How do you tighten 928 sideview mirror?

mooncalf · 03-28-2007, 11:37 AM

For some reason, the side view mirror on the passenger's side of my 928 is progressively loosening. Looking at the mirror, I'm not sure how to tighten it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Barbapapa · 03-28-2007, 12:30 PM

Fold the mirror, it exposes the screw to tighten. Good thing you asked, one feels silly after taking off the door panel before realising how it tightens

mooncalf · 03-28-2007, 01:00 PM

thanks a million. I stared at it and stared at it. I "wished" it tighter, but that didn't work. So I figured I'd get some advice. Greatly appreciated.

mooncalf · 03-28-2007, 01:05 PM

so, I folded the mirror and it exposes the hex nut for the part of the mirror assembly that attaches to the car door. But the mirror assembly, itself, is loose, and pulled easily up from that part of the mirror assembly, held on now only by the power mirror wires. I can see a threaded nut, but can't tell what it should attach to. ideas?

Barbapapa · 03-28-2007, 01:23 PM

Uh oh, that might be a problem. There's a threaded sleeve with the spring around it and the wires through the middle. To be able to tighten that nut on the sleeve you have to compress the spring and not disturb the wires. It's a very difficult job, hopefully someone with more knowledge will chime in, sorry.

Tidybuoy · 03:41 PM

To do this properly, the mirror has to be removed from the car.

Using the hex nut as mentioned above, the mirror can be removed from the car but, the wires have to be detached before you do this. The easiest way, unfortunately, is to remove the door panel and unplug the mirror from the harness. Then you must remove the individual wires from the plug which can be done by using a paper clip to press down on the catch holding the wire in place.

After removing the wires from the door side of the car, the mirror itself has to be removed from the mirror housing. Depending on the year of your car, later years are easy. Under the mirror, there should be a little hole in the housing. Insert a small screwdriver and twist the bayonet fitting that holds the mirror in place. You can see small ribs in the bayonet housing which are for this purpose - just move either clockwise or counter-cw and the bayonet and mirror will come right off.

Now that the mirror glass is removed, there are small screws that hold the electrical motors in place. Unscrew these and the whole motor assembly will come right out of the housing and then pull the wires thru the housing.

Now you have an empty mirror housing with the wires removed. There is a large 12-point screw holding the mirror housing to the base - this is the screw that needs to be tightened. It's spring loaded and can be tightened pretty easily with some pressure. Don't unscrew it or you will add at least an hour to the project as it's a super pain in the but to get back in place.

This probably sounds difficult (without a diagram) but it's not too difficult. It will probably take a couple of hours including the door panel and wiring but it's actually pretty easy.

Vern

12magnum · 03-28-2007, 08:02 PM

I don't believe the door panel has to come apart. Last summer while on a drive with the local porsche club, my mirror fell off- well almost, it was hanging by the wires. I know i got it back together without removing anything inside the car or cutting any wires. I do remember having to get that nut started on it's threads against the spring pressure being a pain. Anyway it sounds like yours is just loose and not completely off so it shouldn't be that hard.

Also if you haven't figured it out yet, the glass just pops off. carefully pry it up with a screw driver. That alone took me about half an hour to figure out.

Danglerb · 03-28-2007, 08:42 PM

Try not to think about the $63 cost of new glass as you pry, but I haven't seen one break yet. Prongs do come off the backing, but can be glued back on. A putty knife is often the suggested tool, thin wide flexible blade, work your way slowly, and there are 3 or 4 of the prongs to get out, sorry I forget the exact number.

T_MaX · 12:10 AM

I don't know what year your car is, but if it's an 87 or newer the manual is wrong! They never updated the info. after 86 for that section, for the 928.

Here is a tech art for the 87-onward mirror R&R.

I just check the book and like Tidybuoy said, the mirror does have to come out, so does the the motor assy.

After you get that done, you have to remove the wires from the plug that is attached to the wire coming from the door. What a pain, there is a real nice Special Tool to do this with, good luck finding one.

Lucky for you a few of us has done this to other plugs without the "Special Tool"

Quote:

Then you must remove the individual wires from the plug which can be done by using a paper clip to press down on the catch holding the wire in place.

Not a little wippypaper clip, one of those made for big boy's or a micro screw drivers (like you use for glasses).

I could be wrong, but...I don't see the need to remove the door panel just yet, as the wires and plug are in the flag portion of the mirror. Not inside the door.

Here are two pics I found on the web that may help

Tidybuoy · 09:36 AM

You may be able to do this with the door panel still on - it's just a pain in the A$$ either way.

If you remove the mirror base from the car with the hex nut that can be seen after turning the mirror, you will then be able to see the big spring loaded bolt that has to be tightened.

The problem is; all the wires for the power mirror are passing thru the center of this bolt and so you cannot just put a 12-point on it and tighten it up. However, it may still be tightened some other way (possibly).

Another method is to remove the wires from the mirror side of the harness. The problem here is that Porsche has a very funky round plug and when I fixed my mirror - I couldn't figure out how to get the wires out of this plug, and the plug (about the size of a nickle) won't fit thru that spring loaded bolt. If you can figure out how to remove the wires from this end of the harness, you won't have to remove the door panels.

Here is a link with detailed instructions. This is for a 944 but the mirror is the same as the 928 and so the procedure is the same:
http://www.clarks-garage.com/pdf-manual/body-10.pdf

When I reviewed the link, it states that the wires can be removed with a "pin removal tool". I'm sure that will work. I didn't have this tool and all other attempts faile for me so I removed my door panel and removed the wires from the other side (much easier plug to work with).

Good luck.................Vern

mooncalf · 03-29-2007, 09:43 AM

Thanks to all for the great info. I'll let you know how it comes out.

12magnum · 03-29-2007, 09:44 AM

I agree that because the wires pass thru the middle of the nut, that a socket won't work. since the nut hasn't come off and just needs to be tightened, a pair needle nose pliers might be able to turn the nut.

mooncalf · 03-29-2007, 10:03 AM

Actually, the nut is off. The mirror is sittinig on the mount and behaving, for now, but it is really only held on by the wires. I can see the nut inside the mounting assembly and when I look into the mirro housing, I can see the sleeve it's supposed to screw into. I'll pull the mount assembly and see if I can get that nut seated per your advice above.

T_MaX · 11:24 AM

I guess my point was that you need to:

1. Remove mirror glass
2. Remove motor assy
3. Remove wires from plug

Than the wires will slide through the housing and the mirror can be remover from the car w/o pulling the door panel.
_________________________________

BTW, thanks for the link to Clarks Garage!

Added to database

Do you have any more 924, 944, 944 Turbo or 968 sites that are as good as Clark's you would like to share?

Barbapapa · 03-29-2007, 12:28 PM

moon', it may be tempting to try to tighten that nut with the wires still in place and avoid the mirror disassembly but it is practically impossible in my experience. The guys posted some great instructions, print it out and settle in for a nice cozy afternoon of quality time with your Porsche

Tidybuoy · 03-29-2007, 04:31 PM

Just to add to my previous posts:

When my mirror came apart and after I got it removed from the car, I attempted to get the spring loaded bolt threaded. It took my whole body weight and many trys before I got that bolt to start threading (and I weigh 200lbs). I can't imaging how you would get the bolt to start threading with the wires in place. The spring is small but very tough.

Vern

mtelliott · 04-13-2007, 08:49 AM

It can be done without removing the wiring. You want to give it a try before taking the wires out. Putting the wires back in can be a pain given the age. I've done it on my 911 and like Vern mentioned, it's tough. But it can be done. Just takes the right leverage.

On the 911, you don't have a normal nut. It's more of a round nut (if that makes sense). Not sure if it's the same on teh 928 but it uses the same design principle.

Michael