External rear vision mirror replacement

[Tony From West Oz]

The passenger side mirror on my C250 is broken. The spring anchor on the part which is attached to the door is broken. I have another LHS mirror from my C220 parts car, which I have installed on my C250. My problem is that the mirror cover will not lock onto the body of the mirror. I checked the part number of the cover against the mirror cover from the parts car and find that they are the same part number (just a different colour). I cannot get either cover to slip on, like they show in this you tube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfqLZrjjwCs
The mirror slides on until it is about 5mm from the correct position, then comes to a halt. I have tried a few hard thumps with the heel of my palm, but no movement towards locking in place. I even tried removing the locking mechanism, but still no closer to being in the correct position.
I have examined the cover and the body of the mirror, but cannot see any thing to cause this issue.
Has anyone done this previously? Did you have any issue with getting the cover back on?

[tsharkey]

I had the same problem on the drivers side where I could get the cover close - about 3mm off, but not clipped back in. It was the same cover I took off, but the underlying mirror bracket had broken and was replaced. I figured the shape must have distorted to match the original bracket through heat over the years.

I eventually worked it in by not so gentle up / down movements whilst applying pressure to push it into the door. Not 100% there, but 99.9% so I am satisfied.

Hope that helps.

[Tony From West Oz]

Thanks,
I will give that a go. The video made it look so easy. Possibly a cold climate? West Oz gets pretty hot in Summer.
I will report back after I give that a go.

Tony

[Tony From West Oz]

OK, removal of the cover was easy once I identified how the retainer clip worked.
Removal of the RV mirror frame and mirror motor was easy.
Installation of the replacement mirror frame was easy.
Replacing the mirror cover was a real P.I.T.A.
It appears that the cover shrinks slightly over time, which does not make any difference to it while still on the frame. It makes a lot of difference to the cover being reinstalled on the frame. I tried gentle pressure, moderate 'thumps" with the heel of my hand, even jiggling while thumping it. Nothing worked, until, after 2 days of trying to get it to fit .....

In desperation, I grabbed a file and files about 0.5mm from the locating lug at the most outside part of the frame on the metal frame.

Suddenly, the mirror cover slipped into place and without any thumping, it clipped into place.