Outside Mirrors
There are two problem parts in the mirror assembly: the Mirror Glass and Pivot Pins.
The problems with loose Mirror Glass are caused by its fixing and adjustment mechanism. There are several points of failure. The Mirror Glass consists of several parts glued together: the mirror, the heating element and a plastic backing plate. The backing plate snaps into a “spider” (a cross shaped universal joint that is gray in the pictures) using the elasticity of the backing plate’s plastic composition to hold on to the spider. This is what serves to hold the Mirror Glass to the car. Adjusting the mirror actually utilizes some very elegant engineering. The two Pivot Pins run in and out via engagement to electrically driven, rotating, threaded gears.
The failure points of the Mirror Glass are related to molded plastic protrusions that holds the spider. If one of these protrusions breaks, the Mirror Glass can “float” either up and down or side to side. See picture 123, the broken protrusions are circled.
The Pivot Pin is a very complex one piece molding. On one end the Pivot Pin has very small teeth that are cantilevered off from the main body. It is theses small teeth that are forced into engagement with the rotating threaded gears, of the drive mechanism, by the natural elasticity of the plastic. Note that the cantilevering also acts to protect the teeth; it allows them to slip rather than break when driven all the way inward to the Pivot Pin’s limit of motion. On the other end of the Pivot Pin there is a ball joint with ears. This ball with ears snaps into the Mirror Glass, the ball providing articulation and the ears keeping the Pivot Pin from spinning. Therefore for the Pivot Pin to cause the mirror to move the ball must be fully seated in the socket of the Mirror Glass’ backing plate, the ears must be engaged in the slots that are molded into this socket and the cantilevered teeth must be engaged into the threads of the rotating gear.
There are two failure points on the Pivot Pins. The cantilevered tooth can and does break off. The ears on the ball are fragile and can also break.
As can be seen from the above write-up fitting the Mirror Glass to the car is somewhat difficult. It must connect to three separate pieces all at about the same time. The level of force needed to seat the Mirror Glass to the spider and the Pivot Pins to the rotating nuts is significantly different. The trick that I use is to:
1. Fix the Pivot Pins to the Mirror Glass. A dollop of silicon grease may help the function of the mirror adjustment.
2. Connect the heater element wiring
3. Carefully align the Pivot Pins and push them into their respective rotating threaded gears. Do not push them all the way in, leave plenty of play for the necessary adjustments of the next step.
4. Move the Mirror Glass so it is just starting to engage the spider. Doing this will further engage the Pivot Pins into the threads.
5. Give the Mirror Glass a good sharp whack with my hand to fully engage the spider
Pivot Pin, plastic, door mirror (A100U6056S) Two are required per mirror.
