sunroof does not work. switch or the motor?

[auburnrunner]

so my sunroof works every now and then, somedays i press the switch and the sunroof goes back like normal and sometimes when i press the switch nothing happens. is the circuit short or something wrong with the motor? my guess is the wiring/circuit because the motor sounds and works fine whenever i can get the sunroof switch to work

 

[NJCatalana]

I'd check the motor first, its an easy check. If the motor works, my guess is that you ran into what I did
the cable that drives the sunroof is housed in a copper tube, and when it came from the factory, all of that was greased. If you or another owner never used it, the grease got all hard and gunky. I'm sure there's a way and a price to fix that, but if not, your just SOL

 

[Brique]

Yeah, mine doesn't work either. When I hit the switch, the motor just jerks and then stops trying. Not sure if it's the motor, the tubes are gunked, or what.

I tried to get at the motor to test it, but if there's a way to really get at it without dropping the headliner, I wasn't able to figure it out, nor find a good write up.

 

[NJCatalana]

Yeah, mine doesn't work either. When I hit the switch, the motor just jerks and then stops trying. Not sure if it's the motor, the tubes are gunked, or what.

I tried to get at the motor to test it, but if there's a way to really get at it without dropping the headliner, I wasn't able to figure it out, nor find a good write up.

this is a write up on how to disable it, but it shows you basically how to take it out. There's the two 10mm bolts on both sides of the motors, and to the left just about an inch under the headliner, there is another. I didn't have to take it completely down- I pulled down that band around the runroof and then reached under and got it, wasn't really that bad at all.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/148512-3rd-gen-toyota-4runner-moonroof-disable-mod.html

 

[Brique]

Cool. What's the best way to get that band off without hurting it? I tugged gently on mine a little bit and it seemed really tight. Don't wanna tear up the band or the headliner trying to figure it out...

 

[AlwaysOffLine]

sunroof does not work

Wish I'd seen your post last year.. it's not that hard at all to get at the sunroof. Dedicate a day for the work. Headliner only takes about an hour to remove. Sunroof assembly then takes another 2 hours to remove and completely disassemble. What almost always happens, is that the grease in the cable tubes dries out and solidifies, jamming the whole thing. You can take it all apart, wire brush the cables clean, then regrease and reassemble the unit.
BE CAREFUL with all the flimsy plastic parts, tho' - !!