Rear view mirror repair - 1986 tercel wagon

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mprobins
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Joined: Sun Oct 30, 2016 10:18 am
My tercel:: 1986, FWD, Wagon

Rear view mirror repair - 1986 tercel wagon

Post by mprobins »

Hello,

I've had my rear view mirror fall off and can't figure out how to re-attach it. The mirror and the metal plate that fixes it to the ceiling are intact, but I can't find any resources that show how the mirror is actually attached.

Will post photos and updates as they develop (as I attempt repairs).

Anyone with similar experience and advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers.
Last edited by mprobins on Mon Feb 26, 2018 2:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
loess
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Location: Iowa

Re: Rear view mirror repair - 1986 tercel wagon

Post by loess »

It's simply attached to the ceiling with a couple of screws if I remember correctly? I went to take a photo for you just now but started to remove the plastic trim piece that covers said screws and the plate, and the edges began to crumble so abandoned that process!
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Petros
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My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: Rear view mirror repair - 1986 tercel wagon

Post by Petros »

welcome to the forum!

as I recall, the mirror is actually held in place with a spring plate that I think is designed to break away (a safety feature). the metal plate under the mount is held on with two Philips head screws. If I am remembering correctly, you have to screw the plate to the mount (through the head liner) and the mirror pops back onto the mount. so either it was bumped hard enough to pop it out, and you just need to pop it back onto the mount, or the screws came loose and if fell out. there is a plastic trim piece that covers the mount that should also pop off to expose the metal plate.

Post a picture of what you have and it will be easier to advise you better, to understand why it came off.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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mprobins
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Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Oct 30, 2016 10:18 am
My tercel:: 1986, FWD, Wagon

Re: Rear view mirror repair - 1986 tercel wagon

Post by mprobins »

Hello all,

A long overdue follow-up to this post.

The mirror was finally remounted and the solution was pretty simple (once I invested the time to figure it out).

The mirror pretty much just came off the mounting plate, which at the time was still attached to the roof of the car. The sneaky detail I eventually learned was that the detached mirror had two parts - the mirror and a metallic "cover". The cover pretty much just snaps on, but it's held in pretty firmly and requires a bit of force. That said, the materials are pretty strong and so there was little risk of damage (a big worry of mine was that I would break it). Once the cover was removed, I could re-position the mounting plate inside the mirror base. Obviously I had to remove the mounting plate from the ceiling where it was still attached by 2 Phillips screws. The mounting plate had several small curves/grooves which (I surmised) allowed it to fit in the base of the mirror without slipping though. What probably happened was that the curves got bent so that the mounting plate no longer fit securely inside the mirror base and when pressure was applied (such as when adjusting the mirror) it caused the mirror to come off the mount. What I did was use a pair of pliers to slightly bend those curves on the mount so it no longer slipped through when placed in the mirror base. Once that was done, I just re-attached mirror with the mounting plate via those two Phillips screws.

I've included some photos in case they might be of help to anyone for future use.

Cheers.
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