X300 Removing interior mirror from ball joint
 

I've removed the interior mirror of my 1995 X300 from its small mounting base which is affixed to the windscreen, my question is, how do I now remove the mirror from the bracket at the ball joint? Does it pull or twist out or is there some other method?
Thanks.

Hi biffta,

Will the method I described in my reply to your earlier thread not work on your mirror?

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...mirror-118855/

Cheers,

Don

Thanks for that Don! Stupidly I forgotten about my previous question. It's an age thing! When I posted previously I'd given up replacing the mirror with an original and just took the whole assembly to a local shop and had a plain mirror made to fit.
I've now got a fully working X300 dimming mirror which I intend to install, but sadly the mounting bracket is incomplete and anyway isn't compatible with mine so I'm hoping I can replace it at the ball joint and retain my current windscreen mounting assembly.
Thanks for directing me back to my previous posting. As I said, it's an age thing!
Thanks again - much appreciated.

My experience is its fragile plastic. I guess aside from your dash the rearview takes the most uv punishment. Some donnelly mirrors have a steel collar you snap off first. But once you have done that, I think they all are a split socket you just pop the ball out and hope the socket survives. It will most likely not be the same size. Be prepared to fill the socket with rubber or similar material as a shim.

Thanks for the advice - appreciated.

Further to the above, I can see there is what seems to be a steel collar/ring around the ball which appears to retain the ball in the socket. Is this the collar you suggest I just "snap off"? By this do you mean prise the collar out as I can't see how it can be snapped off unless you mean by forcing the ball out which will also bring the collar out with it.
Can you elaborate please?
Thanks.

Hi Don, in your reply to my previous (forgotten!) posting you say:- "I inserted one tine or prong of the fork on each side of the ball stem and gently pried up until the stem popped out".
Is this in reality just pulling the stem and ball out? Does, what appears to be the retaining ring come out with it? I presume it must do. Is the ring just a press fit?
Thanks again.

Thought I was being really smart this morning when I had a thought for an alternative idea.
I separated/split both my old mirror and the new one (which has a totally different fixing to windscreen bracket) and gained access to the electronics inside. Removed mirror and connecting cable from the new and inserted it into the old unit plugging the small connector into the waiting socket. Put the two halves of the mirror back together again and went back to my car, plugged it it and..........nothing!
Of course the glass is dim but sliding the lever changes nothing and the unit seems dead.
Question, should the green led on the right be on all the time if the unit is working, or only at night?
Only option now is for me is to take the remaining electronics out of the new mirror and insert them in to the old one. This however will mean some wire cutting and soldering.
Trying to pluck up the courage to have ago!
Thought my first idea would prove too easy a solution! Nothing is ever that easy.

Yes that collar should be a split compression ring. should pry off the socket. My experience on the slider mirrors the green light glows when its dimming,

After much trying, I couldn't move/remove the compression ring therefore I couldn't separate the mirror unit from the ball joint.
In the end I tried another option, Split and separated the mirror unit gaining access to the inside components. Removed the mirror and all the electronics from the new unit and put them into the old mirror casing. Had to do some re-wiring out of the mirror to the overhead connector, but it's worked. Now fully working!
Thanks to all.

Congratulations biffta! Well done!

Cheers,

Don