How do you replace the whole passenger side view mirror assembly on a 2003 Pontiac Vibe?

Answer 1

I replaced my own mirror assembly with a good (though slightly imperfect) result. Although not too difficult, my method involved a bit more brute force than I suspect should have been necessary - this procedure could definitely be improved by somebody who really knows what they're doing. I did this all a few weeks ago and didn't take pictures at the time, so I won't be able to show all the gory details, but I'll do my best to describe what I did as best as I can remember. Just bear in mind that I'm not a mechanic and that following these directions will probably break your door, your fingers, your heart, and make Pontiac very very sad.

Note that this answer involves to removing and replacing the entire assembly (everything that attaches to the door), not just changing out the mirror itself (which would quite simple). However, from now on, I'm just going to say "mirror" because typing "replacement mirror assembly" over and over is a little cumbersome.

First things first: get yourself a replacement mirror. Different GM dealerships will charge different amounts for this, so if you really want a new part and have a couple of dealerships nearby, I'd suggest shopping around. I was much more concerned about cost, so I found a used parts retailer online and got hold of a perfectly good mirror assembly for just under $100 shipped, which was substantially cheaper than even the best quotes I was getting from dealership parts desks. You might be able to do a little better pricewise - not sure if this place was the absolute cheapest, but was I was very happy with the ease of ordering (Google checkout!), included lifetime warranty, excellent communication, and promptness of delivery. Not sure what the policy is around here for plugging commercial sites, so I'll just say that the company's name has 9 letters and starts with an E (part number was 621121).

As for tools, I McGyvered this one with a pocket knife, pliers, and a crowbar. You may feel more respectable with socket wrench, screwdriver (phillips for a single door screw and maybe a small flathead to pop out a little piece of plastic to access said screw), and no crowbar, but the bottom line is that the procedure isn't exactly brain surgery. The first thing I did was take a look at how the mirror was attached to the door. This is easy - just pop off the triangular plastic cover at the front of window (be careful if you have a little speaker mounted here). Shouldn't need any tools for that. You will be able to see the 3 bolts holding the mirror in place, as well as a little bundle of wires running down into the door. Removing and reattaching these things is all you need to do to change out your mirror.

The bolts are easy; the problem is gaining access to the place where those wires plug in inside the door. There is a connector about 3 inches deep into the door from the top of the door panel/bottom of the window, but getting to it is a chore. I suspect the official procedure for this replacement is to remove the whole door panel, but since I didn't want to figure that out (and have to replace however many breakable plastic do-dads that act as as big snaps to hold the door together), I turned instead to the trusty crowbar and screwdriver (well, the can opener bit of my pocket knife, anyway). In the door handle recess is a little rectangular plastic plug covering a screw that holds the inside door panel in place. This screw is obviously not the only thing holding the door together, but it's the most easily accessible, and its removal is necessary for proceeding further without really messing up your door. After removing the screw, you can proceed with pulling the panel away from the door. This is the brute force part (though I didn't need the crowbar - yet): I rolled down the window and just sort of grabbed the top of the inside door panel and pulled it up and toward the interior of the car. Had to sort of unhook it from the top of the door - hard to describe, but you'll see/feel what I mean when you get back into your garage. Heard a couple of things pop away (those plastic things), and didn't have to take the whole thing off - just enough to open up a crack toward the front of the door.

Looking down through this opening into the innards of the door, you should see where the wires from the mirror connect. You can't just pull this out - there's a little tab you have to pull back to free it - look on the connector of your replacement mirror to see what I mean. Once you've unplugged the wires, you can remove the old mirror from the door and put the new one on. That should be straightforward, and you will feel a strong sense of pride as you gaze upon your nice new mirror.

Unfortunately, that feeling won't last - you can't close your door (properly) until you've put the door back together, so plug in the new wires and get ready for a struggle. This will probably be the point at which you realize the folly of following the lead of some random schmuck on the internet (or the point at which you feel all superior because things just popped back into place for you. YMMV.). For me, getting the door panel back in place was much harder than getting it off - after pushing and pulling and yelling for a while, I needed some extra leverage. Hence the crowbar. I won't explain too much of what I did next - hopefully you wont actually have to deal with this bit. All I can say is keep fiddling and try not to be too destructive - the last thing you want to do is have to replace the door panel, too - you'll eventually work it out. Well, probably.

Once you've gotten everything back in its right place (which is to say that your door closes nicely), put that screw back in and pop your plastic covers in place to make things nice and pretty. Viola - you're done! Pat yourself on the back, and don't tell anyone about the crowbar. I mentioned before that my results were imperfect. In pulling the panel back from the door, I'm pretty sure I broke one of the plastic snap do-dads about halfway down the front of the door. I'm not sure how many are in there, but I do know that replacing the one I broke would involve taking the whole door panel off and probably breaking some more. Those plastic thingies are surprisingly expensive, and the whole point of this procedure was to be cheap, so I decided to let it be. The result is that the middle front section of the door panel won't quite fully clip in place when pushed in. Everything looks fine and the panel seems fully secure, but when I close the door, it sort of rubs against the dash. Not a huge problem (I don't use that door anyway ;-), but it's enough that I can't claim perfect success. Maybe this was just bad luck, but I do know that many of those plastic clips are designed to be one-time use things: once they are unsnapped, they're supposed to be replaced.