A few weeks ago the manual driver’s sideview mirror on my 1993 Honda Civic stopped working correctly and I ordered a replacement from an online store. As expected, when the mirror arrived it didn’t come with installation instructions and I couldn’t find any with a ten minute Google search so I winged it. Near the end I snapped some pictures and thought I’d stick them on the website to help others. This isn’t a super step-by-step set of instructions but I’ll bet it helps a bit. Please be sure to scroll down and read the comments section, as a reader named Bart took the time to write in with some additional tips which may speed your repair (and preclude some of my former advice). I have amended this post to reflect Bart’s suggestions, thanks Bart!
The good news is that the only thing holding the sideview mirror to the car are three bolts. Take a look at the metal stalk that you use to aim the mirror. See that black plastic triangle that it’s poking out of? That’s the piece we need to remove to access those three bolts. To do so we must move the interior door panel away from the metal structure of the door.
STEP ONE
Let’s go ahead and remove the crank handle for the window. If you’re lucky enough to have power windows there are a few steps that are different from my situation and unfortunately I don’t know what they are. (If you have one of those and know the steps please post the instructions in a comment to this article.)
Here’s a photo of the removed handle and the crank post on which it fits.
The handle is held on with a keystone shaped retainer clip that I’ve seen referred to elsewhere as a kotter pin, though it doesn’t seem to be a true kotter pin. To remove this retainer clip you’ll need a hook tool which can be easily made from a wire coat hanger. Look at the photograph below for the shape into which you should bend your wire. The retainer clip you need to remove is slipped around a circular sheath built into the plastic handle, a sheath with cutouts along two sides that allow the clip to ‘pop’ into place, riding in a channel encircling the metal crank post. It’s very simple engineering and very simple to remove once you find the ‘fat’ end of the retainer clip. Note that there are two plastic ‘nibs’ on either side of the circular sheath built into the plastic handle, so the ‘fat’ end of the retainer clip could be slipped on from either of two sides. Once you find the ‘fat’ end of the retaining clip just slip your hook tool around the ‘fat’ end of the retaining clip and gently pull. Note that the retaining clip will want to ‘spring’ off the sheath on which it fits so you might want to cup your free hand around the area so that you don’t lose the clip (something I almost did).
With the retaining clip removed the plastic handle will easily slip off the metal crank post. Set it and the retaining clip in a safe area.
STEP TWO
Now it’s time to finish loosening the door panel. With the door open, look beneath the mirror control stalk and you’ll see a plastic screw. Remove it and place it in your ‘safe’ parts holding area. Note that the black plastic triangle is already removed in my pictures, in your process it will still be in place.
With that screw removed the door panel should be a little floppier, but you probably need to pop one more retaining clip which is hidden from view farther down the door panel. Just slip your fingers in place behind the door panel where you removed that plastic screw and start working your way down, gently tugging at the door panel until you feel it ‘pop’ out at you a bit.
Move back to the top of the door panel now and see if you can lift it up and away from the structure of the door. It doesn’t need to move away a lot. Just a bit.
STEP THREE
Time to replace the mirror!
Turn your attention back to the black plastic triangle where the mirror control stalk (mirror adjusting rod) is located, prying at it gently until the one and only retaining clip pops loose. Work it gently, ever so gently, away and out of place. You’ll need to manipulate the plastic element, the control stalk of the old mirror and the loosened door panel in unison to remove the black plastic triangle. A reader (Bart) suggests making this part of the repair easier by removing the plastic handle/knob of the control stalk. To do this, simply pop off the plastic end cap of that plastic handle/knob (make every attempt to catch the end cap so that it doesn’t go zinging off into oblivion) and loosen the concealed screw revealed beneath. Once done, move the plastic triangle to your safe parts storage area (also do this with the control stalk knob if you have removed it).
Ta Da! You can now see the three retaining bolts for the mirror. No, I have no idea what size socket I used because I didn’t think about writing an article until after I was nearly finished (thanks to reader Bart for letting us know that it’s an 8mm socket!!). Suffice to say that it’s small. I don’t expect you’ll be doing this unless you have some tools anyway, so I trust that you’ll figure it out. Feel free to post the bolt size in a comment if you’d like.
As you remove each bolt be careful to keep one finger on it to prevent it from falling down into the door panel. Carefully set each bolt aside in your safe parts storage area and be sure to keep the mirror from falling to the ground as you remove the last and final bolt. It might help if you tape the mirror to the car as a ‘helping hand’ in case you think you might not be able to keep from dropping the mirror.
With the third and final screw removed you can gently pull the old mirror free from the door frame and set it aside, preferably on the ground instead of the hood of your car since it can easily slip off.
Note that the OEM mirror has a gasket surrounding the three bolts to keep water from penetrating your door through the mirror. My new mirror did not have this gasket so I applied a bead of RTV silicon rubber around the same area on the new mirror. We’ll see how well that works.
Reassembly is simply the reverse of what we’ve already done. It took me less than an hour to make the swap and I’ll bet that it takes you half the time now that you know what you have to do!
IMPORTANT UPDATE
I made the mistake of buying an aftermarket replacement for my broken mirror and didn’t take the car out for a drive until six weeks later, whereupon I discovered that it was an inferior product. Once on the road I was dismayed to observe that there was a maddening vibration to the mirror element even though the mirror housing itself was rock steady. Worse than that, the mirror would not remain in position after adjustment.
I had no other choice than to buy a genuine Honda replacement part, at approximately four times the cost of the third-party replacement. It was worth the added expense.
Placed side by side you can see the difference in the quality of the manufacture of both parts. Also, the Honda part comes with a pre-attached gasket to seal the openings in the door frame that allow the mirror to be attached. I used RTV in the openings where the bolts run through for good measure but that was probably unnecessary.
I will say that it went a lot faster the second time around!
If you are reading this article in anticipation of performing this repair, I strongly urge you to spend the extra money on OEM parts because you will undoubtedly be very disappointed if you do not. I also recommend that you use a good search engine to look for “genuine Honda parts”. I found a dealer in Indiana or Illinois who would have sold me the exact same Honda part for $50 less than I paid at my local dealer, Willett Honda of Morrow, Georgia. If I had arrived earlier in the day when a manager was on duty I might have been given some sort of discount, but I was pressed for time.
More than anything, I hope that this information helps other Civic owners out there! (Which it apparently has already done since the article was first published)
I had a similar problem with my 2005 civic when I clipped my mirror on a fencepost when backing up. After getting the whole door off in preparation to replace the broken mirror, I realized that this wasn’t necessary. You only need to remove the small triangular piece of plastic just behind the mirror, unscrew the three bolts, and install the new mirror. I’m not sure this would work on older models, but it was a piece of cake on my 2005.
Good to know Aaron!
I’m trying to remember when the Civic’s body style was changed after the 1993 model… maybe that was one of Honda’s legendary refinements that they’re so famous for making.
I’m pretty sure that I couldn’t have made my repair without loosening the interior body panel, but now I’m going to go reexamine the car. Until then, take a look at the fifth picture in this article, I’m pretty sure (though I’ll want to go back and look now) that the triangular plastic piece that covers the bolts may be blocked by the interior panel of the door. If you were to look at it in cross-section you’d see that there is a “V” formed between the glass and the door panel. Basically, the topmost part of the interior door panel is an inch or so above the slot that the window glass emerges, diving back down toward that slot, forming a “berm” that I believe would have blocked my attempt to remove the plastic panel.
Thanks!
My boyfriend ran his car into a ditch yesterday and knocked off his sideview mirror. Hopefully this will help us out once the replacement parts arrive in the mail. Thanks!
Please note that I have updated the article with a note about the quality of aftermarket replacements, after finding it necessary to replace my replacement.
The required socket is 8mm.
Also, it is not necessary to remove the door panel. Just remove the first screw mentioned in step 2, and pull off that corner of the panel; this will give enough room to get a ratchet-handle socket sideways to the bottom-most screw.
Another hint: it’s easier to remove the small triangular plastic trim if you unscrew the little handle of the mirror adjusting rod. Just pop off the cap at the very tip of that handle, and there’s a screw hiding underneath.
Thanks Bart, I’m going to add some notes to the article and mention your contribution.
Hi – thanks for this post. A week or so I came out of my apartment only to find that someone had either ran into my side-view or just torn it off with a baseball bat. Nice. Anyhow, this procedure was pretty much the same on my 1999 honda civic DX hatchback, although I didn’t need to take the door siding off, but just unscrewed the screws around the door speaker, and then pulled out the tab on the door near the side-view, as I needed to get it out a bit in order to get my wrench in there to unscrew the bolts/nuts. I bought a non-oem replacement off ebay, and it seems ok so far, though not quite as well-made as the OEM version.
I am in the middle of replacing the right mirror (power) on a 1996 Civic EX 2-door. I don’t have to remove the interior door trim at all. (Other than the small sail trim which seems to contain a small speaker, or a temp sensor, or something. That panel just pops out. Otherwise most of the prior comments seem to apply OK. One advisory – in the second picture we see the green horseshoe clip being pulled in the indicated direction with a wire hook. Having spent many years in the body repair business I can tell you – the clips can generally go in either way, and we found many to be backwards. This would be because of mis-installation at the factory, or a mistake by a DIY’er, or a wise guy in a repair shop. So, if you have trouble snagging it with the hook, try the other direction.
You can remove the door knob “kotter” pin easily with a small, thin rag. Work the rag underneath tghe handle and pull it back and forth around the crank post. Change positions if the pin doesn’t come out quickly. It;’s really quite easy once you get the hang of it, and does no damage whatsoever.
I was coming back from work just to find my side mirror broken, considering that this mirror is so important to be able to drive safely, I was amazingly disappointed. I just want to say thank you very much for sharing this information with everyone it is highly appreciated, I wish that everyone was like you. I am about to follow your instructions and hopefully I will be able to repair or replace this mirror.
Cheers
Thank you for this 2006 article. I am replacing the side view mirror of my 1998 civic and it’s good that I don’t have to figure out how to take it off. — Rene, July 25, 2010
hi i have a 1994 honda civic cx and the mirros are broken now i have the m3 style mirror but they are electric now my question is can i put an electric mirror on a manuel mount // like mine original mirror are electric but i have these one and i want to know if i can put them on ( i know i will have to ajust the mirror manualy but i dont care is it possible ? anybody knows ?
thanks