The passenger side view mirror on my 1999 Olds Silhouette lost an encounter with the garage. I am thinking perhaps it is not that hard to replace myself. It is a remote, electric mirror. I am not very adept at finding fasteners hidden by trim, and don’t want to mess things up worse. Anyone know how to replace it? Right now the mirror is cracked and loose. Anyone know how to reattach it to whatever controls its tilt? That would make it more useful until I can get it fixed. And should I just take it to the body shop for replacement, and if so, would the dealer be better than a privately owned one?
It’s probably held on from behind - inside the door. You’ll need to take the door apart - armrest, window crank (if any) and maybe speaker grilles come off, then you need to find about 18 little plastic clips that hold the “upholstery” onto the door. There are special tools for disengaging them without breaking them.
By your admission of not being good at finding screws under trim, it may be best to call around to dealerships and body shops to see what they’d charge to re-attach and/or replace the mirror.
If I really have to dismantle the door then just forget it, I will go the auto body shop. However, if it makes any difference, I was trying to re-attach the mirror and it fell off. The back has two electrical clips, a threaded metal thing with a u-joint kind of attachment to the back of the mirror and then a little clip that fits onto a cruciform, mobile metal part attached to the mirror housing. Can I just buy the mirror, plug it in and push it on, or is the whole thing hosed and I need the body shop?