A few weeks ago, on a dark 2 lane twisty unlit Parkway doing 65 in the 300D, I heard a loud bang which scared the heck out of me since it was dark & sudden and I didn't see anything. I pulled off the next exit and saw that the front passenger fender was dented right behind the wheel well and the moulding was also pushed in.. I thought I ran over a log or something but the car drove ok afterwards. It was not until the next morning that I saw hair caught in the mouldings and mirror hinge that I was rammed by a deer and the mirror glass is gone. I've tried in the past to figure out (unsuccessfully) how the mirror comes apart so I can fix the lack of full range movement in it's adjustment. On a spare mirror, I even took the rubber surround off but there was no further access. There was a phillips screw visible behind the mirror but not accesible. I did try prying on the glass but not knowing where to pry and fear of breaking it, wasn't able to get it off. After the deer strike, it's apparent how the glass comes out. As can be seen in pic, there is a ball on the outer part of the mirror that the glass (socket) pivots on the 4 axis. The inner part of the mirror snaps in with 2 "fingers" which control the mirror movement . Since I don't have a spare mirror glass for a power mirror and the spare that I have is non powered, I put the spare on after lubricating it so that it is no longer frozen. I used long pliers spread to span the ball/ socket and pried the glass and it came off easily. What caused the frozen mirror was lack of lube and corrosion on the ball and socket. After wiping it off and applying some grease, I can adjust the mirror easily with full range of travel. I also did the drivers mirror which was also frozen.
So, there you have it. Thank you deer. I wonder what happened to it?
The glass is different between a powered and manual mirror and not interchangeable. Anyone have a spare glass from a passenger side powered mirror?.
04-02-2009, 08:50 AM
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