Side mirror repair
 

Can’t post pics for some reason.
Side mirror is wobbly, went in and saw the top flange nut (1 of 2, a top & bottom) had fallen out. I’m stumped by a few things. First, the threads on the nut seem to be almost completely stripped and rusted (maybe rust from sitting in the bottom of the door?). Second, when attempting to tighten the remaining nut, turning it clockwise, it just spun in place, but counterclockwise appeared to tighten it to a stop.

Also curious, the nut itself spins freely of the flange. By design I’m sure, but I’ve never seen that before.
I’ll try to find replacement nuts , but in the meantime, has anyone had experience with this?

In case you aren't aware of it, you can find in the lexusguide.net Lexus ES (XZ10) Service Manual Outer Rear View Mirror - Removal and Outer Rear View Mirror - Installation procedures.

A couple of things to note in those procedures:

1) There is no mention in either the the 3 mounting nuts' removal or installation step instructions that the tightening and loosening rotation direction does not follow the regular/conventional direction.

2) There is "OUTER MIRROR INSTALL HOLE COVER" installed over where those mounting nuts are installed.

From a 11-29-22 posting of yours, I see you purchased your 2019 ES as a CPO. Given you have no way of knowing the full history of the vehicle, I suspect you're dealing with some sort of botched DIY outside rear view mirror work that occurred sometime between when the ES left the assembly line and your CPO purchase. Indications of botched work are:

1) There should be 3 mounting nuts - you found just 2.

2) Evidence of stripped threads on both nuts. (Just spinning in place while trying to tighten the nut with conventional clockwise direction is evidence of stripped threads.)

3) If by some chance a mounting nut had worked itself off its threaded mounting shaft, I would think the "OUTER MIRROR INSTALL HOLE COVER" would prevent it from falling all the way to the bottom of the door where you found it. (That's assuming that cover hasn't gone missing from your ES.)

@grp52 These are great resources ,thanks for digging it up. I'm picking up the nuts from a local Toyota dealer today and will try again when I get home, with your service manual info by my side.
Pics that I wasn't able to upload, below. Both the round and oval holes in the second pic had rubber seals in them when I opened the door. I only looked through the oval, where I found the two mentioned nuts, maybe the third is in the round hole. I'll try to replace all three, because why not.
Also, there is nothing preventing the nut from falling to the bottom of the door, but it was easily retrievable with a magnetic wand.
Thanks again, I'll let you know how it goes

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...d98d3f3540.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...fbb64300a6.jpg

Are they folding mirrors?
Hate it when people do half job.
You either repair it fully using proper parts or you don't.

No, they don't fold.
If I can get the new nuts on securely I won't fuss about it. Otherwise I really don't want to take it back and ask for CPO fix but I will. But I have a feeling they might say something about the Kilmat I put in the doors, maybe try to weasel their way out of the warranty repair.

None of the US sold 2019 ES models were equipped with power folding outside rear view mirrors - only equipped with manually folding ones.

For your issue I don't think the Kilmat will be the CPO warranty excluding issue. Instead this from the L/CERTIFIED WARRANTY SUPPLEMENT AND ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE GUIDE:
may.


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More good info. I hope it doesn't come to that but I will say that when I complained about a whistling noise from the windshield, they discovered it was an aftermarket part and they replaced it with a Lexus windshield, free of charge under CPO.

I thought this site says you can't post service guides cause Toyota comes down on them for piracy etc?

Update: Well this is the darndest thing. I brought home two new nuts and can’t get either one to start threading. Some pics show what looks like a deformity on the end of the stud which makes me wonder if it’s ever been on there at all.

But the most curious/frustrating thing is that I can’t even get the bottom nut off to remove the mirror entirely. It just spins and spins, both directions! 😡. I marked the stud and nut with a sharpie to see if the stud may have sheared off but it’s not - a quarter turn of the nut showed the nut had turned but the stud remained in place.

This is a head scratcher for sure.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...2f079ea77.jpeg
My deformed stud

I thought techinfo.toyota.com was the only place to get this level of service detail. Its fantastic info assuming its accurate. Why would they offer it no cost to the public?

Update, for archiving purposes:
The dealer confirmed what I thought, the stud(s) were "warped", or deformed in some way. They were replaced free of charge under CPO, although they made sure to tell me that it was technically not supposed to be covered and they were doing me a solid.
Two thumbs up for customer service.