348 Driver Side Mirror

I'll take a stab at answering this because I've done it before, and I wanted to do some touchup work on the mirror.

It's easy to remove the mirror assembly from the door, just three screws on the cover panel, then three nuts underneath it, then unplug the wire connector. But it's easier to take the mirror apart while it is still on the door. You need a good sharp magnetic No1 phillips screwdriver with a thin shaft to reach around the mirror glass and undo the five screws that hold on the trim surround piece. BUT, you can't actually remove the piece until the glass is released from the motor housing.

The glass is attached with the wire clip shown here (picture 2). You need to reach in behind the glass and undo the wire clip from the plastic tabs on the right. Once the clip is released, the glass will pull off the motor housing, but the two wires for the heating element in the glass are still attached, and need to be CAREFULLY pulled off.

Now you can see the motor housing (picture 3). I've never pulled this apart, but it looks pretty straightforward. There are tiny gear teeth that tilt the housing inside the mirror assembly, making the up/down/left/right adjustments.

If you want to take the rest of it apart, you need to remove the bottom plate from the base piece to get at the nut (picture 4). To remove the bottom plate, remove the one screw, then pivot the housing forward until it stops at the next detent. There is now an opening visible in the base, and you can reach inside the opening with a slotted screwdriver to push down on the plate until it releases. If you try to just pry the plate off, you will probably chip it and you will undoubtedly mar the paint.

This isn't an easy job to do, it requires patience and care in order to avoid damaging the mirror. If someone knows a better way to do this, by all means post your hints. My parts book does not appear to show any replacement parts for the mirror, just the assembly, and I'm sure it's horrendously expensive.
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Update: I made this a bit harder than it has to be, got confused between two different mirrors.

You only need to remove the two upper screws from picture #1, then remove the lower plate from the base as described, then unscrew the nut from the pivot shaft, and one screw next to it, and the two screws on the underside of the mirror assembly, then you can pull out the mechanism as far as the wiring bundle will allow, and it makes it easier to access the clip on the back of the mirror glass. (Sounds complicated, but it's reasonably straightforward when you're looking at it).

In fact, it MAY be possible that the glass will just pull off from the motor housing with some resistance from the clip (it MAY be designed to pull off without releasing the clip) but I'm too chicken to pull on it that hard.
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