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Ford Focus Mirror Replacement Instructions

I'm hoping I can get some help here. In fact I'm hoping this help will be useful to a lot of people out there. There's lots of people out there that have had their mirrors break off for one reason or another. Stupid driver error on my part.

I've searched and found the instructions at myfordfocus.com but they were not all that useful for a newbie like me. I need more detailed instructions! I've searched here and found the following:

LINKS TO OTHER PAGES WITHIN GROUPS

--------------------------------------------------------------------- John R Cambron writes that he had to remove the door to get the mirror off. In the article, Drivers side door permanently locked

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Jon Sturgeon writes, don't drop the 10mm bolt down into the door, otherwise you'll have to remove the entire interior panel to retrieve it. In the article, Need Help w/Driver Side Pwr Mirror Replacement
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Marty Sasaki writes, It looks like I will need to take the door panel off in order to replace the mirror, so the question is, how do I do this? In the article, side mirror
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MelvinGibson writes, Why not take the car to a dealer an let the techs do the job for you before you brake something? In the article, How to get side mirror off Focus?
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OK, some people say the door has to be removed. Some don't. Maybe there is a different setup depending on the year and build location of the Focus.

Some people say "take it to the dealer". Sure I could do this. And sure, it would be easier. But I don't want to spend $$$ for the labour. I'm willing to take a chance and try it myself. The more information posted here, the better chance I'll have (along with everyone else) in doing this myself.

If everyone is willing to put in their $0.02 on how to do this I'll compile a final document with instructions on how to do this.

So far, this is what I have...

2002 Ford Focus Wagon, ZTW Powered, non-folding, non-heated mirrors

I've popped off the inside panel of the passenger side mirror. This was held on by two metal clips close to the passenger glass window. I had to roll down the window to grasp the plastic and give it a sharp pull to get the clips to release. There is a third clip towards the middle of the panel. I had to pull the panel back to get this to release. There was some mention of a torx screw on the drivers side, I didn't see this on the passenger side.

Now I can see the power connector. It's held firmly in place overtop of some sticky foam backing. Everything is covered, I don't see very little of the sheet metal. From the instructions at myfordfocus.com there should be a single bolt holding the mirror on. I can't see it. I'm worried that the door panel needs to be removed to access this.

Does the door panel need to be removed?

Should I spend the time releasing the power connector and the foam backing?

Should I give up and take it into Ford?

Thanks!

Reply to
shane.grimm
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The images in the instruction at

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't jive with what I had to do to get the right side mirroroff my north American market 2003 ZX3. Image 4
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shows only the bolt. My 2003 ZX3 has a torx screw above the bolt that holds the top point of mirror housing to window pillar and a second torx screw to the front of the car from the bolt. The lower screw and the bolt were only accessible by removing the door panel.

I will note I only paid $55.00 US for the replacement non-powered, non-heated mirror in the parts department at my Ford dealer.

You will likely end up paying more then twice that in labor to do the job.

Reply to
John R Cambron

Thanks for the info... I was able to replace both the driver side mirror and passenger side mirror myself. And the door panels did not have to be removed. Here's what I learned...

Warning... follow these instructions at your own risk... as you will quickly learn I am not a skilled mechanic. These instructions are from replacing the mirrors on a Canadian 2002 Ford Focus ZTW.

  1. roll down the windows to help removing the inside covers

  1. if you are doing both, start with the passenger side (it's just a little bit easier)

  2. pop the cover off by sitting inside the car, put your fingers into the crack where the glass window normally slides into, give the inside cover a good pull towards the rear of the car. There are two clips there holding the cover. Watch out they're sharp! Mistake #1, #2 and #3... three punctures in my fingers, the bleeding stopped fairly quickly

  1. pull the cover over, it'll hinge on the third clip holding it on. You should be able to wiggle the cover off.

  2. now you'll see the wiring harness connector and the foam sticky stuff stuck to the sheet metal. Don't panic like I did, the bolt is hiding under the foam. You'll need to pop off the wiring harness. It's held on by two plastic anchors that can be wedged off with a flat head screwdriver.

  1. disconnect the two wires. Is it just me or is the clip on these just for show? No matter how hard I pressed on this it just wouldn't budge. I eventually got it disconnected.

  2. peel back the foam sticky stuff. I used a sharp screwdriver. This requires patience, if you rip the plastic sheet underneith, you'll rip the foam. Mistake #4, I ripped some of the foam.

  1. now you'll see the bolt! Get your ratchet set out and a 10mm socket. Undo the bolt. Don't even bother trying to use your vice grips or regular wrench to get this out. Be extremely careful when you pull the bolt out. If you drop it into the door you are going to spend the next couple of hours pulling your door panels off.

  2. pull the mirror off. Mistake #5 there is a torx screw on the inside of the door that also holds the mirror. I ripped another hole in my already broken mirror. Undo this screw before pulling the mirror. On passenger side it's approximately 2" to the left of the bolt. And is not normally covered by the inside mirror cover.

  1. curse the auto manufacturers for 5 minutes because they use torx screws, luckily I had a torx screwdriver burried in my toolbox. And I was able to salvage the torx screw and washer.

  2. push the power mirror wire out. There is a rubber grommet in the door that makes this difficult. Mistake #6 this grommet has a slice in it to help remove the mirror. If you are chucking your mirrors just cut the wire going to the mirror instead of trying to feed the connector through the grommet. I pulled the wire from the outside. This popped the grommet out and it promptly fell into the door. See warning in step

  5. clean up any remaining foam stuck to the outside of the door. You're ready to mount your new mirror.

  6. this went surprisingly well. Line it up and snap it on. There is one piece of the mirror that will snap into place. Bolt it back on and then screw in the Torx screw. Mistake #7 take it easy with the torx screw. I overheated it by tightening it quickly and then sheared the head off of the screw.

  1. spend in gas and 2 hours driving to your local auto shop to pick up a new 13. spend $8 in gas and 2 hours driving to your local auto shop to pick up a new $0.50 torx screw.

    14. snap the inside mirror cover back on. That's it, you're done. Buy yourself some beer and enjoy your new mirror (in your garage, don't drink and drive!)..50 torx screw.

  2. snap the inside mirror cover back on. That's it, you're done. Buy yourself some beer and enjoy your new mirror (in your garage, don't drink and drive!).

Good luck, let me know how it works for you!

Reply to
shane.grimm

I stand corrected, this torx screw is not covered by the door panel on my US market 2003 ZX3. For some reason I recalled that it was.

Maybe it was because I replaced the mirror at the same time I removed the door panel to lubricated the door lock/latch mechanism inside the door.

Also I stand corrected that there is NO torx screw above the bolt as mentioned in my previous post. Went out to my car and removed the inside mirror control housing cover to confirm this fact. Took less then 2 minute to remove, look and replace the cover.

Reply to
John R Cambron

I have done it!!!!

Once you have popped off the triangular plastic plate by pulling it off the clips on its left edge then pulling it towards you to pop the rightmost clip then it will dangle by the cables of the mirror and you can see the bolt that holds the mirror in place. you may have to push the right edge of the foam aside a little bit to see it. The bolt is in a little hole by the bottom right corner of the foam and you will need a ratchet to CAREFULLY remove it DO NOT LET IT FALL INTO THE DOOR!!! as this will cause more work that is not necessary.(luckily this did not happen to me but as I was turning the bolt I was really worrying about that happening and so carfully removed it with out rushing. then after the bolt is out the mirror is no longer Pemanently atached to the car however you can't remove it yet. you omust take the little screws that hold the inside pannel of your door the the metal frame of the door. there are several of them along the outermost edge of the door remove them all and do not loose them. then try to wiggle the inner plastic covering loose so as to be able to pull the mirror's cables through the hole inthe frame that they go through (make sure you pull the little rubber cover for the "toggleing" switch" that allows you to adjust the mirror before pulling through the hole, it just screws off) then Viola! the mirror is removed (now you get to re assemble the door which is not that difficult since there are only 2 kinds of parts you removed, the screws that held the plastic cover for the inside if the door and the bolt that held the mirror in place. now install your replacement mirror and re assembel and you are set.

Reply to
focusguy

I have done it!!!!

Once you have popped off the triangular plastic plate by pulling it off the clips on its left edge then pulling it towards you to pop the rightmost clip then it will dangle by the cables of the mirror and you can see the bolt that holds the mirror in place. you may have to push the right edge of the foam aside a little bit to see it. The bolt is in a little hole by the bottom right corner of the foam and you will need a ratchet to CAREFULLY remove it DO NOT LET IT FALL INTO THE DOOR!!! as this will cause more work that is not necessary.(luckily this did not happen to me but as I was turning the bolt I was really worrying about that happening and so carfully removed it with out rushing. then after the bolt is out the mirror is no longer Pemanently atached to the car however you can't remove it yet. you omust take the little screws that hold the inside pannel of your door the the metal frame of the door. there are several of them along the outermost edge of the door remove them all and do not loose them. then try to wiggle the inner plastic covering loose so as to be able to pull the mirror's cables through the hole inthe frame that they go through (make sure you pull the little rubber cover for the "toggleing" switch" that allows you to adjust the mirror before pulling through the hole, it just screws off) then Viola! the mirror is removed (now you get to re assemble the door which is not that difficult since there are only 2 kinds of parts you removed, the screws that held the plastic cover for the inside if the door and the bolt that held the mirror in place. now install your replacement mirror and re assembel and you are set.

Reply to
focusguy

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