loose outside rearview mirror glass

[olbuickman]

I noticed this weekend that the glass in my drivers side outside rearview mirror wobbles a little bit . Is this much of a job to adjust ? Hopefully I don't have to take the whole mirror off. Thanks

[Guest NEMO]

The mirror is glued to aflat piece of material behind the mirror, this material has two threaded pins that are used to pull or push this surface to adjust the mirror. I have never taken any apart ,you might try to get some weather strip adheasive between the mirror and this surface to reglue it. Use a " L '' shaped flat wire and work the glue back there.

[KDirk]

May also be the mirror adjust motor not mounted tight into the mirror housing. This is a common problem since the three mounting tabs on the motor are plastic and break easily.

You can see these mounts be adjusting the mirror to the extremes (all the way down and in or all the way up and out) and shine a light in there. You may just need to get some stainless steel washers and new screws to hold the retainer tabs on the motor tight to the housing (there are three standoffs molded into the housing).

I've done this on both mirrors on both my cars for wobbling of the mirror glass, and it solved the problem.

KDirk

[olbuickman]

Kevin, How do you acess the 3 mounting screws. I understand what you are saying as far as seeing the 3 screws but can work on it or does the glass need to come out. Thanx

[KDirk]

Frank,

If you have a good #2 phillips screwdriver with a long shaft, you can get to the screws by adjusting the mirror to the extremes as described above. You will need to get them at a bit of an angle, but it can be done. I have found it is easier to remount the motor into the housing with the glass attached then to try and reattach the mirror glass after mounting the motor.

The reason is that there are two pivot pins (X and Y axis if you will) that are retained in the back of the mirror glass panel, and a third larger fixed gimbal on the motor that has to be "popped" in. This is almost impossible to do with the motor in the mirror housing as the two small pivot pins have to go into holes in the motor housing. Since the pivot pins want to move around freely, it is exceedingly difficult to get both of them lined up to the receiver sockets in the motor and still evenly apply the pressure needed to pop the mirror glass onto the center gimbal. This has been my experience anyway.

Note that the there is one mounting tab on the top center of the motor, and two on the bottom near the corners of the motor housing. If you adjust the mirror all the way downward, the top screw is accessible, albeit a bit tricky. Bottom two screws are the inverse, adjust the mirror all the way up. May need to angle it in/out to the extremes to get on to the two bottom screws as well. Once you see how it is put together, it is pretty clear. It helps to be out of the sun, with a flashlight to shine up inside the mirror housing.

I would get three small stainless steel self-tapping screws (use the originals for size/length) and flat stainless washers with an OD of about 5/16" or 3/8". The factory hardware was black steel screws (no washers), they are almost always badly rusted, and I prefer not to reuse rusty hardware. The reason washers are needed is to "bite" enough of the remaining mounting tab (the extremities of these three tabs frequently are broken off, which is why the mirror gets loose to begin with) to hold it in place firmly. Just be careful not to over-tighten the screw and strip out or split the standoff in the mirror housing.

I hope this is a detailed enough explanation. If you need any further assistance, feel free to post or PM me here.

KDirk

[Guest 3rdReatta]

Kevin,

Thanks so much for the great info on the "wobbly" mirror glass. I printed off your instructions and they worked as stated. I used a dremel tool to rough up the broken pieces - then glued a hard fiber washed to the plastic. Touchy to put the screws back in-but if you have some patience you can do it.

Thanks again,

Don

[KDirk]

Don,

You're quite welcome! Glad I could be of assistance. I am intrigued by your creative fix for the mounting tabs. I hadn't thought of that, I just used slightly oversized stainless washers to "capture" the stubs that remained of the mounting tabs. I had initially attempted to glue the pieces back on (I had all three remnants) but the motor housing is ABS plastic which does not take adhesives well (even epoxies) with enough strength to do the job. Your re-work actually sounds like a good idea. I may try that on the next mirror assembly I repair.

KDirk

[ChrisWhewell]

Hurray, I get to do this also.   I found two of the broken tabs and the mirror, in the glovebox.   The motor was just hanging on the mirror cowl, so I clipped the wires so I could get a handle on the thing.  JB welded one of the loops back on the side having the two tabs.  JB welded the loop on the side having one tab.  Waited a day.  Then, took a steel washer and JB welded it to the backside of the tab, for added strength.  Then, took another washer , held by needlenose pliers, and heated it to redness, then embedded it into the plastic .  Then, JB welded it in place.   Yippee, maybe this will all work out

[ChrisWhewell]

A little vaseline on that gimbal makes it pop in real easy.  Install the motor to the cowl using the three screws first, but beforehand, align the two pins on the back of the mirror to the holes in the motor, and "paint" their rotatable base portions with some 1 % collodion in ether (nitrocellulose lacquer) to maintain their position, then press that sucker right in.  The lacquer holds the two pins in place sufficiently to enable ready insertion if you lined it up correctly prior to putting the motor in.

Edited July 19, 2016 by ChrisWhewell (see edit history)