PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

So, I'm a genius and I clipped one of these crosswalk signs with my driver side mirror...

The exterior of the mirror casing is 100% fine, but it knocked the glass and the backing plate right out of the casing. I searched and searched for a replacement and wound up buying the full mirror assembly from a parts dealer on eBay. Popped the glass/backing plate out of the new assembly and popped it into the existing mirror casing on my car. It's in there, but it's not right... the power mechanism doesn't move the mirror (the internal parts spin but I think it's just not contacting correctly) and the mirror shakes and shimmys when I'm driving.

What did I do wrong here?

I can't seem to find any info on this online anywhere, so I'm turning to the forum... help!

There is the center pin that holds the mirror on, 2 tabs that control the movement, and 2 tabs that monitor the movement. You just don't have all the tabs popped into their socket.

Thanks for the tip. I knew this was a fairly brainless matter (much like how I clipped that stupid sign) but I just needed someone to explain it to me. The center pin was pretty easy to get connected on there, but is there a trick to getting the smaller/secondary control tabs popped in?

Thanks again for the response.

There are tabs on the ball of 2 of the pins, they need to be at the right angle. Once you get it apart again you will see what i mean.

Ok, I got it figured out over the weekend. The problem was that I lost the tabs when my original mirror came flying out of the shell and onto the road, so that's why this wasn't 100% obvious to me right away. For that, I'm thankful I just happened to find the entire OEM mirror assembly on eBay instead of just the glass and backing plate.

To resolve:
1) pull the connection tabs out of the new mirror assembly with a pliers
2) click the rounded ends of the connection tabs into the mirror backing plate
3) On the existing mirror shell, push on the glass until all three connections click into place
4) wipe all of the greasy fingerprints off of the mirror

Ta-Da!

Thanks again for your help. As simple as it was, I wouldn't have finished it without your explanation.