuff there is
 
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br1anstorm

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Well, the instructions make it seem easy. The reality is a bit different!

I've spent today trying to remove the mirror-glass from the spare unit that I got in the scrapyard. Managed to unclip the circular retaining wire... but the mirror-glass won't budge. Seems (a) that it might be glued on to the backing plate as well; and (b) that as my spare is a mechanical, lever-operated mirror from the RH (driver's) side of a UK car, the linkage from the lever is fixed to the plastic moulding on the back of the mirror...

Anyone got any more ideas for how to get this pesky mirror-glass removed from its housing? I haven't even started on removing the original cracked one from the car!

br1anstorm
 

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You can buy a stick on mirror from Lucas for £10 that sticks onto the original broken glass and the heater will still work and you cannot tell the difference
 
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br1anstorm

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A few months have slipped by - and my mirror still isn't fixed as the car has been garaged/SORN over the winter.

I didn't fancy the "stick a pice of glass from Halfords over the top" idea - thanks Malcolm, but I'm not that keen on bodging.

But I've been investigating and experimenting, as I have salvaged two spare mirrors from a scrapyard. Only problem is, they're flat and I'd prefer convex, but what can I do? One thing is for sure... removing and replacing a mirror-glass ain't a simple task.

In theory, unhooking the circular clip and wiggling the mirror-glass sideways to disengage the blade-spring at the outer edge and the linkage to the adjustment lever at the inner edge should be simple. I've tried on my spare salvage ones, and in practice, it's almost impossible. Unclipping the circular wire clip should allow the glass and its plastic backing or frame to separate from the circular plate behind it which pivots (on a ball-and socket joint) and thus adjusts the mirror.

However, the adhesive which hold the mirror on to its backing, or frame, also sticks it tightly to the pivot-plate. So even with the clip undone, the two parts won't separate without considerable force. This doesn't matter when removing the original, already-broken, mirror-glass. But it means that freeing-off a spare from the scrapyard isn't easy.

Playing a heat-gun on the surface of the mirror might help, I suppose. But that's risky too.

I hate the idea of having to pay the thick end of £100 for a new replacement mirror-glass. But unless I can get an OEM part at a discount, that may be the only solution.
 
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br1anstorm

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Can now report that problem is solved, and I have a new intact mirror glass installed. Had to get the Euro-spec item (convex, heated, electrically controlled) from a helpful contact in Germany - thank God for the internet.

I noticed one or two points that may be of use to others. The manually-controlled mirror on the drivers' side is very hard to remove. In theory it is held in place by a circular spring clip, which grips a circular plastic plate which pivots on a ball-and-socket in the mirror housing. The problem is that the mirror-glass is stuck with adhesive not only on to its plastic mounting, but also on to this plate. So releasing the spring-clip doesn't free the mirror because it is still stuck to the pivot-plate. I broke my scrapyard spare mirror trying to lever it off.

The electrically-controlled mirror on the passenger door is by comparison easy. Releasing the spring-clip frees the mirror, as it isn't stuck to what lies behind: two little motors move plastic levers which tilt the mirror-mounting vertically and horizontally.

I had to epoxy-glue one of the little plastic levers wich had broken in the original impact. But the replacement mirror glass clicked into place perfectly... and the car should now pass its MoT.

By the way the replacement aftermarket mirror glass (offered on a well-known auction site) would stick on. But the heating element won't connect. The OEM glass has a clever setup for a plug and socket connection, and also has a bimetal strip thermoswitch built into the back of the mirror to control the heating. The element on the back of the aftermarket glass has no such switch; and the terminals are simply flat tabs, and at the wrong 'end' of the mirror to connect to the power-feed wire in the mirror housing.

I took a few pictures of the original and replacement mirrors, but haven't yet put them online. If anyone needs to see them, send me a PM.
 

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