Xantia mirror adjuster knob

evilclive · Post by **evilclive** » 27 Nov 2010, 23:45

I appear to have been a bit clumsy with the mirror adjuster on my Xantia, and snapped the knob off.

How hard is it to replace? (This is the manual one on the driver's side). I've got the rubber gaiter thingy out, but it was sufficiently cold and dark that when I couldn't immediately see what one would unscrew, I gave up and came inside.

Post by **RichardW** » 28 Nov 2010, 20:49

It all comes complete with the mirror - most likely one of the cables has seized hence you have managed to snap the knob off. You will need to replace the mirror - they're not that expensive, nor difficult to fit, although you do need to remove the entire door panel....

evilclive · Post by **evilclive** » 28 Nov 2010, 23:11

Thanks for that - sounds likely, cold stuff stopping the mirror moving, me trying to get it to move, snap.

Fortunately the stub of the stalk is still there, so I can still move it - I might wait till it's a little warmer to sort it out

Old-Guy · Post by **Old-Guy** » 30 Nov 2010, 13:52

evilclive wrote:Thanks for that - sounds likely, cold stuff stopping the mirror moving, me trying to get it to move, snap.

Saturday late afternoon I had much the same happen with the fuel flap 'spring'. went to pop the flap open to fill up, it stuck slightly then flew open as a curved bit of plastic fell on the forecourt.

Now I've got a flappy flap and another outstanding job - at least I've got a spare (on an almost complete spare car!)

Citroenmad · Post by **Citroenmad** » 30 Nov 2010, 15:13

I made sure I had the heated mirrors turned on with the Xm for a while before i put it in reverse, auto dipping mirrors and cold weather don't go too well together if the mirrors are iced over.

Everything gets very brittle, even getting into the car on a morning when its iced over its difficult. I usually use a fan heated around the seals before i open the door. And on the wipers to free them from the screen. Could do with heated door shuts

I was following a very recent Merc SL on the way out of town on Friday morning, the centre of the rear window was smashed out, they no doubt poured a kettle full of boiling water onto it or something

Old-Guy · Post by **Old-Guy** » 30 Nov 2010, 15:32

Citroenmad wrote:....I was following a very recent Merc SL on the way out of town on Friday morning, the centre of the rear window was smashed out, they no doubt poured a kettle full of boiling water onto it or something

Expensive!

Years ago, crawling to work one icy morning I watched in disbelief as a bloke walked up to his car with a steaming kettle and poured the contents across the screen. BANG - the (toughened) screen vanished as a shower of glass fragments and boiling water went all over the dash and instruments!

Citroenmad · Post by **Citroenmad** » 30 Nov 2010, 15:57

There is a family who live in my street who always use a boiling kettle of water to de-ice their cars. Im surprised they have not been showered in glass yet. Unbelievable.

Either that or Merc has engineered the same fault into the SL that the original Smart Cars had, the heated rear window would pop the screen if it was left on