I have a 1986 300SDL and the right-side mirror electric aiming adjustment was not functioning. I am in the middle of repairing this and thought I would share what I have learned.

The mirror glass in the 126 (at least the late 126s; I don't know about the early 126s) are attached to the mirror housing in a totally different way that the 123s. The 123 mirror glass removal is fairly simple; the 126 is much more difficult.

The 126 mirror glass is held onto the mirror housing with a large (182 mm circumference) wire clip. The mirror glass was the last piece of the mirror unit attached to the assembly; you cannot remove any component of the mirror housing until the mirror glass has been removed. Removing the wire clip from the mirror glass with the entire housing assembled is tricky.

The first picture shows a mirror housing removed from the car and placed on a table face down. The red arrow points to where you have to insert objects in order to remove the wire clip. The second picture shows the same location with the mirror cover removed (which, remember, cannot be removed until after the mirror glass is out). The two red arrows show the directions that the ends of the clip have to be pulled/pushed to release the wire clip.

The third picture shows the first tool that I used to grab the looped end of the wire clip to pull it and release it from its anchor point. After releasing this end, I used a combination of a bamboo chopstick (with a groove cut in the end) and a long thin screwdriver to push/release the other end of the wire clip. Then you have to do your best at pushing/pulling the wire clip so that it releases from the circular groove in which it rests.

The fourth picture shows the mirror glass removed with the wire clip in place holding the gimbal ring from the mirror housing. You will not see this ring in this state--I broke mine out of the housing--but this photo clearly shows how the mirror glass is held to the gimbal ring with the wire clip. After releasing the ends of the clip, with the very restricted access you have you must get the wire clip tension released so that the four retaining areas of the ring (shown with arrows around the circumference) will release from the gimbal ring. You have to do this at the same time as you gently pull the mirror glass away to remove it.

Just to make all of this even more difficult, the mirror glass typically has an adhesive backing which can sometimes adhere to the gimbal ring. Good luck with that.

...more to come...

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Mike Frederick
1986 300SDL, 240K+ miles
1985 300D KaliKar, 270K+ miles

When you are ready to replace the mirror glass there is a big warning I must make:

DO NOT ATTACH THE MIRROR GLASS UNTIL ALL OF THE MIRROR HOUSING PARTS ARE IN PLACE! Otherwise, you will have to remove the mirror glass again.

When I first considered this job, I was concerned about how I would reattach the mirror glass. There was no way I would be able to hold the mirror housing, the mirror glass, the wire clip and pull/push the ends of the clip into position. Then I took a closer look at the gimbal ring (picture 1).

Again, the gimbal ring will not be loose like this, but this really helps in understanding how to reattach the mirror glass. The large red arrow shows the direction that the gimbal ring is pressed onto the mirror glass. It turns out that the "leading" edge of the gimbal ring is angled so that it will press into the wire clip.

This means (see picture 2) that you can attach the wire clip to the back of the mirror housing, flip it over and lightly press it onto the gimbal ring. You will hear a click when the wire clip expands and clicks into place around the gimbal ring.

Let me state this again: MAKE SURE YOU ARE REALLY READY WHEN YOU REATTACH THE MIRROR GLASS. Your motor testing and other parts reassembly need to be done first.

I hope this helps others with this task.

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Mike Frederick
1986 300SDL, 240K+ miles
1985 300D KaliKar, 270K+ miles

Mike - Do you know if the 123 right hand motorized mirrors are similar? My 85 123 mirror will not adjust with lever - motor is running - and will point down after manual adjustment while driving.

Thnaks,

Chris

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1985 300D, 250k
1980 300SD, 180K

As I recall from when I researched this, the 123 mirror is not the same. I seem to remember finding some information about the 123 mirrors on this site.

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Mike Frederick
1986 300SDL, 240K+ miles
1985 300D KaliKar, 270K+ miles

Thanks. Will see what i can come up with.


Chris

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1985 300D, 250k
1980 300SD, 180K