Rear View Mirror

[ridindirrty]

This is probably a stupid question but here goes. My rear view mirror needs to be tightened up. How the heck do I get the light sensor out of the way to get at the screw? I see no fasteners of any kind and no obvious clips or anything holding it on. Any thoughts?

 

[Elessee]

This is probably a stupid question but here goes. My rear view mirror needs to be tightened up. How the heck do I get the light sensor out of the way to get at the screw? I see no fasteners of any kind and no obvious clips or anything holding it on. Any thoughts?

i suppose you have a Mark 7 .. auto-dimming rearview, etc.

Tilt the mirror up as if you want to see the sky. Get a flashlight and shine it on the top part of the light sensor box. See that hole? There's a phillips head screw in there. It attaches the sensor to the mirror mount.
Remove the screw and the sensor. This reveals a tiny hex-head set screw which attaches the mirror to the windshield mount. I suppose you have a loose set screw.

The tricky part is removing and reinserting the phillips screw. On mine, the mirror is in the way and a straight screwdriver won't fit. So, I use one of those double-headed flat/phillips Z-shaped screwdrivers. Upper left of this photo:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=6945

The mount is aluminum so you want to be sure to drive that screw straight and true into it's hole or you risk stripping the threads.

 

[OldSchool1]

Good description by Dude.

i suppose you have a Mark 7 .. auto-dimming rearview, etc.

Tilt the mirror up as if you want to see the sky. Get a flashlight and shine it on the top part of the light sensor box. See that hole? There's a phillips head screw in there. It attaches the sensor to the mirror mount.
Remove the screw and the sensor. This reveals a tiny hex-head set screw which attaches the mirror to the windshield mount. I suppose you have a loose set screw.

The tricky part is removing and reinserting the phillips screw. On mine, the mirror is in the way and a straight screwdriver won't fit. So, I use one of those double-headed flat/phillips Z-shaped screwdrivers. Upper left of this photo:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=6945

The mount is aluminum so you want to be sure to drive that screw straight and true into it's hole or you risk stripping the threads.

+1
Use enough grease/gel/toothpaste on the tip of the screwdriver to temporarily hold the screw to the driver.

 

[Elessee]

Very cool pix OldSchool1.. worth many thousand words. I see you have room to get a screwdriver in there, and I notice my mirror is different.

Mine has stuff all the way along the bottom.. a wheel-type distance adjuster (from 1 to 9 and "FAR").
The light sensor is next to that (not up in the corner of the mirror). The on/off switch is to the far right.

'88 mark 7, LSC, 5.0 HO engine .. abs .. no sunroof.. all stock as far as i know.

 

[OldSchool1]

Very cool pix OldSchool1..

Thank you.

worth many thousand words.

Now you se why I'm so verbose

I see you have room to get a screwdriver in there, and I notice my mirror is different. Mine has stuff all the way along the bottom.. a wheel-type distance adjuster (from 1 to 9 and "FAR").

Whoops ... those are the 1990 and up pictures above.
The 1987-1989 automatic electronic motorized mirror looks like this and should be removed similarly:

The light sensor is next to that (not up in the corner of the mirror). The on/off switch is to the far right.

'88 mark 7, LSC, 5.0 HO engine .. abs .. no sunroof.. all stock as far as i know.

I like stock.

 

[Elessee]

yup.. that's my mirror. I might get a stubby screwdriver in there like..

Nowadays i'm careful when working on that thing.. the windshield glue-mount came off once when i was messing around... took a tiny chip out of the glass.
----
This might come in handy for someone:
I had a weird mirror problem that got worse with time. The dimming motor ran slower and slower, as if it was struggling harder and harder to move the mirror. I chalked it up to very cold weather, but it got worse into the next spring and summer, slowed to zero and didn't work at all. The power light did light. Then, even the power light didn't light up.
Took it off, disassembled the mirror (tricky and not recommended), lubed whatever i thought might be moving parts.. No improvement at all. Lived without the dimmer for about 2 years.

To make a long story short, an ohm meter found the trouble. The Off-Auto switch's contacts were gummed up with black gooey stuff. It reminded me of cleaning the console switches into which were spilled coca cola, coffee and who knows what. (what genius designer put the cup holders over those switches?)

There was too much electrical resistance between the switch contacts and therefore insufficient power to the motor, so it ran slower... and got worse.
After taking that switch apart and cleaning it up, the mirror works as good as ever.

 

[ridindirrty]

Manual mirror

More great info, now i see exactly what needs to be done. Funny, my '87 BB has neither of those techno-cyber mirrors, just the straight up non-electronic manual style. I'm guessing that must have been one of the few options you could splurge for on the car. Shame, I feel left out.

 

[OldSchool1]

Optionallly Rear Viewed

More great info, now i see exactly what needs to be done. Funny, my '87 BB has neither of those techno-cyber mirrors, just the straight up non-electronic manual style. I'm guessing that must have been one of the few options you could splurge for on the car. Shame, I feel left out.

Yes.
An $89.00 option to be exact.

http://thelincolnmarkviiclub.org/do...987/billBlass/1987BillBlassSpecifications.pdf