2ndhandyotaman
Member
I searched a bit to make sure that I wasn't re-hashing another thread on this, I didn't have anything jump out at me, so here's my minor contribution to our wonderful forum. I did this procedure on my '01, and now the new '99 needed the same repair so I'm guessing that it's a pretty common annoyance for our vehicles.
Symptoms: rear view mirror wobbles/vibrates badly when driving, it has a general "loose" feeling to it, the night driving flip up feature is useless because of the wobbly mirror.
Root cause of problem: 2 small roll pins buried inside of the rear view mirror assembly.
Tools needed to fix the problem: a phillips screw driver, a small flat blade screw driver for removing the clear lense. Taper point needle nose pliers.
Time for repair: Less than an hour.
I tried to get as many clear pics as I could. The android doesn't always to focus where you want it to, so I did the best that I could. Now I know how frustrated AvE feels when making his youtube vids. ( If you haven't seen an AvE vid, you owe it to yourself to watch one. )
1st step ( no pics) is to pop off the clear lense with the small flat blade screw driver. There's 2 small reliefs in the front edge to use for prying off the lense. Same basic procedure as if you were replacing a blown out light bulb.
2nd step ( no pic) is to remove the single phillips screw that you see that holds the housing to the roof. Once you take the screw out, you gently lower the end of the housing that closest to you, then pull rewards to disengage the 2 prongs that hold up the front edge of the housing.
3rd step ( no pic) - once you drop the light housing and push it off to one side, you will see 3 screws that attach the mirror to the roof. Remove these 3 screws and put them some place were you won't lose them.
4th step - now you should have this :
carefully remove that last screw, the mirror will separate from the mounting base. When the screw comes out, there's a small cast pot metal piece and 2 roll pins that will fall out of a pocket. These are the roll pins that you will refurbish and make the mirror tight again.
5th step These are the roll pins, see how they have interlocking jaws? Those jaws become crushed together over time, which makes the pot metal wedge lose it's tension, which in turn makes the mirror loose. There's no more tension left to tighten up the wedge to make the mirror tight again.
6th step. I use my taper point pliers to spread open the roll pins again. I do one end, then flip the pin and do the other end so that they are reasonably spread open an equal amount.
I just gently tap down on the pliers until they spread open, then flip the pin and do the other end the same way.
7th step the pins have a notch in them, so they will only correctly fit one way in the mounting base.
8th step ( no pics ) drop in the pot metal wedge, align the mirror back onto the mounting base, there's small alignment pins cast into the mirror base to align things. Drop the screw back through the hole in the cast wedge and tighten the screw down nice and snug. You should be able to feel how much tighter the mirror feels on the mounting base at this point.
use the 3 screws and re-attach the mounting base to the roof. Then fit the light housing/trim piece back over the mounting base, get the 2 plastic tangs back into the opening in the roof panel, then tilt it upwards and align it to the screw hole. Install the last screw and snug it back down. Pop in the clean lense and sit back and admire your handi-work. The job is complete and now you can have a rear view mirror that stays adjusted and allows you to use the night time setting to avoid being blinded by the jackass with the pepboys HID/LED bulbs in a no HID headlight housing.
Feel free to ask questions.
Symptoms: rear view mirror wobbles/vibrates badly when driving, it has a general "loose" feeling to it, the night driving flip up feature is useless because of the wobbly mirror.
Root cause of problem: 2 small roll pins buried inside of the rear view mirror assembly.
Tools needed to fix the problem: a phillips screw driver, a small flat blade screw driver for removing the clear lense. Taper point needle nose pliers.
Time for repair: Less than an hour.
I tried to get as many clear pics as I could. The android doesn't always to focus where you want it to, so I did the best that I could. Now I know how frustrated AvE feels when making his youtube vids. ( If you haven't seen an AvE vid, you owe it to yourself to watch one. )
1st step ( no pics) is to pop off the clear lense with the small flat blade screw driver. There's 2 small reliefs in the front edge to use for prying off the lense. Same basic procedure as if you were replacing a blown out light bulb.
2nd step ( no pic) is to remove the single phillips screw that you see that holds the housing to the roof. Once you take the screw out, you gently lower the end of the housing that closest to you, then pull rewards to disengage the 2 prongs that hold up the front edge of the housing.
3rd step ( no pic) - once you drop the light housing and push it off to one side, you will see 3 screws that attach the mirror to the roof. Remove these 3 screws and put them some place were you won't lose them.
4th step - now you should have this :
carefully remove that last screw, the mirror will separate from the mounting base. When the screw comes out, there's a small cast pot metal piece and 2 roll pins that will fall out of a pocket. These are the roll pins that you will refurbish and make the mirror tight again.
5th step These are the roll pins, see how they have interlocking jaws? Those jaws become crushed together over time, which makes the pot metal wedge lose it's tension, which in turn makes the mirror loose. There's no more tension left to tighten up the wedge to make the mirror tight again.
6th step. I use my taper point pliers to spread open the roll pins again. I do one end, then flip the pin and do the other end so that they are reasonably spread open an equal amount.
I just gently tap down on the pliers until they spread open, then flip the pin and do the other end the same way.
7th step the pins have a notch in them, so they will only correctly fit one way in the mounting base.
8th step ( no pics ) drop in the pot metal wedge, align the mirror back onto the mounting base, there's small alignment pins cast into the mirror base to align things. Drop the screw back through the hole in the cast wedge and tighten the screw down nice and snug. You should be able to feel how much tighter the mirror feels on the mounting base at this point.
use the 3 screws and re-attach the mounting base to the roof. Then fit the light housing/trim piece back over the mounting base, get the 2 plastic tangs back into the opening in the roof panel, then tilt it upwards and align it to the screw hole. Install the last screw and snug it back down. Pop in the clean lense and sit back and admire your handi-work. The job is complete and now you can have a rear view mirror that stays adjusted and allows you to use the night time setting to avoid being blinded by the jackass with the pepboys HID/LED bulbs in a no HID headlight housing.
Feel free to ask questions.
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