tonight my rear view mirror dropped off the windshild where it was glued and is now dangling by its wire. I can re-glue it but my problem is the whole assembly is to heavy for the glue to hold before it sets and want to remove the metal disk from the mirror mounting stem to remove unnecessary weight. I have removed the backing piece from the plastic stem and can see what appears to be a pair of pegs, snaps, whatever (they do not appear to be screws) recessed within the main plastic stem. I assume these are some kind of retainers for the metal disk. Can someone please share the secret of disassembly for this part.
Thanks to all for your replys.
I don’t know what the mount looks like, but can’t you keep it in place with lots of tape? Stretch it a little and so on…
I’d be worried about something snapping off forever.
Windshield installers have the glue for an instant bond - I’d take it to one of them.
1 Like
Thank you David & Larry for your replies. I have done this repair several times on American cars and typically the mirror stem just slides over the metal disk. Some are secured by a set screw, others just by friction with gravity assist. I can’t help thinking there must be a push button lock or some such device that clips the parts together. However, since I am working in a cramped, hard to reach area with limited visibility, I think I would be smart to follow your advice and find some ultra strong and ultra quick setting glue. I’m lucky I didn’t break something already. Maybe I’ll search the web to find a cheap mirror to perform some forensics on. Just looking to the future.
I just reread my original post and thought I would add something for clarity. Before I wrote that post I looked at all the previous posts re. rear view mirrors and they all said the mirror was attached behind the overhead courtesy light and gave instructions to remove the mirror stem by pulling, pushing or twisting it. The only thing that is connected to the light fixture is the dimmer wire. The mirror the mirror itself is glued to the windshield.
I’m beginning to think there must be several different mirror mounting methods over the years. My XJ40 is a 94 vin #698***
in case this helps someone.
Auto parts stores sell mirror adhesive.
That is my plan for today. Mirror adhesive and a ton of gorilla tape. Thanks.
my 89 XJ40 mirror was not electric but attached to base thru a spring pressure release like ski bindings, if ones head hit it it would release from the mount. Hope this helps.
Thank you for your reply. I had read that a hit on the mirror would seperate it from the base but that is not too easy to do when the base is not solidly attached to the windshield. I hoped there was a simple way to release the mirror and stem from the disk so only the disk could be glued back in place without having to support the weight of the entire assembly. Maybe the ski binding release idea is something to check into but I am totally ignorant as to how that works. Anyway, I went with the low tech method and just manually held everything in place until the glue set hard enough to support it.
Thanks to all who replied to my inquiry and may all my jag forum brothers and sisters have a safe and happy celebration of their respective holidays.
1 Like