Advice for removing the power side view mirror (not the mirror housing) of a '93 240:

My mirror exterior housing is identical to that of the manual mirror of later model 240s and some later Volvos - including the hole in the bottom of the mirror housing which I later concluded served as a drain only on my power mirror. Unlike the manual mirror, my '93 mirrors have NO toothed area inside the mirror housing and above the hole. Youtube's "Robert DIY" shows this in his excellent video on the removal of a manual mirror. My post concerns the power mirror itself and NOT the black mirror housing.

The mirror is attach by 8 plastic clips integrated into the black mirror backplate. They are in pairs at 10, 2, 4 and 8 and between each pair is a small conical alignment pin also integrated into the backplate. To begin mirror removal, push the mirror in as far as possible so that you can see into the housing behind the mirror. (I used a shim between the mirror and kept the mirror slightly sprung out to improve my access to the backplate. Be gentle.) The clips and pin will be readily visible.

The clips are tedious to remove but since there are 8 clips I decided that I could sacrifice one to get things started in hopes that getting one pair loose would ease things a bit so that the other clips would be more cooperative if I created some play in the mirror. I was right. I used a "side cutter diagonal wire cutting nipper" to nip off the nearest clip. After that I carefully rocked and as gently as possible (so as not to damage the motor components) pulled on the mirror as I nudged one or two more of the clips with my small flat blade screw driver. Finally all the clips popped loose. This took some patience so go easy. Hold on to the mirror securely and remember that the mirror heating wires are connected with simple flat pin terminals that you'll need to disconnect. In my car there was plenty of wire length so this was easy, however they were on tight so again use care in removing.

To replace the mirror in its housing simply position the alignment pins then then push the mirror back in place until you all clips "click" and the mirror is secure. (Don't forget to re-attach the heater wires first!) This whole process is a big pain but doable.

In my case I was intending to remove the faded mirror housings so that I could paint them body color on the bench. After removing one mirror and finding that there were no easily removable connectors (or maybe no connectors) inside the mirror housing that would allow me to remove the housing, I simply decided to pain the mirror housing while still attached to the car door. With some careful masking I accomplished the painting quite easily and with good results.