I recently took off both my VR mirrors and took them apart primarily for a paint job that I wanted to be perfect. Everyone probably knows that the Mazda mirrors have a couple seams and big lettering stamped on the bottom sides of the mirror housing, so I wanted them gone. Here's how to remove and breakdown a mirror WITHOUT removing a door skin. Goes for both sides...

1. Gently pivot mirror away from car to access two philip head screws.

2. Remove screws and carefully pull mirror up and away from little housing still attached to car by one screw.

3. Gently pull the wiring harness straight up until you have something like 8" or so of wiring sheath coming out. There will be a hard plastic rod in the middle of this harness to keep it straight.

4. You may want to disconnect the battery, but I did not - but slice the harness sheath with a razor lengthwise to reveal 3 wires. Then cut the sheath off top and bottom for a length of 4". I cut mine off around 3" below where it goes up into the mirror housing on down for 4". This reveals all the wires really good.

5. Put electrical tape around the bottom of the harness to hold it from going back down into the door panel THEN snip the three wires one by one.

6. Put the mirror off to the side, then remove the bottom small bracket by removing one philips head screw and the gasket.

7. Now you should have a harness sticking out of the mirror for 4" and a harness sticking out of the door for @ 8" or so, taped off to the side do it will not drop back inside. Drop back inside - no good..

8. Take the mirror to a safe - soft spot...don't want to drop it.

9. Take a hair drier and gently heat the mirror glass panel directly on all sides. Won't take a lot of heat to loosen this adhesive, you;ll see in a minute.

10 Take a small PLASTIC putty knife ( never use steel screwdriver or you;ll break the mirror ) and pry up under the mirror edge. You will have to go under a plastic molding lip to do it. Just put the edge of the putty knife under the mirror glass and gently pry up. Don't put the putty knife too far up under the mirror, it will jab into the adhesive and make a mess.

11. Do this until the mirror starts coming up off the bracket. Then remove the mirror. Any adhesive strings - put back where they came from for a seal when it;s re-installed.

12. Mirror out - hard part over.

13. Remove small phillips head screw in center of plastic bracket. Put screw, spring, and white plastic piece aside, noteing how they come out.

14. Pull black plastic bracket straight up and dislodge the two white adjusters from the little motor. They will come out of the motor and still attached to a ball socket in the back of the bracket.

15. After bracket is dislodged, pull the two little white adjusters out of their sockets and put them back in the holes where they came from in the motor. They only go in one way, there is a slot where they slide down. Re-position the little rubber boots with them ( they keep out water )

16. Remove the 4 screws holding motor in. Remove motor and pull of the wiring harness with it. The harness slides out of a passageway - you'll see it.

17 Remove 3 screws and one black head screw that hold the mirror trim in place. Pull it out and place aside.

18. Remove one black screw and remove the metal frame. Place aside

19. Remove the last three philips head screws and remove the mounting bracket that holds the mirror body onto car.

20 Now it's completely taken apart.

Reassembly....


21. Put everything back in reverse order. Snake a wire up thru the harness hole and tape the motor harness on it, then gently pull it back thru it's harness passage. Mount the motor using the 4 screws. To put the mirror bracket back onto the motor, lightly lube the ball sockets, line up the ***** with the sockets and push them into place. Both will snap when they hit home. Use firm pressure and they will go into place. When putting the mirror back in, start the small end first and roll the plastic putty knife around the edge to pop the mirror back under the black trim. Reinstall the mirror on the car, soldering the wires and taping them good. You're done and wasn't it easy !!!


Has anyone tore one of these mirrors apart before ? This makes a very nice paint job because the wax that's stuck in the seams can be cleaned out and those ugly casting seams can be sanded down....

Tom

 

Nice write up!

 

Thanks for the explaination of the glue on the mirror...but I will never snip wires when there is a connector just inside the door panel that takes like 10 minutes to take off...

soldering the wires will take me WAY more effort than pulling the interior door panels.

john

 

Thanks for the write-up.

 

Thanks for this... my passenger mirror has been ratteling lately, I was wondering what I had to do to get inside it .

 

I've seen a few FD's with rattly/loose mirrors that were simply loose screws. Just rotate the mirror assembly, tighten the screws up, and pop it back into place.

Dale

 

Pics?

 

Sorry I did not take any pics of the breakdown, should have. They are both back on and work wonderfully.

Tom

 

Dale,

What do you mean by "Just rotate the mirror assembly"
Do you mean after heating the mirror and removing it?

"tighten the screws up, and pop it back into place"
Do you mean heat the mirror and re-install?

My drivers side mirror rattles and I would like to fix it.

 

Mecman, he mean's do it like the Trucks and Suvs' mirror's are. When they go through the carwash or whatnot, they can pop the mirror so it's parallel with the door so nothing knocks it off. The FD it goes in a "swinging-diagonal" type direction. Just grab the outside with one hand, the inside with the other and bring the outside toward the top of the hatch. Takes a little bump, but not too much. Then you'll see the screws

 

That is correct xstacy7. Just grab the upper part of mirro firmly and rotate.

Tom