W211 Mirror Blinker Replacement

[Fady]

Hi

Can anyone advise exactly how to slide off the mirror housing from around the mirror body?

I cracked a blinker lense (against the wing mirror of a parked car) and am trying to replace it. The mirror glass is out (this I believe is unnecessary - but it fell out on impact and was dangling by the wires to the heating element - so I 'rescued' it). I can't work where the clip securing the mirror housing to the body of the mirror is - and whether the mirror should be folded in or folded out when attempting to do this.

I've been up an down this forum (and others), but can't seem to find a definate answer to what I understand is supposed to be a straightfoward task!

Thanks in advance.

 

[masqueraid]

On the folding mirror the plastic housing is retained by a metal fork. Now the lens is out you should be able to see it with the mirror unfolded it is at the back of the housing pointing away from the car. Press the two ends of the fork together slightly and the housing should slide off away from the car. (don't forget to detach the electrics first!)

 

[Fady]

Well I got there in the end! The proverbial 5-minute job, that took much longer due to a great deal of head-scratching as I really did not want to break anything. (Just like the good old days, when I owned cars that had a Haynes manual. First instruction might typically be "remove four bolts". First two will come straight off, but then a lot of skin, blood, frustration and time goes into getting the third one off...and by then it's dark!).

Not finding anything about W211 mirrors anywhere, I picked up on the fact that the blinker/indicator part no. starts with "A203". So it's the same as that for a W203 (as is the mirror body if not the housing itself). I then found this thread on the MBWorld forum. The top half made no sense, but halfway down a chap has a second guide which is a bit more useful. For whatever reason, this was still not totally clear to me - but the main problem was I picked up the first flat-bladed screwdriver I could find which wasn't long enough, and couldn't be @rsed to go 3 yards back to the tool box to get another - well not until I realised this very much later.

For the electric folding mirrors all you have to do is fold the mirrors back and insert the screwdriver at the fold. There is a tensioned clip on the mirror body which sits over part of the housing. Pushing the screwdriver between them moves the clip back and separates it from the 4 thin grooves shown in the last picture below. There are no wires to detach (there is a male/female cable connector which automatically detaches) and the mirror glass has to be in place before replacing the housing. It really could not be any simpler!

 

[masqueraid]

Thanks, a lot more comprehensive than my post. Wonder if I'd already loosened mine when it was driven into? The electrics certainly didn't want to separate without some effort though!

 

[Satch]

No prizes for guessing what I have been doing this evening. Could have done with being made from polycarbonate: quite vulnerble as I discover.

Mirror housing tough as guts but not so ze indicator strip

 

[John]

*Post resurrection alert*

I've modified my NS mirror in such away that the casing no longer stays on by itself.

In Fady's pictures above, the first one you can see a metal prong sticking out at the bottom.

During the modification, the lug at the end was removed.

Is it possible to buy that chassis bit, and swap the innards into it?

I know the other bits can be swapped out...

 

[A210AMG]

Fady completly off topic

Have you any pics of your car.

Thanks

 

[Albo]

Well I got there in the end! The proverbial 5-minute job, that took much longer due to a great deal of head-scratching as I really did not want to break anything. (Just like the good old days, when I owned cars that had a Haynes manual. First instruction might typically be "remove four bolts". First two will come straight off, but then a lot of skin, blood, frustration and time goes into getting the third one off...and by then it's dark!).

Not finding anything about W211 mirrors anywhere, I picked up on the fact that the blinker/indicator part no. starts with "A203". So it's the same as that for a W203 (as is the mirror body if not the housing itself). I then found this thread on the MBWorld forum. The top half made no sense, but halfway down a chap has a second guide which is a bit more useful. For whatever reason, this was still not totally clear to me - but the main problem was I picked up the first flat-bladed screwdriver I could find which wasn't long enough, and couldn't be @rsed to go 3 yards back to the tool box to get another - well not until I realised this very much later.

For the electric folding mirrors all you have to do is fold the mirrors back and insert the screwdriver at the fold. There is a tensioned clip on the mirror body which sits over part of the housing. Pushing the screwdriver between them moves the clip back and separates it from the 4 thin grooves shown in the last picture below. There are no wires to detach (there is a male/female cable connector which automatically detaches) and the mirror glass has to be in place before replacing the housing. It really could not be any simpler!

Hi Fady,
Can you show the picture and any others: Pushing the screwdriver between them moves the clip back and separates it from the 4 thin grooves shown in the last picture below.

Thanks
Albo

 

[hrwilson]

As the images no longer work in the thread above, this video made it all clear from me, nothing broken as result! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUxlzS5yArM

 

[mat8n]

does anyone know if this is the same process for a r230 sl?
thanks