Hi Everyone,

I have got a 2002 MK5 Fiesta which i got recently, its been a great car so car but there are a couple of things that need doing. The previous owner of the car had the drivers side wing mirror replaced at some point in the past (not sure how the old one got damaged) but the new one which is a primed colour replacement was fitted by someone who did a bodged job of it by the look of it, the middle of it where it clips into the black plate thats on the door have seemed to of snapped on so it does not clip on much but it is still secure but if you put your hand on it you can move it very slightly, luckily i have got a brand new one on the way though but the first question i wanted to ask is how can i safely remove the old mirror & fit the new one on properly? I know that there are 3 screws after you take off the black plate thats on the car next to the mirror & i have up that there is another screw just undernear the panel on the door? How can i safely take off the door panel?

While there is this issue with the drivers mirror, at the same time the tweeter & the lower speaker on the drivers side of the car do not appear to work properly either (tweeter works only a little bit if i change the balance on the radio so all the sound comes from the right). I have a slight feeling that this is linked to the mirror problem as well as i have read up that one of the speaker wires travels near the screw in the door for the mirror? If the tweeter does not work properly could this be connection related as the lower speaker does not worth either? Is there any checks i can do to try and troubleshoot these problems with the speakers?

Lastly i noticed today when using my front wipers the drivers side wiper works fine but when you stop using it and it goes down to the bay sometimes it stops 2 centre metres before its supposed to get to the end? This only happens if the wind screen is totally dry after using the washer & then the blades work and then the screen quickly dries when driving, i only noticed this earlier when i accidentally flicked the wipers on while driving. Or could this just be a case of the windscreen because its dry & the wiper is not needed?

Sorry if i have gone on a bit i am not brilliant with cars lol but i have tried to be a descriptive as much as i can,

I will be looking forward to all of your replies guys!

Thanks all - Liam

for the wing mirror.... my  mother used to have the same car, and had the same problem with her mirror... the problem is that theyre made to snap back / unlock if theyre hit... the idea being that the mirror folds in against the car instead of being snapped off... the problem is the clips that do this are gash and always break

to remove the old morror... you take off the plastic panel on the inside of the car, its just a small one... the one that the knob for adjusting the mirror sticks through... this should pop off (iirc) and then theres about 3 screws you need to take out

if you havent had much experience working on things like this... Id get someone to give you a hand... its not hard to do, but its a bit fiddly and an extra pair of hands to hold it while you fasten it in will be a big help

Quote from: knightyfor the wing mirror.... my  mother used to have the same car, and had the same problem with her mirror... the problem is that theyre made to snap back / unlock if theyre hit... the idea being that the mirror folds in against the car instead of being snapped off... the problem is the clips that do this are gash and always break

to remove the old morror... you take off the plastic panel on the inside of the car, its just a small one... the one that the knob for adjusting the mirror sticks through... this should pop off (iirc) and then theres about 3 screws you need to take out

if you havent had much experience working on things like this... Id get someone to give you a hand... its not hard to do, but its a bit fiddly and an extra pair of hands to hold it while you fasten it in will be a big help

Spot on there Knighty! What about the suspected screw thats just under the door panel as i have read? Also does the black plastic panel in the car just come off as if its clipped to the main door itself or is there a screw in there too?

Any ideas about the wiper problem & speaker too? Or could the wiper problem just be a case that the generic wiper blades are just plain crap? Maybe the best time to upgrade to these Aero Flat type blades?

Thanks - Liam

the wiper is nothing to worry about

do a continuity test on the speakers from the ISO plug back to the speaker terminals - the wiring - or the crossover could be at fault

Of course, it could also be a dodgy amplifier.

Quote from: Liam[pot on there Knighty! What about the suspected screw thats just under the door panel as i have read? Also does the black plastic panel in the car just come off as if its clipped to the main door itself or is there a screw in there too?

Im not sure about that screw... it was a long time ago i changed the one on my mothers car.... i think the plastic bit just clips off.... best bet is just to wabble it about it a bit and see which way it wants to move the most... then keep pushing it that way... and leaver it with a screwdriver a bit

we should have a maunal for it somewhere... Ill see if i can scan a page with an exploded diagram for you

Quote from: knightyIm not sure about that screw...

Isnt that a first for you?

Quote from: Serious

Quote from: knightyIm not sure about that screw...

Isnt that a first for you?

LOL...

QuoteIm not sure about that screw... it was a long time ago i changed the one on my mothers car.... i think the plastic bit just clips off.... best bet is just to wabble it about it a bit and see which way it wants to move the most... then keep pushing it that way... and leaver it with a screwdriver a bit  

we should have a maunal for it somewhere... Ill see if i can scan a page with an exploded diagram for you

Knighty, it would be a great help if you could post up the diagram from the manual if you can find it?

Thank a lot guys - Liam

I dont know what it is with me and cars lol, recently while driving in the dark on my way back home from work, each time im behind another ive noticed that upon close inspection one of the headlights seem a bit dimmer than the other one   and also on the one thats dimmer the light looks slightly projected lower as there is a line where you can see the light, as hard as i am trying to describe it, here is a pic of what i mean & you will be able to notice it as the headlight on the right hand side does not shine as much as it does on the left. Look closely, what could it be?? bulb not fitted properly or possible the headlight??



Liam

There is a dip pattern - the lights will be dipped to the left on dipped beam

Also - dont drive with your front fog lights on, it makes you look like a spide.

if one is actually dimmer, first change the bulbs round and see if the issue moves

otherwise its the reflector in the lamp

lol i dont drive with my fog lights on, i was only testing them when i took this photo to look at the issue with the headlight,

Mark, i can see what you mean about the dipped beam and you can tell it is dipped slightly down than the other lamp (Just did a google search) when your parked in front of wall for instance, next time i leave work next week i will take another photo so you can see what i meant by when i explained about the "straight line of light" on the slightly dipped headlight. Maybe its not an issue then?

Liam

http://www.dvtani.gov.uk/vehicletesting/viewstage2.asp#Headlamp Alignment

Quick update,

As Mark said i think that the light is slightly out of allignment, all the bubls on the headlights work fine and i am sure that non of them are defective in anyway, so now i need to try and allign the headlights properly. Ive tried looking in the Ford manual i got with the car but it only mentions of how to replace bulbs & the headlight itself. Anyone know how i can safely adjust to allign the headlight?

EDIT - Just done a close inspection of the 2 headlamps & noticed that the right one looks like a slightly different build than the left one, particulary in the middle where the main beam holder is if you look closely. There is different writing /seriel numbers on each of the lamps.  Maybe the one on the right is a crap version of the original & explains why it is not as bright as te left one? Anyway here are the pics;






Thanks - Liam

youll need to go and get it done properly somewhere that has one of these - it takes about 5 minutes

Here is one in use on one of my BXs

Well after close inspection iv noticed that the drivers headlamp is made by a company called "Lucas" & the passenger one just looks generic as there is no company name on it at all.

Update - Right here is a quick photo of what i mean by all of this, sorry that its a bit crap but i had to be quick taking it last night, where the red circle on the right is, is the correct headlamp & correct alignment. The left red circle corrosponds to where the headlamp on the passengers side projects onto the wall, you couldnt see it because i was parked too close the wall & not far enough back to see it lol but i got out of the car to look & where the light projects is exactly in that circle anyway. Also the yellow streak on the photo corrosponds to where there is this bright line of light as well if the car was back enough & it shouldnt be there. Could it just be a simple case that the bad headlight is not aligned properly? Btw the surface i was parked on was flat & is properly level.



Thanks - Liam