My mirror flops

[Thunderbone]

My driver's side-view mirror wants has decided to flop around all by itself. It still pivots forward/backward, but won't lock into place. The plastic collar seems intact but I can literally lift the mirror off the housing. I applied masking tape around the collar and then pushed the mirror down and that seems to be a temporary remedy. Anyone know how to fix this?

[masraum]

I believe there is a screw that needs to be tightened. I believe the screw is in the neck of the mirror.

[Thunderbone]

Thanks, masraum, but I tried that. I thought that might work but that seems to fasten the neck to the car and does nothing for the mirror. If I hold the mirror down, I can pivot it back and forth just fine, but if I don't it just pops loose. When I lift the mirror off the triangular piece of plastic, I see an exposed, threaded,brass screw that fits in a hole in the mirror. However, I'm hesitant to try prying the mirror apart

[masraum]

What year is your car, that will make a difference. If you are saying that the bolt seems to go from inside the mirror head into the neck, then it may not be that bad. On my '88 there is a pencil sized hole in the bottom center of the mirror head. The mirror is held on by a ring that rotates maybe 90 degrees. You put a screwdriver up through the hole and rotate the collar to get the mirror out. The first time I did it I was replacing the mirror glass, and in a dealer parking lot it took me about 15-20 minutes to figure out what to turn, which direction, etc... Your's may be similar depending upon year.

[Thunderbone]

My car is an '87 coupe. Typically I pivot the mirror forward when I wash the car so all the trapped water will drain out and not slobber all over the side of the black car when I take off. Sunday, when I did the usual pivot, the mirror was very loose. I lifted the mirror housing and it came completely off. The threaded shaft appeared not to be connected to anything inside the mirror head. This shaft comes from the neck and ends inside the mirror head, threads all seemed to look the same--none seemed any cleaner or dirtier than the others. I figured the plastic collar was a pressure fit type of deal that held it in place. So I added a layer of masking tape around the plastic and it seemed to hold. But the more I thought about my pressure fit conclusion the more I thought too much pressure on my brain had diminished my mental capacity. I reasoned that the head must be connected to the neck somehow but I am not getting it. It seems like I need to remove the collar from the neck and then attatch it to the head but my head can't figure out how this is done and I am hesitant to start taking this apart.

[cbsmallz]

Hi Thunderbone,

My passenger side mirror ('84 Carrera) was very loose at the neck and flopped around, albeit still attached. I just finished the fix and thought I'd drop you a reply of what I did to fix it. Wife in case you are monitoring my PC activity, I'm doing your list of to-do's too.

First, my descriptions of componentry are based upon the names as called out in the Bentley manual for '84 - '89 Carreras. Page 660-2, exterior trim section.

From your description, I believe what has happened is that the threaded guide tube has become unthreaded from the mirror housing. Thus it is necessary to rethread the guide tube into the mirror housing.

To fix this, and I presume the threads inside the mirror housing are still in tact (as if this is not so, then a new mirror housing will be necessary)one would:

1 - Remove the entire mirror assembly from the door. Should you need to set it aside for a moment or two (like for refreshment, and or mandatory rest break), simply wrap in a clean rag and let hang against the door. BTW that little allen bolt takes a 4mm allen wrench.

2 - N - Take whole thing apart to see whats inside. At your option, you may skip these steps. Interesting note, I found my mirror to be attached to the mirror housing in a manner different from the locking ring that is mentioned in Bentley. I'm concluding that being as my Carrera is an early '84, parts from '83 SC wound up on it during assembly. Philosphical note, since '84's had parts from the Carrera line and parts from the SC line, would this car, being the blend that it is, and thus the best of both worlds, truly be the best of the 911 line?.... Compare and contrast....

N+1 - Rethread the guide tube into the mirror housing. Now this is not as simple as threading a bolt. But it is almost as simple. One needs to overcome the force of the adjusting spring which sits around the guide tube. Overcoming the counter acting spring force is doable by pressing down with your thumb on the end of the guide tube so that the spring is compresses and it plus the guide tube seats against the mount. Then rotate the mount with seated guide tube about the mirror housing. I suggest this rather than rotating the mirror housing so that the wiring going from the door into the mirro housing also remains stationary and thus doesn't bind up. By overcoming this counteracting force of the spring, the guide tube threads will then seat at the mirror housing threads and allow the guide tube to be threaded additionally into the mirror housing. Once it is initially threaded, keep threading. While you are threading you will need to maintain a lesser thumb force on the guide tube so that while the mount is additionally rotated about the mirror housing, the guide tube will rotate with the mirror mount and thus continue to thread additionally into the mirror housing.

After you have threaded it sufficiently, the mirror housing will rotate but be firmly against the mount. The spring will provide additional rigidity but at the same time allow the mirror to be moved back and forth with some pressure.

N+2 - Re-attach the whole assembly back to the door.

Now while I was threading and additionally playing with the mirror (I'm easily amused), one thing I noticed is that when the mirror housing is moved about the mount (not to thread, but like in normal use) in one direction, the guide tube rotates. When moved in the opposite direction, the guide tube doesn't rotate, thus moving the mirror housing back and forth about the mount unthreads the guide tube from the mirror housing. So over time, or all at once if you desire, if the mirror is moved back and forth a sufficent number of times (not sure how many but I guess it would be a lot), the mirror housing will loosen from the mount.

I suppose that one could lock tight the threads to prevent the guide tube from unthreading. However should the guide tube ever need to be removed for whatever the reason, removing it with the lock tighted threads may then not be very easy (you'll know what I mean if you take a closer look see by disassembling it). Since I would gather the mirrors are not moved back and forth very often, sufficently threading the guide tube into the mirror housing will provide ATBR, ample time between rethreads.

N+3 - As with any maintenance performed on your vehicle, a test drive is necessary to ensure that the maintenance was properly performed. When test driving be sure to especially exercise the car over it's entire speed range to ensure that the fixed mirror housing is now sufficiently taught against the mount and will not flop around.

Wow look at the time. Sorry but gotta go. I've got to shoot an instructional video "Fixin that loose 911 mirror", then go around loosening any 911 mirror I can find, and finally e-mail Wayne about this new video he needs to carry which I think will become a hot seller literally overnight.


Regards,

Carlton

'84 Carrera

[no substitute]

I fixed mine on an 80 SC well over ten years ago, after repeatedly tightening it and having it loosen. It worked so well and it's been so long I can't remember what I did. I think the last step was snapping the glass back into the frame. You'll have to take it apart and look inside.

[Thunderbone]

Carlton, thanks for the set of instructions.

[masraum]

Thunderbone, yep, your mirror (the glass itself) should be held to the head by a rotating collar if you need to get it out.

[RoninLB]

Originally Posted by masraum

I believe there is a screw that needs to be tightened. I believe the screw is in the neck of the mirror.