Visor on 2003 XK8 Conv

Thanks to Tal and Glynn & Diane Kerr for your help, I will try both recommendations. The velco strip is a great short term solution, but I want a longer term fix and will try and follow Glynn and Dianes process ASAP.

Thanks again,

Doug

Douglas - I wrote this to a fellow member a couple of years ago. It's a lengthy response but hopefully it will be of use. I see the prices have increased 50% since I was last quoted a Jaguar replacement too.

Glynn

_____________________________________________________________________

It's a long time ago I did this on my own XK, so I'm hoping I can remember the ritual now. I tried to get my local Jaguar dealer to make the repair during a regular maintenance service, but the only solution they offered was to replace the visors at $300 a piece. I'm neither that wealthy, nor that stupid, so I decided there was nothing to lose, and tried my hand at a home repair. They have never needed repairing again, so the fix clearly worked.

The reason your mirror cover is flapping down is probably that the spring has come away from its seat. The spring is a simple L-shaped strip of metal against which the visor pivots, holding it in either the open or closed position. Once the spring slips out of its location, there is nothing to keep the cover from swinging open - which is both annoying and potentially dangerous as it can block the driver's view of the road. The solution is pretty simple, although the biggest problem is getting access to the spring.

First, you need to remove the visor, which can simply be pulled off the supporting bar. I believe there is some wiring for the illumination, so I guess there must be a connector to allow the wiring to be disconnected too. Once separated, carefully prise off the visor mirror cover, which pivots on two plastic lugs. It's very easy to snap these off, or to mark the surrounding visor plastic, so I suggest using the widest possible screwdriver (a chisel is better, and preferably more than one at a time) to bend back the surround and pop out one of the lugs. The lugs are pretty long, so you'll need to do quite a lot of prising before they will come clear. With one out, the cover should slide right out from the other lug. If you're unlucky enough to snap off a lug (I got both of my covers out okay first time, but I replaced the springs incorrectly, and had to remove them again - and you've guessed it, snapped off one of the lugs on the second attempt), this can be fixed by filing down the stump of the lug, then drilling a tiny guide-hole in the same place. A sawn-off nail of the same diameter can be knocked into the hole, and serves as a more than adequate replacement.

You will probably find your spring rolling around on the inside. The attached photos show the correct way to remount it. I tried several solutions to reattached it, including superglue and heating the tip of the spring and carefully holding it in place with pliers until the plastic seat melted around it and solidified. If you try the latter, be careful not to overheat the spring as it can melt away the locating point, and you will lose the correct setting. If you follow my next step, I believe that neither of these methods is necessary.

The reason the spring breaks away in the first place is that over time, it become loose in its seat and works free. When I first tried reinstalling the spring, I found it would quickly break loose again, so some form of retention was necessary. As the spring still needs to flex, I found the best method was to cut a small block of polystyrene with a sharp cutter or razor, and, with the cover back in place (more prising with screwdrivers), wedge it firmly behind the spring. This both secures the spring in place, and will stop it falling out again. Then reattach the wiring at slide the visor back into place - and you're done.

I hope I've remembered everything. It has saved me $600, or three years of taped-up covers, so I hope it works for you too.

Good luck!

Glynn.

A small velcro dot works for me on my 97 Coupe. I never use the darn thing anyway and I'm not paying 4 hundo for something that useless!