My driver's side auto dim mirror is permanently dim-How to change?
 

From searching this is apparently known to happen. The mirror turns dark brown. Hard to see anything. Replacements are expensive, but I have to do this. How does the old mirror glass come off and how do I install the new one? Here's what the replacement looks like: Thanks!
http://69.0.158.19/live/O507097680ULO.JPG

What kind of car do you have?

When your mirror glass turns yellow like that it means the wiring shorted out your heating element and smoked the mirror glass.

Sometimes you have to replace the whole mirror assembly if the wiring insulation is all deteriorated, unless someone else knows of a cheaper alternative.

You may get lucky, and the wiring is okay, and the heated mirror glass shorted and just needs replaced, but more info is needed on make , model, year of car.

Oops! It's a '97 E420 (210 Body). If it's shorted can I just leave the wiring disconnected? Not much freezing here in Atlanta and the car is garaged nightly.

The same thing occurred in my 1997 S320. I have been driving around for the last year with the tinted mirror. I would be interested in hearing about a solution.

How does the mirror panel get removed? What is the cost of the mirror?

Thanks!

You have to remove the outer shell or the housing.fold your mirror and you will see a spring you need to unhook the spring in order to remove the housing.Look at this picture you'll see the spring in the middle.http://img.eautopartscatalog.com/live/O505066075ULO.JPG

So once I release the spring the housing will be loose? I thought the spring only snapped the housing back to position when folding it.

If it is like my car ( W 202 ), you fold the mirror back ( or forward ), then look inside, where you will see a LARGE ,cadmium-plated " C " clip.
Slide the clip sideways with a screwdriver & the housing will slide off. ;)

OK, I know it is wrong! But when this happened on my 99 SLK230, I had a local glass shop cut a mirror to fit. I removed the old dimming mirror and glued this $15 regular 1/8 inch thick mirror to where the old mirror was at. If you are not a Mercedes nut (like I am), you would never know and it works great. And a lot cheaper than the $300+ that that the dealer said a new dimming mirror cost (mirror only, no installation). Since the passenger side mirror never dimmed, I could not quite see the usefulness of it anyway. And it is not heated. For $300, I will scrape it both times each year I need to.

That doesn't sound like a bad idea. Was it easy to glue the new mirror on to the supporting structure? Thanks.

It was not too hard to glue it in except for holding it in place until the glue sets. I used various wood spacers around it and then taped it in. Then did not drive the car for about a day. That has been about a year and a half ago and it still works great.

By the way, I have an MB extended warranty on the car and MBUSA would not replace the mirror. There is a list of what they will replace and if it is not on the list, they will not do it. I was never given this list until after I complained about them not replacing it under warranty. When I bought the warranty, I was told "it covers everything that the new car warranty covers". A lie, of course, but from a salesman, not MBUSA.