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The liquid is leaking on inside of the drivers sideview mirror on my '01 ES. It is the heated and dimming version of the mirror. Anyone know how to remove the mirror itself from the housing so that I can replace it? Thanks
From my experimentation in the junkyard, you can't remove the a mirror from its housing without cracking the mirror. The mirror glass is double sided taped/ glued to a plastic backer, which is covering the pivot screw that needs to be removed to take out the assembly.
Mine did the same thing, except it was literally half of the mirror. I just ordered a replacement glass to stick over it since you couldn't see anything out of mine. It was only $12.
From my experimentation in the junkyard, you can't remove the a mirror from its housing without cracking the mirror. The mirror glass is double sided taped/ glued to a plastic backer, which is covering the pivot screw that needs to be removed to take out the assembly.
Hmm, that would suck. I've come across a bunch of heated, but non-dimming mirrors-only on ebay, so I'm thinking there must be a way to safely remove them.
Another question - Was the dimming option always packaged with the memory option? My '01 ES has the heated, dimming and memory drivers side mirror. Now it seems I need to make sure any replacement mirror meets all three requirements. The first two (heated and dimming) are easy enough to determine as all were heated correct me if I'm wrong, and dimming is thicker around the edges. But is it safe to say that all dimming mirrors were also memory? I see some mirrors listed as "9 wire" vs "11 wire"...most have no description at all and have poor if any pictures of the harness and it's socket.
Does it matter whether the mirror I buy is listed as memory or not, so long as it is heated and dimming? Meaning, is the memory function something related to the car/housing and not the mirror itself.
I never thought replacing a ****ing mirror would be this complicated, haha!
The seat memory isn't connected to the mirror. Just the auto dimming and heated glass. You can find one at the junk yard but only on the model that had the dimming as an option (most likely a 2000 or 2001). I found a spare at the junk cheap It was off a 2000. Pop it from the bottom with a flathead towards the center of the mirror. Then you can just replace it as a hole. You can also heat up the double sided tape with a heat gun not to high and take off just the mirror (if you brake the mouting plate on the replacement and your is still good). Make sure you pop off the thin frame around the mirror before separating the glass and the plate. If you find one online make sure it has these wires. Here are some pics.
The seat memory isn't connected to the mirror. Just the auto dimming and heated glass. You can find one at the junk yard but only on the model that had the dimming as an option (most likely a 2000 or 2001). I found a spare at the junk cheap It was off a 2000. Pop it from the bottom with a flathead towards the center of the mirror. Then you can just replace it as a hole. You can also heat up the double sided tape with a heat gun not to high and take off just the mirror (if you brake the mouting plate on the replacement and your is still good). Make sure you pop off the thin frame around the mirror before separating the glass and the plate. If you find one online make sure it has these wires. Here are some pics.
THANK YOU! Your post was super helpful.
I bought one off ebay today for $70; the heated/dimming mirror and the whole housing too. I was able to justify it because the housing is the same color as my '01 ES, plus the condition of the housing and mirror was excellent (free shipping helped too). So now I have a backup housing I guess. Ordinarily I'd have waited until it got a little warmer and then checked a few local yards. But this problem gets worse by the day and obviously I need the mirror.
Sounds like a super quick fix - pop off mirror from the bottom, disconnect cable, then connect cable of the new mirror and pop into place by inserting the top and then pressing in on the bottom.
Posted below is a tip on how to remove the mirror, this was from a Subaru repair manual but they are all similar, push the mirror in at the top so you can get behind the glass, there are two slots to slip a screwdriver in and release the bottom and then tilt up to pull the top tabs out. Speekar sorry I owed you a reply to your PM to tell you this some epic-ally long time ago, been busy.
While the memory isn't "connected" to the mirror glass, the 00-01 cars will either have no memory and no dimming, or memory and dimming so if you buy a whole dimming mirror it has memory. Be aware the memory sensors are fragile so often on used mirrors they are wonky and the memory doesn't work well. $70 was a good deal, I find there are plenty on EBay where the seller would have no idea the mirror is dimming,
Another top tip...don't "test" the dimming glass off the car by applying 12 volts...you'll hear a "snap" and ruin the good dimming glass you just bought ;-) Not that I have done that or anything...
03-21-15, 12:35 PM
Remove drivers sideview mirror from housing 3ES
