[e300diesel]

Went through the bloody car wash the other day and my passenger side mirror was flopped over on the passenger side window.

I believe I lost a retainer spring or something? Really not sure. mirror is sprung tight when pushed towards the front/hood of the car.

Pushing the mirror towards the back of the vehicle/trunk can be done with zero effort (Somehow mirror stays in place at 80MPH; car wash and light force will send it backward with ease. Crazy I know.)

Check out the pics below and any help on what piece came out, or how I can fix properly would be appreciated.

 

[Kajtek1]

Common issue. There is molded hook for the spring, that breaks easily, but the spring can be reattach to the slot right behind it.
Takes good hands with needle nose pliers, but is doable.

 

[e300diesel]

What would be the best way about re-attaching the spring? do i need to pull off the white plastic cover and access from there?

Also is the re-attachment point on the car side of the spring or on the internal mirror side of the spring?

I appreciate your insight on this.

 

[amthatiam]

Same thing happened to mine, it broke on the mirror side, you would have to take the cover off than it's just a wrestling match with needle nose or I used channel locks, easy fix.

Dan

 

[TeflonVixen]

Same thing happened to me as well. I wasn't able to reattach the spring like the other posters. So I took some wire and got it as close as possible to the attachment point. It's been almost a year now and no issues

 

[Kajtek1]

The cover removal is covered in stickies (I think) - with mirror folded back you will see a vertical wire inside. See picture 3 but this is mirror folded forward. Takes flat screwdriver to unhook the wire from center and push it away from the cover about 10mm. That will allow the cover to slide out. Be careful as clearances are small ans sometimes you have to tilt the glass.
I am good with my hands, so could do it with needle nose pliers, but pulling the spring takes pretty good tension and than you have to control the twisting. I would think about getting a foot of thin aircraft cable and make a loop for pulling the spring. Once you have the spring in the slot, you will have to untie the cable and pull it out.

 

[Dave1965]

Repaired mine with zipties and SS safetywire

I can't tell which point of attachment broke on you.

The hook on mine broke at the far side (outboard) of the mirror.

I used plastic zipties to stretch the spring to its new home and then used SS safetywire to make the permanent attachment. Zipties were then cut and removed.