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Tightening the mounting bolts for the passenger side mirror housing on a 2010 DTS

23K views 18 replies 15 participants last post by  Edringst919 
#1 ·
The passenger side mirror housing on my new (to me) 2010 DTS is a bit loose and can be shaken by hand. This causes the mirror to shake while driving and, I assume, opens up the inside of the door to the elements. I never noticed it until recently, so I assume that this happened after my purchase last month, with the housing either working itself loose on its own or was whacked by a moron walking by my car and not looking while he\she was texting.

So I'd like to tighten up the bolts that hold the housing to the door. Hopefully that's all it needs. But my Chilton's manual tells me that I have to yank off the entire door panel to reach the bolts. That sounds like a lot of work, and worse it has always been my experience that interior panels held on by cheap plastic clips have a high risk of not going back on cleanly. So my question to you folks is how can I tighten the housing without tearing apart my nice, clean machine? Hopefully one of you have a secret method of accessing the nuts\bolts. Please share.

Thanks,

Nick in Palm Springs
 
#2 ·
Hey Nick,

Just my opinion, but if it was mine, I would probably take it to a Cadillac dealer and let them fix it.
If you didn't want to take that much time, I would take it by a body shop and see what they would charge for doing it.
They can probably do the whole thing in 10 minutes or less, because they know how to take it all apart and put it back together.

Jim
 
#4 ·
Yeah, I do have time & miles left on the original warranty, but I'm more used to working on my own cars than I am seeking warranty service or paying a dealership to take care of what seems to me to be a minor problem (I've owned cars since 1973 and this is the first one I've ever had with a warranty and I probably have had dealer service on one of my cars perhaps three times over that span). It's not that I can't take off the door trim; it's just that often these sorts of repairs have multiple ways to get access, and I was hoping that someone had dealt with a similar problem and done the repair his\herself. Still it couldn't hurt to see if the dealer will fix for free. Good idea. I don't see any damage and maybe this is a good opportunity for me to find out what level of BS I should expect when trying to exercise my warranty rights. I'm cynical about such things, so maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

But just in case..if someone knows how to remove that plastic triangle on the door frame that covers the bolts without having to pull the entire trim, please don't hesitate to suggest something!


Thanks for the advice!

Nick in Palm Springs
 
#5 ·
On my ETC, the door panel had to come off.

I'd say take it in anyway, but if you have warranty, it's a no brainer.
 
#6 ·
Pry off plastic cover by door handle to access Philips head screw. Pry bottom of door panel away from door and up sides. Pull the panel up over the locking mechanism, making sure not to over strain the window wiring harness. take the two metal clips off the back of the panel and slide them back on the door frame. Use 10mm wrench to tighten mirror bolts. Apply threadlocker if you choose. Reassemble in reverse order.
 
#8 ·
I wound up taking it back to the dealer. It was the first time in my nearly 60 year life that I ever had the opportunity to take advantage of warranty service, so it felt weird (I'm usually the sole mechanic for my cars). They didn't even blink, and washed my car as well! But since I'm now beyond the 50k freebie window, if it ever happens again I'll use the method that "SEM" suggested in his post on July 12th, 2014.

Nick in Palm Springs
 
#9 ·
Thanks. I followed SEM's steps and took the door panel loose. All three bolts just fell right out. Only bad part is the screw behind the door panel is now stripped out, and of course some clips broke from the door panel. I swear this seems like one cheaply made car. I would never buy one brand new lol.
 
#10 ·
I just had to do this too. My mirror almost fell off yesterday. But...I didn't have to totally remove the door panel, just pulled it back a little & put a small prop behind it so I could have my hands free. I have long fingers so I was able to reach down inside and just put the 2 nuts that had fallen off back on and loctite all three. Bet it doesn't come off again without someone actually taking it off! I'd never buy one brand new either.
 
#18 ·
Hi, I'm having this same issue with my 2010 Cadillac DTS. I was able to pull the cover back far enough to confirm that one of the nuts is missing. However, I don't think that I'll be able to squeeze my fingers in enough to add and tighten the nut. Do I have pull the entire door panel off or is there a way to just pull back the corner directly underneath the plastic cover so I can get a little more wiggle room? Thank you, your help is appreciated.
 
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