156 rear vision mirror loose

[colcol]

My 156 drivers rear vision mirror is loose and when you drive on the freeway the wind causes it to move around, there is no springback, so something is wrong, sometimes when you go back to the car in a carpark, the mirror has been pushed around caused by someone bumping in to it.
Time to fix it, a second hand one for a series 1 156 is quite easy to obtain, as they are all the same colour, black plastic, where the series 2 & 3 are color coded to the body colour, and are a bit dearer and harder to obtain, i have nothing to lose, so i will try and fix the old one, if i break it then you can obtain a new glass for it off Ebay.
To remove the mirror, first get a large wide bladed scraper, and insert it on the inside of the door on the plastic triangular shaped finisher cover close to the dashboard, just slowly insert the scraper and twist it behind the plastic and it will pop out.
Then their is a a wiring connector for the electric mirror, there is a small retaining tab that has to be depressed to allow the multipin wiring plug to become disconnected, push on the tab with a small flat blade screwdriver while gently pulling on the wire, it should pull apart.
Next, undo the 3 - 6mm set screws that hold the mirror onto the door, on taking the last screw out, grab the mirror so it doesn't fall off and dint your door and fall on the ground and break, thats how you remove the mirror, Colin.

[colcol]

So now you have the mirror off, undo the 3 # 20 torx head screws that hold the mirror assembly onto the black aluminium triangle piece on the outside of the door.
Now, undo the phillips head screw on the inside of the mirror where the wire comes thru, gently push the mirror glass to one side so you can get to the other phillips head screw, now here is the difficult part, get a very small phillips head screw driver and put it under the glass to try to undo it, or i was very lucky to have a small 90 degree phillips head screwdiver, that i was able to get under the mirror and it took about 10 minutes to carefully undo the screw.
The whole mirror assembly should now come free from the mirror shell, next mark the mirror to holder with white paint for correct reassembly, and prise back the 8 tabs that hold the mirror to the mirror holder and then it should just pop off, then carefully remove the 2 wires for the mirror heating carefully, if yours is so equipped.
Now you will most likely see that the spring assembly and rotating sleeve are all loose, and need to be reassembled after cleaning, Colin.

[colcol]

Before you reassemble the spring assembly lubricate all the moving parts with GUD brand drylube, the spring assembly is held in by a tab washer, this tab washer has most likely damaged the sleeve, so just insert a socket in the sleeve and panel beat the sleeve onto the socket until the sleeve is round again, then assemble the sleeve and springs and washers and the tab washer, make sure it seats on the undamaged part of the sleeve so it can bite into the metal, the spring is a big mother and the tension means you will have to press it in using an a correct size socket that will fit over the sleeve, you will need to press it in using a press or at least a big vice, i tried a valve spring compressor and couldn't press it down enough, assemble the sleeve assembly and make sure the tab washer has seated and that it all rotates like it should.
Next put back the mirror holder in the mirror shell, and do up the 2 phillips head screws.
Go to your car and connect up the wires and make sure the 2 motors are working and the mirror holder is going up and down and back and forth, adjust it until the mirror holder is about central, Colin.

[colcol]

Next, put back the 2 wires onto your mirror for the heated bit, [if equipped], then lining up the white paint marks press the mirror back home on the mirror holder, take it back to car and make sure the mirror is still moving cleanly and nothing is jamming.
Assemble the mirror shell onto the black aluminium triangle bit that goes on the outside with the 3 #20 head torx screws, make sure the wire is not rubbing an anything and is not going to be sqaushed by a moving mirror.
Go to the car and push the wire thru the rubber grommet assembly on the outside of the car, while holding the mirror assembly, do up the 3 6mm set screws from the inside, plug in the wire, and check that the mirror still works properly, then press the plastic finisher over the door on the inside, Colin.

[colcol]

If you are unlucky and broke the mirror glass bit, then they are available off Uk Ebay sites, there are heated, non heated, tinted, left side, right side, and there are different sized mirrors for different markets, some of the smaller mirrors don't comply with some countries design rules.
So did anyone have an interesting good Friday like i had?, fixing 156 mirrors, the fun never stops, i hope someone finds this helpfull, Colin.

[colcol]

So now the drivers mirror is nice and firm and stays still at 100 on the freeway, attention turned to the left door, the mirror was a bit looser than the previously fixed drivers one, removed mirror on left side and on bench found that the 3 # torx head screws had come loose and were causing unwanted movement, some loctite applied and the left mirror is as good as the right side, its only a small thing, but when they are out of vision you miss half of the traffic behind you as the 156 mirrors are not particulary big, style won over practically, the 33 has much better rear vision, but the mirrors are not as stylish or aerodynamic as the 156 mirrors, Colin.

[colcol]

And after all that work its broken again, i bet the tab washer has come loose again....at least i know now how to pull it apart, will be looking at alternative locking method other than tab washer, Colin.

[colcol]

So anyhow, the retaining tab washer wasn't, so i worked out i had to put a thread in the bore of the sleeve, but seeing it is thin, i would have to use a thread that wasn't too deep, so i used a 7/8 inch U.N.F. tap, [second hand off ebay], and cut a thread in the sleeve.
Next i had to put a bolt through the sleeve so i obtained a 7/8 inch U.N.F.-1 1/4 long from an engineering shop, and drilled the gutz of the bolt out for a bit of lightning work, by drilling out in a vice with an electric drill, [took forever].
Then i assembled the mirror and the length of the bolt head was too long to fit in the mirror assembly, so using a hacksaw, i cut it down the bolt head from 15mm to 5mm, long, then it fitted it in the mirror shell.
Doing this sort of thing takes a lot of time, i reckon about 20 hours total, but a second hand mirror of the same color, [unobtainable at the time], a new mirror $400-$600 + $300 for painting??, but doing it yourself and succeeding, puts a stupid grin on your face and learns ya new stuff in the process, Colin.