Originally Posted by Jeremy5848

Those of us in warmer climates often forget that many Mercedes have built-in heaters on their outside rear-view mirrors. The heaters are thermostatically controlled; the thermostat and heater are built into the mirror and come on automatically when it gets cold enough.

Whether any one Benzite (you or me) ever needs this feature is not the point. The problem is the cost of a replacement. Should the mirror ever be broken, the replacement is not just a piece of glass and will be priced accordingly by the dealer. I would guess $50 at least; perhaps someone in the know can enlighten us. Personally, I'd rather not pay for a feature I'll never use. I suppose it might be possible to have a glass shop cut a mirror to size but that sounds expensive too and you still need to attach it to the plastic backing piece.

While at Pick and Pull the other day, I decided to see what it would take to get the right outside mirror out of the holder on a 124. I took the whole thing apart there in the junkyard only to discover that my work was unnecessary -- the mirror can easily be popped out with one of the same tools we use for removing trim strips. At the register, I was charged only $4 for #851 "Misc Body Mirror." I was so surprised that I went back and got the left side too. I now have a spare pair put away (thus guaranteeing, under Murphy's Law, that I'll never need them).

I would imagine that if you took the entire pod with the mirror and (manual or electric) controls it would be more expensive. As regards the mirrors only, there seems to be some commonality between Mercedes models but make sure the mirrors you get will fit your car. In particular, late 124s seem to have a different shape from early models, the early models have an unusual square-shaped right mirror, and in late 124s both sides are electric while the early models have a manual left mirror adjust. Make sure you don't yank the mirror out too quickly; there's a 2-prong plug for the electric heater wiring that needs to be unplugged.

Make sure the yard marks the mirrors so you can exchange them if the heater/thermostat turns out to be dead. When you get the mirrors home, put them in a refrigerator or freezer and get them good and cold. Then attach the prongs on the back to 12 volts. The mirror should draw about 3 amps and after a couple of minutes the front will start to feel warm. After awhile, the whole mirror will warm up, the thermostat will cut off, and the heating will stop.

The pictures show a left mirror for my 1987 300D Turbo (W124, OM603). Sorry for the poor focus.

Jeremy