On our way home from a week’s holiday, on a long sweeping left-hander on a B road, an off-road vehicle coming the other way decided they liked our side of the road better than theirs. The result was a smashed driver’s door mirror housing for me, while they probably got away with a scuff on their external rollcage.

I’ve seen quite a few people commenting on forums about similar incidents, so I thought I’d take you through replacing a Fiat Ducato door mirror – it can be a useful motorhome maintenance task to know.

If you enjoy carrying out DIY on your ‘van, don’t miss our guide to the essential items to have in your motorhome tool kit too.

Begin with the blinds

First of all, open the driver’s window, and if you have Remis blinds fitted, remove the ‘Remis’ cap at the top and the self-tapping screw from behind it. You can now pull the blind housing away from the door; the front edge is held with plastic clips.

If you don’t have Remis blinds, remove the plastic trim from around the quarterlight, again held with plastic clips, by pulling it away.

Prise out the mirror control panel from the door armrest by using a plastic trim tool under its rear edge. Under it, you will find the mirror wiring. Now disconnect the two plugs.

Next, unscrew the mirror fixings (four Torx 40 heads). Note that the mirror won’t fall off because the upper fixing boss has a hook on it.

Carefully close the door, making sure that the mirror doesn’t foul on the trim in front of it, and you can now lift the mirror away from the door and pull out the wiring.

Now feed the wiring for the new mirror into the door and through the hole into the armrest (a stiff piece of wire taped to the wiring will help locate the holes), then hook the mirror into position.

Open the door carefully and, making sure the Neoprene gasket is correctly situated, refit the four Torx screws and tighten.

Plug in the wiring and test all of the functions, including ensuring that the temperature sensor is reading correctly on the instrument panel.

Assuming everything is good, refit the control panel and the Remis blind or quarterlight trim.

It is also worth mentioning here that many after-market mirror units have the wrong indicator repeater bulb fitted, which will put a fault light on the instrument panel. They can have a 5W bulb fitted, when it should be a 16W.

The correct bulbs are readily available online for a couple of quid and they are easy to change. The repeater housing is held by two small screws; you just remove these, pull out the housing, twist out the bulb holder and swap the bulb, then refit. You’ve now successfully completed the process of replacing a Fiat Ducato mirror!

I recently considered the pros and cons of lithium batteries too – they’re becoming increasingly popular, so I took a look at whether it’s time to make the switch.

Future Publishing Limited, the publisher of Practical Motorhome, provides the information in this article in good faith and makes no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. Individuals carrying out the instructions do so at their own risk and must exercise their independent judgement in determining the appropriateness of the advice to their circumstances. Individuals should take appropriate safety precautions and be aware of the risk of electrocution when dealing with electrical products. To the fullest extent permitted by law, neither Future nor its employees or agents shall have any liability in connection with the use of this information. Double check any warranty is not affected before proceeding.

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