Velvac Mirror and Hwy 101 Pot Hole

[Mike Jean Bandfield]

It was a rough trip - California's highways are really falling apart, ie. lots of rain this year coupled with their budget issues). We dodged the rough spots as best we could but a couple of weeks ago we came around a curve in heavy traffic on Hwy 101 near Ventura and hit the mother of all potholes. The rear end bottomed out and the driver side Velvac mirror fell out and was dangling by its wires and flopping around in the wind. We safely pulled off the freeway while restraining the mirror in my hand.

On the newer models (2003+) the mirror glass attaches to the inner housing which has 6 friction clips around a ring that clips to the servo ring. The clips had broken. (Later, in speaking with Tech Support I got the impression they see this type of failure frequently.) A small bungy cord held the mirror to the servo until we got home.

You may someday benefit from our experience by knowing the following:

The mirror glass has a heating element vellum permanently glued on the back. Removing the mirror glass is the key to gaining access to the interior of the mirror housing. The glass and heating element are held to the backing plate/inner housing with a retaining clip. If the mirror/heating element is held to the inner housing solely by the retaining clip gaining access is no problem. However the factory may also add a dab of RTV between the backing plate and the heating element at the corners to prevent vibration. After carefully removing the retaining clip the RTV will need to be cut with a thin blade (putty knife) to remove the mirror glass/heating element vellum from the inner housing.

(Mirror and a retaining clip kits are orderable via Velvac's website.)

After the mirror glass/heating element assembly is freed from the inner housing. pry up the wiring connectors with a flat blade screw driver levering between the male and female connectors. They are very tight and simply pulling on the female connector and wire will result in pulling the male connector off the heating element.

After visiting Velvac's website it appeared as though I needed to order a major assembly for major $$$.$$ to get the Inner Housing part I needed. A call to tech support was very helpful. The Inner Housing (part number 70675) is a $10 part not listed on Velvac's web site and orderable by phone (800-783-8871).

Mike

[CANDE]

We are wintering in California near Hwy 101 in Port Hueneme and we almost lost our 2009 Smart Car in that pothole near Vetnura.

Carol and Ed Freye

[bcope01]

Ha, ha! The infamous Ventura pothole.

[John S.]

Thanks for the tip on the mirror.