I thought side mirror removal was easy
 

I am trying to remove the passenger side mirror. I have Bentley.

It says to use a screwdriver in the hole at the bottom of the housing to find slots in the locking ring, and turn the locking ring counter-clockwise.

I can't seem to find slots, and I am unable to get the mirror out.

Anyone else done this on a 87-89 Carrera? Any tips?
Is it obvious when you have the screwdriver tip in the slot in the locking ring? Does it unlock on one turn, or do you have to take many turns to unscrew the locking ring?

What are you trying to do...remove the mirror from the car or separate the base from the square mirror housing?
You have to remove the whole assembly from the car with an Allen wrench.
After you separate the pins from the plug, the mirror can be taken to the bench...then it can be separated from the base.

the lock ring moves about 1/4", lock to unlock. the mirror rarely just comes loose and falls out. you have to help it pop out.

Thanks - I am trying to remove the entire assembly from the car, so I can paint it. So according to Bentley, I have to remove the mirror, then I can disconnect the wire from the inside.

I have already loosened the assembly with the allen wrench, so the entire thing is now just dangling, but I dont want to cut the wire. It appears that you have to remove the mirror glass itself, to get access to the wire for removal.

- So to reply to Ben parrish post, I see no way to remove the pins from the plug, to take the mirror to the bench, which is why I am trying to remove the mirror glass

You can re-install the mirror assembly to the door for stability, then gently Pop the glass as described in the manual and you will see the connector after you take out 3 or 4 screws and move the morized plate assembly the mirror glass pops into out of the way. It's a pain but will prove to be the easiest way. Then you can pull the pins. (disconnect battery for safety)
The PO cut the wires on mine and left it that way. It took me hours to re-solder the wires inside the mirror and the door!

Once the above steps are completed, pull the wires out as you remove entire mirror assembly from car.

This old thread helped me. It shows the different mirror types and has an animation showing the lock ring.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/239808-flag-mirror-help.html

This is good information. Unfortunately, the final post completely agrees with my experience:

"has anyone actually rotated that ring and the mirror glass just fell out, 2 hours at it and I am ready to just break it off
i even have a brand new set that is not assembled and once I set the mirror in the ring and turn it it is dam near impossible to get it back off and thats not in the housing. got to be some trick to this"

There is a wire ejector tool that you have to use to push the wires out of the plug body, if you don't want to cut the wires.

The tool is made by Hazet, and is very quick and efficient to use.

Rotating the ring unlocks the mirror from the motor, but often requires a little extra nudge to pop it off.


I used some nylon trim removal bars (see 4 Piece Nylon Pry Bar Installer Kit) to gently pry the mirror glass away from the motor housing -- 2nd bar from right slips behind mirror glass so you can gently tug toward you.

And once you get the glass off and mirror motor unmounted as timmy2 describes, you can dismantle the round electrical connector as rusnak says by pushing out the pins using either the Hazet tool, or this one I purchased at Amazon: Amazon.com: Delphi Packard Weatherpack Terminal Release Tool: Automotive

Carefully mark the wires before disconnecting (thin sharpie on connector worked for me). Once the electrical connector is disassembled, you can unmount the mirror housing fromt the door and pull the electrical leads through the mirror housing base.

Hope this helps.

The manual for my 86 said that the mirror was the ring type but it turned out to be the prong type. The prong type is secured with three metal prongs that are press-fit into the motor face. I found in mine that there was a rubber sheet inside the drain hole on the bottom that I would have to cut through to reach the ring, if there were one there. If you've found the same you may have the older type of mirror.

Mirror.
 

On our '86, the mirror is of the three prong configuration.

Mine was the ring style, and that thing was brutal to work with. It actually took me close to an hour, and its a miracle that I didn't break the mirror in the process. But its off. As others have pointed out, once the ring is rotated, its still a PITA to get the mirror out.

Related question: once I got it off - the next step listed in Bentley was to disengage the heater wires from the mirror. These seemed a bit corroded, and when I tried to gently loosen them, the connection just sort of crumbled and broke off. Have other seen that? Once I am ready to re-install, is there a trick to reconnecting them to the metal posts on the mirror? Or maybe I shouldn't bother, since I seldom drive the car in winter or really need the heated mirror feature. But if its easy, I'll do it right.

thanks for all the help so far - you folks are the best

Bump just for the heating wire question...

Anyone have guidance on what to do about heating wire that broke away from the posts on the mirror?

Sorry; don't recall a heating element on my '85 . . .

Free bump.

So I bought the tool off of amazon....how does it work? The tool basically is a hollow tube that slides over the pin in the plug...do you push really hard?

Just don't want to break anything.

Thanks

Jack

Pushing the tool over one of the pins will compress the small 'barbs' on the pin that keep the pin from backing out of the connector housing. On mine, I pushed the tool over the pin as far as it would go, then carefully pulled the wire (with pin attached) out of the back of the connector housing.

Following up on the Hazet tool, anyone know the part #? The pin tools come in different sizes...

Thanks!

I thought side mirror removal was easy
 

Flat Six's earlier post has a link to amazon for the exact tool he purchased if that helps.


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My 84 didn't have a lock ring mechanism. The mirror glass was retained by three prongs.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1408590622.jpg

The glass had to be popped out in order to access three screws that attached the motor assembly to the mirror housing.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1408590680.jpg

Hope this helps.