I need to take apart the Apex 127 to get at the primary mirror ...

Probably lubricant out-gassing which can collect than drip. Your choices are to contact Celestron service or do it yourself. DON"T PANIC! It is not that hard if you are brave.
1. Use a piece of masking tape on the corrector to the side of the housing.slice it carefully where they meet. This will insure correct alignment with the primary when you put it back together. (Correctors are sorted then oriented to,(as the name says) correct the primary.
2. Remove the corrector plate. Mark any shim locations with a marker on the outside of the corrector plate (remove after re-installation)
3. Make a solution of 50% distilled water and 50% isopropyl alcohol. (97% pure or better- I use 99% pure alcohol) 1 drop of dish detergent may need to be added,depends on the stain.
4. Rinse the secondary until grease is gone. Do not rub mixture on mirror, just keep rinsing.
5. Rinse with pure distilled water,gently stand corrector up to dry.
6. Assemble the scope. Use the same water/alcohol mixture to clean up the outside of the corrector. Dampen cotton balls and wipe with VERY light pressure.Wipe once, throw the cotton ball out and use a fresh one. Do not make the cotton balls too wet, you don't want moisture to get under the corrector.
7. If the stain is really tough, acetone may be used without damage to the mirror surface.
8. Use surgical gloves to avoid fingerprints.
9. Lots of towels at work area in case the corrector slips out of your grip.
10. If you put it together correctly, minimum collimation will be required.
There have been a number of these problems cropping up lately, I think Synta is using inferior grease now.If you are really brave, clean the old grease
off and add one drop of lithium grease. Run the primary through focus range a few times to distribute.
If you do this, you can later flock the inside of your scope to increase contrast.

The mirrors on your car and a 2008 or newer focus are not interchangeable. If you really want larger mirrors you can buy ******** towing mirrors at a part store. However these don't look very good and will need to be removed when you go through a carwash. There are many types of blind spot mirrors available that stick onto your mirror glass that may help you see better. Go to a local parts store and see if there's something you like.

The bit of information I can find on this model tells me this scope is probably a Newtonian reflector Telescope.

The following is the most basic steps I can think of to get you in the driver's seat.. by doing a few simple internet searches in regards to astronomy.. you should be able to greatly expand on my few simple tips.

The primary mirror is at the bottom.. the heavy end.. of the tube... if you can see screws holding it in place... resist the urge to "tighten them up".. doing so will probably misalign the mirror.

You should have a small finder scope mounted on the side

Near the finder scope will be the eyepiece/holder with focuser.. all this should be closer to the skyward end of the scope than the earth end of the scope.. so to speak.

As you peer into the eyepiece you are basically looking at a right angle to the primary mirror into a smaller secondary mirror which in turn is reflecting the image of the primary (bottom) mirror. By adding various eyepieces with different magnification factors you are enlarging that image.

Most folks don't realize how bad a typical looking glass mirror is..but if you look really close at the old bathroom mirror.. you will see how much the glass distorts the image reflected on the silver coating.

Which is why your telescopes mirror has a top coating of silver on the glass.. not behind the glass..

To get started..

I suggest doing all of the following things during daylight hours or near dusk on a clear nite so you can see what you are doing.. to get familiar with the scope.

Using the lowest powered eyepiece you have.. once inserted into the focuser .. aim the telescope at an object a few hundred yards away and attempt to focus..

Remember that everything will be upside down.. looking at the moon, planets and stars..it won't really matter.

Once you have managed to point and focus easily.. you can align your finder scope.. again.. using a fixed terrestrial target

Aim the scope at this object.. the further away the object is.. the better.. get the object as close to center as possible.. slightly increase the magnification if you have a stronger eyepiece.. if not.. proceed.

Fix the scopes position by tightening any set screws on the mount.

Check the position of the spotted object again ..make adjustments until you have the object centered.

Look through the finder scope.. adjust the mount screws until the object is centered in the crosshairs..

Check all settings.. your done.

Start out looking at the brightest objects in the nite sky using the lowest magnification..

Once you become familiar with how to find/spot and focus on simple bright objects.. like the moon and perhaps Jupiter... you can read various articles at websites such as Sky and Telescope to learn how to properly align your scope with the polar (north) star.. of course this depends on the type of mount.. and drive if any... Or simply enjoy point and look backyard astronomy.. some of my most fun star gazing has been using bincoulars.. a star chart.. and a lounge chair.

Remember to keep it simple at first.. be ready to dress warm.. and take your time.. your eyes will need almost 30 minutes to really adjust to nite vision..in this cooler weather it helps to let the scope cool down for a while outside (covered) to keep things aligned properly.. of course the darker it is the better the view..

Even inexpensive scopes can give a lot of satisfaction to a point... especially if it's your first..

Good luck!

Washoe

Steward, this is Joe Lalumia-- I have seen your post on various forums. The 14 inch is different from the other smaller LX200 scopes.

Probably Dr. Clay, and or Andrew on the Yahoo Group LX200 forum will know the answer because they service these scopes.

Post a message there (register for free) and one of them will answer you about that very nice scope.

Clear Skies!

Joe

This is called mirror flop. All SCT type telescopes have this.

TRY turning the focuser all the way in and all the way out 3 or 4 times to spread the grease out on the baffle tube. This sometimes helps with mirror flop.

If your scope looks like the picture, this is called a reflector.

Light enters the front of the tube (the end where the focuser is attached on the side) -- then travels down the tube to the mirror on the bottom, then bounces back up to the smaller secondary mirror located underneath the hole in the focuser.

THE END with the focuser is on the UP end -- the end with the big primary mirror is on the BOTTOM.

You may have mounted the scope upside down with the focuser end pointed at the GROUND instead of the sky.

If this is a reflector telescope, did the small secondary mirror located beneath the focuser hole fall out?

This mirror sends the light from the main primary mirror out through the focuser. Watch this video to get an idea of how this works and how to replace it.

http://www.andysshotglass.com/Collimating.html

The focuser has probably come loose from the "rod" on the mirror.

Here is the focuser disassemble instructions:
http://www.petealbrecht.com/Installing%20Digifocus.pdf

and this shows how to disassemble the main tube-
http://www.astromart.com/articles/article.asp?article_id=594

Hi starHome: Looks like someone will have to remove the corrector plate and the rear cell to get to the focus bar on the primary mirror.once apart, then we will have more information to work with.
SHT55

The C8 optical tube has a very large focal range. It should be capable of focusing on objects from 15' to infinity. To focus on object at infinity you have to move the primary mirror foward. You do this by rotating the focus knob CCW. Rotate the knob CCW until it comes toa stop them slowly bring the mirror back by rotating the knob CW while viewing the object. It will snap to focus so don't move too fast yor you'll miss it.