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Hi, I'm Mike Green. I'm one of the owners of 1A Auto. I want to help you save time and money repairing and maintaining your vehicle. I'm going to use my 20+ years experience restoring and repairing cars and trucks like this to show you the correct way to install parts from 1A Auto.com. The right parts, installed correctly. That's going to save you time and money. Thank you, and enjoy the video.
In this video, we will be showing you how to replace a side view mirror on this 98 Explorer. Pretty much the same as any 95 to 01. Tools you'll need are Phillips and regular screwdrivers, a putty knife to get the door panel off, and then you'll need an 11 mm socket with an extension and ratchet to remove the mirror itself.
You want to start, use your flat blade screwdriver. Carefully pry in back here. You can see mine is already broken. You want to be careful not to break it right there. It is a weak spot. Even if you do break it, you can put it back together, so you don't really notice it. Pull that bezel apart to get it off. Two Phillips screws under here. Remove those Phillips screws. Back with your screwdriver. If you want, you can use your rag, pry the top and the bottom, pull it out. Use your screwdriver. There's a side here that has a tooth holding the harness. Just work the screwdriver under there a little bit, and disconnect it.
Now, around the perimeter of the door panel, there are some pins that hold it. What you want to do is, if you are worried about your paint, put the putty knife, wrap a towel around it, work it in, slide it down until you come to a stop, and that's usually a pin. Then pull, down further. This truck has been apart a few times, so it comes out probably pretty easily. Once you have those pins released, then you want to lift up on the panel. It's starting to move here. Now, in behind here, what you want to do is, this is held in, you basically want to, there's two teeth, one there, and then one back here. You press those down to release them, and then it slides out. Now this one, press it down, and then that whole assembly slides right out. Work that through. There's your door panel off.
With the door panel off, remove this little piece of water shield. Then, you want to remove your speaker. This truck has an aftermarket speaker in it. You may have something a little different. Ford usually likes to use either 4 or 6 mm hex heads bolts to put it in the door. This uses Phillips screws. Just want to get your speaker out. I'm just going to stick it right down here. Just a freeze-frame here to clarify, that is an aftermarket speaker. The speaker that you have in your car may be different, might come apart differently. You probably would want to disconnect it, which usually just involves a tab and pulling the wires apart. Again, if you get to something a little different in your vehicle, it's not unexpected.
You now want to unplug your mirror. Your mirror plug is right here. What you're going to want to do is press on a little tab right here. Then, you can pull the plug right up and out. You can't see this, but I'm going to press that tab, and unplug. Now, you need an 11 mm socket with a ratchet and extension, and then three bolts. One, two, and then the third one is right in there. Once your bolts are out, go ahead and break it loose a little bit. Then, just guide your connector up again. It can get stuck on the braces in there. I was twisting it back, then pull it up through. There is your mirror out. On top here is the new mirror from 1A Auto. The original mirror. You can see, the new mirror from 1A Auto is the exact same. It's all going to mount the same. It has a nice gasket on it and everything, the foam pad here. The connector here is exactly the same. Everything is going to plug in correctly.
Obviously, on these cars, there's a few different options. This truck just has power mirrors. If you have heated mirrors, you would have a little symbol here is like a window with heat lines coming out of it. Obviously, the puddle lamp, if you have a little lamp here, that's what's called the puddle lamp. You want to make sure you get the right mirror for your truck. I'm just going to reinstall the original one, because obviously, there's nothing wrong with it. I just wanted to show you the 1A Auto one, just so you know that when you buy one from 1A, it's going to be the right one.
Obviously, you can start the installation. The only really tough, tricky part is to make sure that your harness goes down in. Just shake it a little bit. You can reach up in with your hand also, if you want, to help it go down. You want it to go forward some. There it is. You want it in behind here. Secure the mirror first. Tighten the bolts, but you don't have to be really tight, just firm. Plug the connection back in. It can only go in one way, so you really can't do that wrong. Put your speaker back. Put this little piece back on here.
I am going to speed through putting the door panel back on. If you want to see this in real time, just check out our other videos for the door panel removal and installation on an Explorer. Once you have the door panel back on, you should be all set.
We hope this helps you out. Brought to you by www.1AAuto.com, your source for quality replacement parts and the best service on the Internet. Please feel free to call us toll-free, 888-844-3393. We're the company that is here for you on the Internet and in person.