Arcturus

Hello,

While parking my 2003 LS430 into my narrow, steep driveway for the first time, I was caught looking the wrong way while reversing and accidently rammed the drivers side mirror into my concrete retaining wall.

Needless to say I am not very happy right now. However, it seems as though it still operates and I have only broken part of the casing off.

I am going to try and glue the pieces back together first and have a few questions:

1) What is the best glue to use for plastic parts like this?
2) Can I just replace just the casing of the mirror?
3) Failing this, where can I get a replacement mirror? Any recommended junkyards?
4) Is is a big job to replace the mirror?

Thanks.

Arcturus

Found the answers

1) People seem to like Gorilla Glue and a 3M plastic adhesive that comes in two tubes that you mix together.

2) Yes you can just replace the casing of the mirror. Sewell lexus sells them in the color of your car for around $90-$100 US dollars. PN is 87945 for the driver's, 87915 for the passenger's. This is the route I have elected to go.

http://lexus.sewellparts.com/oem-cat...S430-2003.html

3) If you really mangle your mirror, you can buy a complete replacement from Lexus for $400-$500 dollars or ebay for less.

4) To replace the casing is relatively simple. From what I understand you pull off the mirror from the bottom. Then unscrew a few bolts to separate the housing.

pur

This is a very helpful discussion and I'd love to share my version. I bought my LS430 about 2 years ago. The auto fold mirror is unplugged by the previous owner. After I connect the mirror folding motor harness, my passenger mirror failed to stop when folding out. It folds all the way forward. Taking it apart, the self-locking washer is completed finished. It doesn't lock anything.

Instead of hunting for spare parts, I took the mirror apart. By clamping the motor assembly to a vise, the clutch spring is compressed all the way inward while allowing room to drill a few smaller holes next to the washer surface from the center column. I've put tiny screws to hold the washer in place. The mirror auto fold is back to service now.

While this method allows repairing the mirror folding mechanism, the repair is time consuming due to the harness disassembly and reassembly.

CA2WALS430

I'm amazed by this. Nice work.
I took a mirror apart one time and swore I wouldn't do it again. The one thing that stood out to me was when you said the previous owner unplugged the folding mechanism?!?! Am I misunderstanding or WHY on earth would someone unplug something that has a manual override switch on the dash??

pur

Since the mirror fold out stop broke, there're only two mirror positions to control from the dash. Totally close for parking and totally outward only the car next to you can see the mirror. So the previous person handheld to stop the mirror folding position where the car is drivable then unplug the motor.

CA2WALS430

Thank you. I did miss that.