well I was driving on rt 1 today and my sunroof made a horrific grinding noise as I slowed to 40 and the visor was going back up. So I say no big deal maybe it was a freak thing. Then on the rest of the way home I notice the air visor is in the down position even over 60. Then it gets worse, I get home and the roof does not close. I got it to close by holding down the visor. Slow and noisey at best. I have to say this is the first warranty issue I have had in 28000 miles. I made a call to my buddie at toyota and had him order a motor and track assy. Anyone have this porblem?

Somewhat similar issue. My sunroof would make a noise like gears grinding when closing so I took it in for service. They said they greased the area and put felt to make it smoother. When I picked it up the motor struggled to close so I kept opening and closing it and finally it just wouldn't close any longer. They had to replace the motor and its been working better since, but still has somewhat of a grinding noise when closing. I've got a 100K warranty, so I'll make them replace it however many times it takes to get it right.

July

Aron, I had the same thing happen to me around a year ago (truck only had 8,400 miles at the time). I was drivining down Route 34 and heard this loud bang that scared the heck out of me. I knew it came from somwhere from the sunroof, so I looked up and the wind deflector was just flapping around. When I came to my destination, the sunroof wouldn't budge. I ended up holding the wind deflector down with one hand and pushing the switch with the other to close it.

Here is what they replaced on mine:

63203-35040 Housing sub-assy, sl
63205-35030 Cable sub-assy, tilt
90467-12080 Clip
90467-10161 Clip
90468-04157 Clip
90159-50336 Screw, w/washer

You are lucky this happened before the warranty went up. It took over 6 hours of labor.

ya I hear ya, made the call to the guys at Toyota
Parts are ordered, good to have friends...............

They have almost $1800 in parts ordered for mine. It grinded when I opened it and then wouldn't shut without tugging on it. After about 20 minutes I got it to close. This is the second time it happened the first time the other dealer said it was off track. Oh well.. I am getting the sulfer smell TSB fixed too...

What dealer are you getting this done at because I see you are from New Jersey?

Lawrenceville Toyota......

I should never have this problem since I will never open my sunroof. Hope whoever buys mine used doesn't end up with a problem

Yea it sucks but at least it wasn't raining that day and I don't have to pay a dime....... part of the reason I am getting the extended warranty today.

Literally just got my truck out of the shop for the same thing. Sunroof made a loud CRACK last weekend and then struggled severely to open or close. Took my dealer about 4 days to fix the damn thing because they kept putting me off. "Oh, sorry, we couldn't get to it today, we were really busy". Freaking Bastards!!

But, on the positive side, I did get to drive around in a 2005 Avalon. Pretty nice car and I put over 400 miles on the thing during the course of the 3 days I had the car. Take that Mr. Dealer :-) Stupid, I know, but still....

Also had the sulfur TSB done while I was there... that has created a few other problems...

OH! By the way... I paid ZERO for the parts, labor, and car rental. So, not really a bad deal.

I drive on rt one all the time to go to work and most of the time my sunroof is opened all the way. A few times while driving with the sunroof open on rt one i would hear the sunroof motor tryin to work. I was really quick noise. But i just thought it was interfecence from all those power lines along rt one.
Well sunday went out and i drove about 30 minutes with the sunroof open. I parked tried to closed the sunroof but it seemed stuck.
It was tryin to close from the right side but the left was stuck on something. Later on i got it to close by holding the front visor down but It made a grinding noise while closing.
i was afraid to open it back up but tried it anyways and it grinded.
Its now workiing again but i can tell its not as smooth as before. Its not makin any noise opening/closing but when opening/closing it doesnt close evenly. I can see the right side closes first and then the left side follows.

I will have to make an appt at the dealer.

Have you checked the sunroof channels for leaves, a stick, bug, etc. Any of these things will get sucked into the sunroof opening and could get lodged in the channel. When it comes time to close that obstacle is causing the grinding noise. Just my $.02.

So many people with sunroof problems! Makes me wish I'd sprung for the additional warranty period!

i noticed that almost everyone with the sunroof problems drive an 04 model. i hope this isn't common to the 03's because my warranty is up in about 3k miles! but then the aftermarket parts begins....