Date:         Sat, 21 Jul 2001 11:29:36 -0700
Reply-To:     Daniel Schmitz <djs@GENE.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Daniel Schmitz <djs@GENE.COM>
Organization: Genentech, Inc.
Subject:      Power mirror tips (long)...
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

For those contemplating the addition or replacement of Vanagon power
mirrors, I just added one to my '87 to replace the PO's stock manual
type on the R/H door. The amount of work is not insignificant. I have
the following enlightenment to impart:

In summary:

* This job can be a lot of work, if you make the mistakes I did (but you
don't have to!)
* If you need to paint the mirrors a different color, don't bother
taking them apart; merely remove the glass, mask and paint.
* Consider testing the mirrors' functionality before installing by
connecting them to the wiring harness inside the door (requires
installing plug connectors if seller cut the wires) If mirror doesn't
operate, it is still a worthwhile upgrade to the stock manual mirrors,
whose pivot mechanism is a bad design and tends to wear out. The power
mirrors make equally good manual mirrors when they no longer function,
in my opinion.
* If you have the opportunity to talk to the seller before he removes
the mirrors, ask him to cut the wires near their plug connector ends
rather than at the point outside the van where the wires go through the
door. This will make things MUCH easier for reinstallation.

In detail:

The mirrors I obtained used from someone on the list were burgundy, so I
needed to paint them black (as the one on my camper is). Thus, I decided
to completely disassemble them in order to paint inside and out. The
Bentley manual has instructions for removing the heated glass component
from the servo mechanism, and after that it's intuitive.

Reassembly:

The mirrors come apart reasonably easily, but note that the
spring-loaded mounting mechanism can be difficult to reassemble. It
requires a special socket with dog teeth on it so you can simultaneously
apply a lot of pressure and turn the threaded nut onto a shaft. The
mirror housing needs to be locked in a vice or something similar so that
you can bear down on the nut while turning it. I used a Black & Decker
Workmate for this.

Because I lacked the special tool, and the spring is very stiff, I had
to leave out a plastic washer in order to get everything back together.
Then the wiring for the servo mechanism has to be threaded, one wire at
a time, back through the shaft. Everything works as designed, but I
regret not having the special tool. If I were to do this job again, I
would simply leave the mirror assembled, remove the glass plate, mask
off the internal mechanism and paint it that way. In hindsight, I really
didn't need to disassemble the whole thing.

Wiring:

Almost invariably, the wires that power the mirror servo and heater will
have been cut where they go through the door in order to quickly remove
the mirror from its previous home. This is because the wiring's harness
plugs will not fit through the tiny aperture in the door, and the wiring
is terminated at its other end inside the mirror mechanism. I'm not sure
how VW attached the mirrors to the vans on the assembly line, but it
seems they must have installed the plug connectors from inside the door
after the wiring was threaded through the aperture and after the mirror
was bolted to the door.

If the wiring is cut at the door aperture, you end up with half the
harness inside the door and the other half inside the mirror. However,
while it is possible to install plug connectors and join the two harness
halves together, this is not the most convenient point at which to do
it. Much better would be for the wiring to have been cut at its end
inside the door, just before the factory plug connectors. This way,
there is plenty of room in which to maneuver.

But I had to proceed with what I had. I made all the connections inside
the door and tried it out. Alas, the mirror seems to be inoperative
(after all that work!), although I don't know if the heating element
works or not. But this is not a total waste of time: I now have to
mirrors that look the same, and the power mirror will actually stay put
if you manually move the glass to the position you want, so I'm not sure
the lack of power is an issue here. These are better mirrors than the
manual variety. Plus, the Vanagon's range of driver seat travel is not
such that you actually need to adjust the R/H mirror allot, anyway.
***
Dan Schmitz