Ford Focus Mirror Replacement Instructions
shane...@gmail.com
be useful to a lot of people out there. There's lots of people out
there that have had their mirrors break off for one reason or another.
Stupid driver error on my part.
I've searched and found the instructions at myfordfocus.com but they
were not all that useful for a newbie like me. I need more detailed
instructions! I've searched here and found the following:
LINKS TO OTHER PAGES WITHIN GROUPS
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John R Cambron writes that he had to remove the door to get the mirror
off.
In the article, Drivers side door permanently locked
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.autos.ford.focus/browse_frm/thread/bdd554bd058a1197/f707aea460f8b0e6#f707aea460f8b0e6
Jon Sturgeon writes, don't drop the 10mm
bolt down into the door, otherwise you'll have to remove the entire
interior panel to retrieve it.
In the article, Need Help w/Driver Side Pwr Mirror Replacement
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.autos.ford.focus/browse_thread/thread/7d8650821b2115da/bf33dfb7e148b34e?q=mirror&rnum=6&hl=en#bf33dfb7e148b34e
Marty Sasaki writes, It looks like I will need to take the door panel
off in order to replace the mirror, so the question is, how do I do
this?
In the article, side mirror
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.autos.ford.focus/browse_thread/thread/6ed49ff21debadc2/974b9af08b596931?q=mirror&rnum=2&hl=en#974b9af08b596931
MelvinGibson writes, Why not take the car to a dealer an let the techs
do the job for you before you brake something?
In the article, How to get side mirror off Focus?
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.autos.ford/browse_thread/thread/87207f8b4f3671e7/913bc8283c43959e?lnk=st&q=ford+focus+passenger+side+mirror&rnum=5#913bc8283c43959e
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OK, some people say the door has to be removed. Some don't. Maybe there
is a different setup depending on the year and build location of the
Focus.
Some people say "take it to the dealer". Sure I could do this. And
sure, it would be easier. But I don't want to spend $$$ for the labour.
I'm willing to take a chance and try it myself. The more information
posted here, the better chance I'll have (along with everyone else) in
doing this myself.
If everyone is willing to put in their $0.02 on how to do this I'll
compile a final document with instructions on how to do this.
So far, this is what I have...
2002 Ford Focus Wagon, ZTW
Powered, non-folding, non-heated mirrors
I've popped off the inside panel of the passenger side mirror. This was
held on by two metal clips close to the passenger glass window. I had
to roll down the window to grasp the plastic and give it a sharp pull
to get the clips to release. There is a third clip towards the middle
of the panel. I had to pull the panel back to get this to release.
There was some mention of a torx screw on the drivers side, I didn't
see this on the passenger side.
Now I can see the power connector. It's held firmly in place overtop of
some sticky foam backing. Everything is covered, I don't see very
little of the sheet metal. From the instructions at myfordfocus.com
there should be a single bolt holding the mirror on. I can't see it.
I'm worried that the door panel needs to be removed to access this.
Does the door panel need to be removed?
Should I spend the time releasing the power connector and the foam
backing?
Should I give up and take it into Ford?
Thanks!
John R Cambron
The images in the instruction at
http://myfordfocus.com/how-to/mirrors.htm
doesn't jive with what I had to do to get the right side mirror
off my north American market 2003 ZX3.
Image 4 http://www.myfordfocus.com/images/how-to/mirrors/4.gif
shows only the bolt.
My 2003 ZX3 has a torx screw above the bolt that holds the
top point of mirror housing to window pillar and a second torx
screw to the front of the car from the bolt. The lower screw
and the bolt were only accessible by removing the door panel.
I will note I only paid $55.00 US for the replacement non-powered,
non-heated mirror in the parts department at my Ford dealer.
You will likely end up paying more then twice that in labor
to do the job.
--
John in the sand box of Maryland's eastern shore.
shane...@gmail.com
mirror and passenger side mirror myself. And the door panels did not
have to be removed. Here's what I learned...
Warning... follow these instructions at your own risk... as you will
quickly learn I am not a skilled mechanic. These instructions are from
replacing the mirrors on a Canadian 2002 Ford Focus ZTW.
1. roll down the windows to help removing the inside covers
2. if you are doing both, start with the passenger side (it's just a
little bit easier)
3. pop the cover off by sitting inside the car, put your fingers into
the crack where the glass window normally slides into, give the inside
cover a good pull towards the rear of the car. There are two clips
there holding the cover. Watch out they're sharp! Mistake #1, #2 and
#3... three punctures in my fingers, the bleeding stopped fairly
quickly
4. pull the cover over, it'll hinge on the third clip holding it on.
You should be able to wiggle the cover off.
5. now you'll see the wiring harness connector and the foam sticky
stuff stuck to the sheet metal. Don't panic like I did, the bolt is
hiding under the foam. You'll need to pop off the wiring harness. It's
held on by two plastic anchors that can be wedged off with a flat head
screwdriver.
6. disconnect the two wires. Is it just me or is the clip on these just
for show? No matter how hard I pressed on this it just wouldn't budge.
I eventually got it disconnected.
7. peel back the foam sticky stuff. I used a sharp screwdriver. This
requires patience, if you rip the plastic sheet underneith, you'll rip
the foam. Mistake #4, I ripped some of the foam.
8. now you'll see the bolt! Get your ratchet set out and a 10mm socket.
Undo the bolt. Don't even bother trying to use your vice grips or
regular wrench to get this out. Be extremely careful when you pull the
bolt out. If you drop it into the door you are going to spend the next
couple of hours pulling your door panels off.
9. pull the mirror off. Mistake #5 there is a torx screw on the inside
of the door that also holds the mirror. I ripped another hole in my
already broken mirror. Undo this screw before pulling the mirror. On
passenger side it's approximately 2" to the left of the bolt. And is
not normally covered by the inside mirror cover.
10. curse the auto manufacturers for 5 minutes because they use torx
screws, luckily I had a torx screwdriver burried in my toolbox. And I
was able to salvage the torx screw and washer.
11. push the power mirror wire out. There is a rubber grommet in the
door that makes this difficult. Mistake #6 this grommet has a slice in
it to help remove the mirror. If you are chucking your mirrors just cut
the wire going to the mirror instead of trying to feed the connector
through the grommet. I pulled the wire from the outside. This popped
the grommet out and it promptly fell into the door. See warning in step
8.
11. clean up any remaining foam stuck to the outside of the door.
You're ready to mount your new mirror.
12. this went surprisingly well. Line it up and snap it on. There is
one piece of the mirror that will snap into place. Bolt it back on and
then screw in the Torx screw. Mistake #7 take it easy with the torx
screw. I overheated it by tightening it quickly and then sheared the
head off of the screw.
13. spend $8 in gas and 2 hours driving to your local auto shop to pick
up a new $0.50 torx screw.
14. snap the inside mirror cover back on. That's it, you're done. Buy
yourself some beer and enjoy your new mirror (in your garage, don't
drink and drive!).
Good luck, let me know how it works for you!
John R Cambron
I stand corrected, this torx screw is not covered by the door
panel on my US market 2003 ZX3. For some reason I recalled that
it was.
Maybe it was because I replaced the mirror at the same time I
removed the door panel to lubricated the door lock/latch
mechanism inside the door.
Also I stand corrected that there is NO torx screw above the
bolt as mentioned in my previous post. Went out to my car and
removed the inside mirror control housing cover to confirm
this fact. Took less then 2 minute to remove, look and replace
the cover.
> 10. curse the auto manufacturers for 5 minutes because they use torx
> screws, luckily I had a torx screwdriver burried in my toolbox. And I
> was able to salvage the torx screw and washer.
>
> 11. push the power mirror wire out. There is a rubber grommet in the
> door that makes this difficult. Mistake #6 this grommet has a slice in
> it to help remove the mirror. If you are chucking your mirrors just cut
> the wire going to the mirror instead of trying to feed the connector
> through the grommet. I pulled the wire from the outside. This popped
> the grommet out and it promptly fell into the door. See warning in step
> 8.
>
> 11. clean up any remaining foam stuck to the outside of the door.
> You're ready to mount your new mirror.
>
> 12. this went surprisingly well. Line it up and snap it on. There is
> one piece of the mirror that will snap into place. Bolt it back on and
> then screw in the Torx screw. Mistake #7 take it easy with the torx
> screw. I overheated it by tightening it quickly and then sheared the
> head off of the screw.
>
> 13. spend $8 in gas and 2 hours driving to your local auto shop to pick
> up a new $0.50 torx screw.
>
> 14. snap the inside mirror cover back on. That's it, you're done. Buy
> yourself some beer and enjoy your new mirror (in your garage, don't
> drink and drive!).
>
> Good luck, let me know how it works for you!
--
focusguy
Once you have popped off the triangular plastic plate by pulling it off
the clips on its left edge then pulling it towards you to pop the
rightmost clip then it will dangle by the cables of the mirror and you can
see the bolt that holds the mirror in place. you may have to push the right
edge of the foam aside a little bit to see it. The bolt is in a little hole
by the bottom right corner of the foam and you will need a ratchet to
CAREFULLY remove it DO NOT LET IT FALL INTO THE DOOR!!! as this will cause
more work that is not necessary.(luckily this did not happen to me but as I
was turning the bolt I was really worrying about that happening and so
carfully removed it with out rushing. then after the bolt is out the
mirror is no longer Pemanently atached to the car however you can't remove
it yet. you omust take the little screws that hold the inside pannel of
your door the the metal frame of the door. there are several of them along
the outermost edge of the door remove them all and do not loose them. then
try to wiggle the inner plastic covering loose so as to be able to pull
the mirror's cables through the hole inthe frame that they go through
(make sure you pull the little rubber cover for the "toggleing" switch"
that allows you to adjust the mirror before pulling through the hole, it
just screws off) then Viola! the mirror is removed (now you get to re
assemble the door which is not that difficult since there are only 2 kinds
of parts you removed, the screws that held the plastic cover for the inside
if the door and the bolt that held the mirror in place. now install your
replacement mirror and re assembel and you are set.