Mirror Mangulation

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Brucey
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Addendum

Post by Brucey »

- if you regularly swing your mirrors on their pivots, do check that the wires are not tight against the pivot bolt; being serrated it can chew through the wires; I've seen this on a couple of mirrors.

To check, pry out the blanking plug and check for a little slack in the wires. If there isn't any, it may be possible to pull the wires through from the car side slightly.

cheers
~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
horsetan

Post by horsetan »

8)

I knew those bits would come in handy eventually..... :oops:
maxpesce

Post by maxpesce »

.. Mirror glass is always blue anti-glare tinted, but comes in several flavours, left or right, an extra-wide view glass for the driver?s side and heated variants....

That would be the US mandatory wide angle Passenger side mirror on LHD cars!
with the obligatory warning added - "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear" :?
Dale

Great writeup!!

Post by Dale »

I have a mirror that only goes up and down, with great chrome, and a not-so-good one that works all functions. Looks like an opportunity to combine the two! Thanks, Brucey.

Dale
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ron
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Mirrors

Post by ron »

Great write-up Brucey.

Just a few notes to add.

The early non-heated mirrors mounting plate had no cutout for the

bi-metallic strip and even the cutouts were enlarged on very late mirrors

as they changed the size of the strip.

You can remove the glass only by using a hairdryer and a large flat

scraper.A heatgun is too hot and will damage the plastic shroud.

Very early mirrors did not have a splined headed pivot bolt.It was a

bolt with slots either side of the head which is practically impossible

to remove.I've tried making up various tools but still no luck.

If you are removing the mirror from the housing you have to carefully

dig all the sealant out and then use a pin extractor to remove pins from

the plug as it will not go through the pivot bolt.

HTH Ron.
They are ALWAYS rustier than you thought!!!!!!
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Post by val_c »

Thank you! My next project - freaking Canadian Border Security broke one of the mirrors I bought from US during parcel inspection...

BTW - this should be in tech artcles.
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RossDinan6
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Re: Mirror Mangulation

Post by RossDinan6 »

I came out this morning uncovered the car and found a floppy driver side mirror. Pulled it off and made a knee jerk post in WTB.

On inspection the pivot bolt had backed off over the years. Probably faster as I fold the mirrors in my undersized single car garage. I fiddled with the connector for some time trying to come up with a tool to unlock the connectors. Gave up and cut the wires with plans to solder them after a repair.

With the mirror motor assembly out of the way it was time to attack the sealant surrounding the wires. The sealant used felt a lot like polyurethane. Anyone that has been around boats is likely familiar with 3M 5200. It is a very tenacious adhesive sealant used for joining parts permanently (like hull/deck joints). Some time ago I discovered a product called Anti Bond specifically designed to loosen up polyurethane. With some patience and plenty of Anti Bond the sealant gave up in a somewhat gooey mess.

After that it was a down hill cruise. Cleaned up the hollow bolt, spring and spacers. Assembled with locktite, reinstalled the motor assembly and soldered the wires. Before finishing up the waterproof heat shrink I tested it. Success.

Now I just need to attack the clutch issue on the passenger side.

Thanks for the detailed mirror tutorial. It helped immensely.
Ross
'84 633 Dinan turbo
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dwcains
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Re: Mirror Mangulation

Post by dwcains »

Glad you got it fixed, and referenced the issue for others.

As an aside, anyone else have a 6 that came from the factory with only 1 side view mirror, like mine? There is no wiring for a passenger side mirror, and on the outside of the door is a black-painted metal trim piece where the mirror should be. I haven't seen another one like it. For safety's sake, as well as aesthetics, I have since installed a mirror on that side.

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Lutz, FL

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RossDinan6
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Re: Mirror Mangulation

Post by RossDinan6 »

My understanding is lower spec Euro cars came that way. Power and passenger side mirrors were a high Deutschmark option.
Ross
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tom635
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Re: Mirror Mangulation

Post by tom635 »

Great insight here. Both my mirrors are not working. I've cleaned the switch. The plug the switch goes in to seems to have 12v coming out on pin 4 only (seems normal). When I plug the switch in my multimeter says there is 12v going across all the pins. Is that right? Can't be?

Wires appear OK from what I can see. Taking the mirror off to check the motor and clutch but that switch has made my brain hurt trying to figure out how it works.

Fuse 17 OK, as is the relay (K6?).

Tom
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86_6series
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Re: Mirror Mangulation

Post by 86_6series »

This is from a 1985 ETM, but should be the same.
PDF page: 64/ manual page: 153.

https://www.millerperformancecars.com/f ... Manual.pdf
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Re: Mirror Mangulation

Post by sowhatsg »

The passenger mirror pivot is loose, probably after folding and unfolding so many times. The bottom cap is gone and I can see the wires coming from the door to the mirror inside the hollow splined screw. If I understand correctly the older posts, the wires need to be pulled out to tighten the screw unless somebody found a way to tighten it another way.
I tried to remove the mirror entirely but one of the 3 screws at the edge of the door inside has been massacred and a screwdriver does not bite anymore.
Here is a picture (blurry I’m afraid)from below where the bottom cap should have been,
AE872378-B930-496E-B3EB-668959E5F982.jpeg
AE872378-B930-496E-B3EB-668959E5F982.jpeg (1.58 MiB) Viewed 2657 times
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Re: Mirror Mangulation

Post by 86_6series »

A flathead screwdriver will fit into the serrated pivot along side the harness.
That's how I tighten mine, no need to remove anything.
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Re: Mirror Mangulation

Post by 635sharknose »

Paul
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sowhatsg
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Re: Mirror Mangulation

Post by sowhatsg »

This is very helpful, thanks. I have removed the mirror, but have trouble removing that small plastic cap you refer to in the loose mirror thread.afraid to break it and it seems you didn’t have to remove the plastic frame around the mirror itself. The small cap is held by that one as well.
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Re: Mirror Mangulation

Post by sowhatsg »

Finally got the thing working after doing what Paul described: open small cap, cut wires, tighten hollow screw while pushing hard on it, extend wires p, reassemble and test. All good, but not so easy with wires so tight inside.
Thanks guys for the help and guidance.
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