Rearview Mirror fell off, and Damn is that thing heavy! Bought some Locktite Rearview Mirror Glue (with activator!) but it is so heavy that it didn't take hold. WTF did they put that big-*** heavy piece of metal in there? must weigh a pound or two....

Searching the forum turned up a vague reference to a "Mounting Ring" that came detached from the window - since that chunker is round and hollow (for the headlight sensor in the middle), thats prolly the part they were referring to - but it didn't seem to wanna come out of the plastic housing. Anybody ever take one of those apart? is the metal ring supposed to stay glued to the window and then you attach the mirror to the ring?

it got dark out so i gave up for tonight, but I'm thinking i am gonna get some contact cement in the morning and try that, or maybe my hot-melt glue gun. Super Glue gel and that special rearview glue didn't do it, and my kitty looks awful with wads of duct tape holding the mirror up.

Any other suggestions?

 

Typically, there is a D shaped metal disk that gets glued to the windshield and once the glue cures you can mount the mirror. I've usually seen them attached with a small Allen screw or small flat-tipped screw. I've always hated trying to attach mirrors. They never stick up there easily. Good luck!

Sam

 

Fixation!

In the cold light of dawn I did what I should have done yesterday - aggravation is all you get when you're rushing.

I disconnected the wiring and removed the entire mirror assembly and cleaned all of that gnasty old glue offa the windshield.

The ring slides horizontally out of the housing - there are two spring clips that hook into tracks carved into either side of the retaining ring - it takes a bit of a push to get up and over the rounded spring holding it in the center, but it pops out.

With everything cleaned and dried, some jelled crazy glue stuck the ring firmly back onto the windshield. after letting that dry for about another hour, the mirror slid right back onto the ring and all was peachy again.

Cleaning the crusty old glue and examining everything took 45 minutes, gluing it on and reassembling it took about 10 minutes.







The entire piece above with the X400 sticker on it is solid honking metal, and weighs far more than it needs to. I'd probably get 1/10 mpg better mileage if it had been made of plastic.

 

Thanks for the writeup!

Suggest adding this to FAQ links post......

 

What glue can I use to glue the autodimming rearview mirror of a Jaguar X-type back onto the windshield?

Update - later in the day:

I finally gave up trying to do it with RTV silicon, contact glue, 3M double sided tape and took it to a professional auto glass shop.

Turns out the glue the professionals use is Speedgrip urethane adhesive (black gooey stuff).

Don't use Permatex (recommended by the guy at Autozone). All the regular rear-view mirror adhesives won't work because the D-ring has a slight bevel and unless the glue is thick, it won't stick out over the bevel. Even the Jaguar dealer couldn't tell me what the material was and said it was going to cost $150.

 

I've tried to reattach my rear-view mirrors about a half dozen times over the years using the auto parts store mirror adhesive and the repairs never seemed to last more than a few months before the mirror would be falling off again.

Now I just go to my local auto glass repair place and pay them the $10-$15 to get it done right once with a lifetime warranty.

 

When this happened to me yesterday, I bought a $18 generic ten inch mirror and a $3 tube of mirror epoxy and mounted that just below the giant stupid ring assembly for now. Someday I should do what you all did here so thank you for that.

 

Well, that repair lasted about 3-1/2 years, until last night, when the mirror fell off again.

So I' doing the same thing again, and hopefully it will last another 3 years.

 

Does anyone know why there is such a large area of the black tar-like adhesive applied to the screen when the mounting ring is no-where near that large. My mirror fell off overnight, hanging by the wiring harness when it was found this morning.

 

Easiest way to get that thing fixed in place properly is to go to a auto glass shop. In case you decide to to it yourself make sure to clean the surface really good and don't ever use regular super attack or something like that because it can heat up really good and break the windshield.

 

Just had the same happen on my X Type.
Fell off when I nudged it cleaning the screen.
Bought the recommended stuff from Autoparts, or should I say not recommended. It stuck the inner ring but to get the mirror fitting back on takes a bit of work and knocked the ring off again.

Luckily I got a chip in the screen the same day, auto glass coming on Friday (glad I hadn't cracked it) and will look at the mirror as well.

 

Any updates? Could anyone link the correct type of adhesive for the glass?

Someone mentioned an urethane adhesive. Any links?

 

I finally believe I found the fix after endless searches and unanswered questions. There's an adhesive that seems to work. I installed it today. I will post results.

 

Before the Urethane adhesive, I tried the crazy glue which will hold better than the autoparts mirror adhesives but does not hold longer than a couple of months.

 

Meatbag - My mirror fell off too. I will attempt to reattach it using the method you describe, but I have a question before doing so - what is the thin rubber ring on the windshield, that the metal ring attaches to? I'm thinking it doesn't have to be there (in bad shape) and I just scrape it off and clean everything up with alcahol?

 

Crush ring

 

Thanks. Is it needed to reattach the mirror?

 

Obviously that's a superfluous question

 

I meant, is the rubber ring on the glass necessary? I didn't mean the glue.

 

The metal ring has a very thin raised lip (that evidently encircles the rubber crush ring). Without the "crush ring", I don't see how there would be enough of that nthin raised ring to attach.