stuck sunroof

[tobenisstinky]

I just had something similar happen to me yesterday and after spending the night searching various forums, I found lots of mention of stripped teeth and hundreds if not thousands to fix. My sunroof would move a little back and forth, but would not close.
First, I found that the pins on the ends of the air deflector arms had come out but could easily be replaced by pushing the air deflector down which pulls the arms slightly forward. My sunroof would then close half way. Hmmm...progress...so in my case it did not seem to be stripped teeth. I remembered reading on another post that holding down the "tilt" button for 15 seconds would release the motor and allow one to close the sunroof manually. This did not work for me. Maybe 3rd gen?
I looked in my owners manual to see if it said anything about a reset procedure, and found this tidbit of information: To normalize the moon roof - push and hold the switch on the "Tilt Up" side until the moon roof tilts all the way up and then tilts down a little automatically. BTW, its under moon roof in the index, not sunroof.
This apparently can occur if the battery is disconnected; run down or the jam protection has been activated even once, and the vehicle has been turned off since.
The first time I tried this it didn't work, so I disconnected my battery for about 10 minutes, reconnected, and tried again. It worked! my sunroof now works perfectly again. Hope this helps someone else.

 

[Ruffian]

This is great thanks! Via one of my friends who is a Toyota master tech., he knew what plastic part was causing the rattle, and he just pulled it off and stuffed some felt in. That stopped the rattle. But now when the window is about to slide all the way closed, it makes another odd sound. So I'll be going back to visit my friend again!

 

[Scoobs]

How many of the people with sunroof problems ever looked at the sunroof mechanism before it started causing problems? I'd guess Zero ( 0 ). If it moves it needs lubrication... more than once every 3-4 years when it doesn't open or shut one day when you push the button.

 

[toto]

The TSB is # BO016-06.

It's posted in this thread. The link in the original post is broken, but the PDF file is there in reply # 14 on the first page.

 

[BillZ260]

Have had BOTH issues on this thread, both have been resolved with about an hours effort total.

Issue #1 - The rattle. I dealt with this for about 5000 miles untill I had a day I could focus on it. Pulled everything appart only to find that the rattle was one of the guide tubes buzzing against the tracks. A bit of grease stopped it! Keep stuff lubed.

Issue #2 - The stuck. Happened to day, found the thread below on Tundra Solutions. I did the 'manual' mode where you hold the close option for 15 seconds, worked the roof back and forth several times and it eventually started closing more and more. Was able to get it closed after about 1 minute of back and forth movment. I held the close option after the roof was closed and it clicked again. I think this re-set the misalignment because it now opens and closes just fine.

I plan on putting some sound deadener in the roof panell, when I do I'll pull this sub-assy, clean and inspect and re-lube.

http://www.tundrasolutions.com/forums/4runner/98856-2005-4runner-sunroof-jamed-open-2/

 

[Frown]

I have an 06 Sport, I have been the proud owner for 3 months now. One of the first things I did when I got the vehicle home was grease the sliders and anything else I could get my hands on pertaining the the sunroof. It was a day or 2 later that I came across this site and joined. I rad a TSB somehwere that one of the reasons for the sunroof problems was the grease was drying up. So I guess I was lucky. Before you try to manually close it, grease your sliders.

 

[r32]

Some help perhaps here on fixing:

PDF's from Service Manual - Moon Roof

 

[r32]

^ I included a TSB that specifically addresses the issue of 'stuck/improper operation' of the moon roof. It also shows exactly where/how to apply grease, etc.

 

[G.I.G.]

^ I included a TSB that specifically addresses the issue of 'stuck/improper operation' of the moon roof. It also shows exactly where/how to apply grease, etc.

Do you know (or anyone know) what kind of grease to use? I read the TSB and it just refers to the grease as part of the repair kit. I'd like to be able to lube my rails/sliders myself without having to pull the whole sunroof apart per the TSB.

 

[r32]

I have no idea what kind of grease, but you can probably just order it from the dealership. Call them up and ask. Let us know what you find out.

 

[Bdor67]

Victory!

I had searched all the forums, looked in shop manuals, was getting ready to get crazy and start taking my moonroof that was stuck in the open tilt position when I ran across a reset sequence that fixed my problem!!! Hold the open sunroof button for 15 seconds followed by the close sunroof for 15 seconds the tilt open for 15 seconds the tilt close for 15 seconds then tried closing the sunroof and BINGO!!!!

It's a factory reset

1998 SR5

 

[bpowa]

hold the sunroof button close for 20 seconds and it will close.

 

[br2355]

Sunroof stuck open on 04 Sport

I read that if you hold the button down in the vent open position for 15 seconds, it will close.

THIS ACTUALLY WORKS!

Be sure to push the button toward the vent position. I pushed it the other way at first and nothing happened. Bummed.

But then I realized I had been pushing the slide open side of the toggle.

I never write on these forums but I am so bloody pleased right now!!

BTW, the vent still works but I won't be trying the slide anymore..

 

[amheck]

Will the dealer perform the TSB if you ask?

 

[4D7]

Just documenting my fix for closing a jammed moon roof on these 4th gens.

If you have the following problem try this fix

• Clicking after fully sliding back
• One side is jammed and won't close
• The 10-20 second reset doesn't close it

What worked for me

1. Remove the overhead console
2. Remove the 2 10mm bolts holding in the moon roof motor
3. Pull out the motor
4. Hold motor back in-place without bolting it in
5. Keep pressing the tilt-up button (leave all the cables connected) until it closes

This works by allowing the gear mechanism to operate the cable attached to the jammed side of the moon roof, while allowing the teeth to skip on the side that has no more travel (due to being in its proper position).

Hope this helps someone get their roof closed in the future without having to go to a dealership. The underlying cause of the jam could be a number of things, and will probably happen again. Unless you want to do this procedure a second time, I wouldn't press your luck on fully opening it again - just be happy with the tilt function

 

[RichardH]

How do you remove the motor?

I just bought the 2000 model. After opening the sunroof yesterday, it got stuck. I tried the reset, but it didn't work. Now I am trying to manually close the roof. How do you remove the motor assembly? I took out three screws and two bolts, but I still can't pull it out.

 

[SCHUNTER1969]

Moon roof fix

Ok so I went to a local pull a part and got a new sunroof motor. I bench tested it before installing it and it worked great. Installed the new motor and still nothing...

So I started doing some more digging. With the motor taken off the sunroof should move freely. Well mine would not at all! Now when you take your motor off you can see where the motor gear goes into a little box where you can see two cables. I disassembled the box and found 4 copper tubing's, 2 on each side. There is a cable for the left track and a cable for the right track. You can pull on the cable and they will come out, the excess cable goes into one copper tubing while the other end goes to the track (hard to explain you would just have to see it.). I took some pliers and tried moving a cable manually and my left side of the sunroof moved, but the right side was locked up. I saw the cables were looking in rough shape so I decided what the heck I will tear this thing out and restore it.

1)So to do that i had to drop my liner (needed cleaning anyways).

2)Inside your 4runner looking up at the sunroof there is a plastic piece on each side of the sunroof, not front and back but left and right. I took a small knife and popped these off. This gives you access to the 4 bolts that have the actual window secured to the sunroof rail. Take the nuts off and push your window up off to the side. Move the window out of the way in a secure spot.

3)You will see 4 clear rubber tubes connected to your rail system. Take those off.

4)For the map light over the passenger seats there is a wire is held up by two clips on the sunroof rail, pull the clip down carefully and work the wire out of both clips.

5)Now you can drop your sunroof railing system. It would help if you had an extra person helping you because the rail system itself is bigger than what you think. There are several bolts all around the sunroof, take your time and be careful.

6)Put on a table preferably waist high. I took pictures of everything to remember how to re-assemble. Be careful there are A LOT OF PLASTIC PIECES and other pieces that can break! Slowly take the entire thing apart, mark what pieces go were and track everything.

7)I got to the last bit and found that one cable was completely seized. I had to soak it in WD40 for a day, can back and after a lot of cursing, banging, and swearing I got the cable to come out of the copper tube.

Now the cable is a steel cable with a spring like coil around it (that is what the gear in the motor grips) and then there is a plastic coating.

On my cables the plastic coating was gone or getting there. I think the shredding plastic coating caused the cables to jam. Because the plastic was still coming off I decided to removed all the plastic off the cable. To replace the cable is $130 a piece, which is crazy. I think the plastic coating is to prevent rust.

Once I got the cables cleaned of the plastic coating I soaked in WD-40 for another day, then came back with a steel brush and cleaned these things until they shined. And then I soaked them with White Lithium Grease.

8)Clean all the parts, coat everything in White Lithium Grease, re-assemble.

The big thing with a sunroof is maintenance. It is good practice to clean your drains regularly, especially if you go muddin' like I do! Retract the sunroof (exposing the rails) and spray white lithium grease on every part of the sunroof mechanism.

I know this sounds like a lot of work. I don't care what people say on here I like my sunroof and use it for . This was a bigger project that what I expected going into it but when your sunroof is stuck open, you have to do what you got to do.

 

[Jan777]

Ok so I went to a local pull a part and got a new sunroof motor. I bench tested it before installing it and it worked great. Installed the new motor and still nothing...

So I started doing some more digging. With the motor taken off the sunroof should move freely. Well mine would not at all! Now when you take your motor off you can see where the motor gear goes into a little box where you can see two cables. I disassembled the box and found 4 copper tubing's, 2 on each side. There is a cable for the left track and a cable for the right track. You can pull on the cable and they will come out, the excess cable goes into one copper tubing while the other end goes to the track (hard to explain you would just have to see it.). I took some pliers and tried moving a cable manually and my left side of the sunroof moved, but the right side was locked up. I saw the cables were looking in rough shape so I decided what the heck I will tear this thing out and restore it.

1)So to do that i had to drop my liner (needed cleaning anyways).

2)Inside your 4runner looking up at the sunroof there is a plastic piece on each side of the sunroof, not front and back but left and right. I took a small knife and popped these off. This gives you access to the 4 bolts that have the actual window secured to the sunroof rail. Take the nuts off and push your window up off to the side. Move the window out of the way in a secure spot.

3)You will see 4 clear rubber tubes connected to your rail system. Take those off.

4)For the map light over the passenger seats there is a wire is held up by two clips on the sunroof rail, pull the clip down carefully and work the wire out of both clips.

5)Now you can drop your sunroof railing system. It would help if you had an extra person helping you because the rail system itself is bigger than what you think. There are several bolts all around the sunroof, take your time and be careful.

6)Put on a table preferably waist high. I took pictures of everything to remember how to re-assemble. Be careful there are A LOT OF PLASTIC PIECES and other pieces that can break! Slowly take the entire thing apart, mark what pieces go were and track everything.

7)I got to the last bit and found that one cable was completely seized. I had to soak it in WD40 for a day, can back and after a lot of cursing, banging, and swearing I got the cable to come out of the copper tube.

Now the cable is a steel cable with a spring like coil around it (that is what the gear in the motor grips) and then there is a plastic coating.

On my cables the plastic coating was gone or getting there. I think the shredding plastic coating caused the cables to jam. Because the plastic was still coming off I decided to removed all the plastic off the cable. To replace the cable is $130 a piece, which is crazy. I think the plastic coating is to prevent rust.

Once I got the cables cleaned of the plastic coating I soaked in WD-40 for another day, then came back with a steel brush and cleaned these things until they shined. And then I soaked them with White Lithium Grease.

8)Clean all the parts, coat everything in White Lithium Grease, re-assemble.

The big thing with a sunroof is maintenance. It is good practice to clean your drains regularly, especially if you go muddin' like I do! Retract the sunroof (exposing the rails) and spray white lithium grease on every part of the sunroof mechanism.

I know this sounds like a lot of work. I don't care what people say on here I like my sunroof and use it for . This was a bigger project that what I expected going into it but when your sunroof is stuck open, you have to do what you got to do.

Do you have any pics? I need to take my sunroof rails and motor apart to see where it blocks when I open it all the way to the back. Would be helpful to see on pics how it is constructed.

 

[oesterj1195]

Thank you

Tried the tilt up for 15 seconds and it worked! Sunroof stuck open and it was starting to rain! This forum saved me time and money.

 

[JeratBP]

Looks like it's my turn to try the reset and/or pull the motor and check the rails.

Today, when arriving at home (had the sunroof tilted open), I went to close it. No response. Started messing with the Tilt/Open button back and forth till it eventually closed completely.

Dealer wanted $83 for the kit, but I found it on ToyotaPartsZone for $54
Part# 63207-35040