my sunroof wont close

[OutHouse]

Gah! i swear its the year to nickle and dime me to death in auto repairs, if its not one thing its another. Yesterday i opened my sunroof and i heard a strange sound. I tried to close it and it would get about 95% closed and click then open back up. damn it. so i mess with it and get it 99.99% closed but the back end is not lifting up to make the seal. double damn it!


So i google sunroof issues for a 04 camry and i guess you can buy kits to fix it. but that entails removing the entire headliner and a whole crap load of other things that i have never done before. i guess ill just have to put a tarp over the sunroof when i am parked so i dont get water damage until I get the balls to tear up my car or find a grand to take it to a shop to fix.


*** update****
I took it to a dealer to get pricing. 2 grand and they didnt even try to close it all the way so i can take the packing tape off.

i then took it to a local shop that a friend said to try, the guy who owns it is a toyota certified mechanic and a real nice guy. he quoted me $1400.00 and is with new OEM parts. he said if could scrounge around in a salvage yard to find the parts then it will bring the cost down a lot but it still probably going to to be about a grand... fuck. he managed to get it closed so it wont leak so im just going to keep it closed. I tried pulling the fuse for the sun/moonroof but the fuse on the schematic that says "sun roof" didnt work. he did try to "reprogram" it like Pacfanweb suggested but that didnt work.

its a big job to replace the parts to the sun/moonroof, about 6 hours for people who know what they are doing. from what i have been reading on the web and gearhead threads it only confirms what he was telling me.

 

[Pacfanweb]

To get it shut, you can remove the sunroof motor, and manually shut it. Not easy, but it's really the only way.

Some sunroofs have an emergency close feature where you can put an allen wrench or screwdriver on the motor and manually make it close.

You have to access the headliner partially either way, usually.

 

[OutHouse]

To get it shut, you can remove the sunroof motor, and manually shut it. Not easy, but it's really the only way.

Some sunroofs have an emergency close feature where you can put an allen wrench or screwdriver on the motor and manually make it close.

You have to access the headliner partially either way, usually.

humm, ill have to check into this, thanks for the info.

sunroofs are nice but my next car will not have one. i rarely use mine and when they break its a royal expensive pain in the ass.

 

[nerp]

Sunroofs are for young girls first "new to me car" because they obsess over that for some reason. Otherwise they are useless and do what they're doing to you. And they'll leak eventually. Most people don't even use or enjoy them after a while. And cutting one into a car without one is a great way to destroy any resale value the car still has left.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Sunroofs are for young girls first "new to me car" because they obsess over that for some reason. Otherwise they are useless and do what they're doing to you. And they'll leak eventually. Most people don't even use or enjoy them after a while. And cutting one into a car without one is a great way to destroy any resale value the car still has left.

Of all the cars I've owned, only two have not had sunroofs, and one of those is a targa top (914). I've never had the tracks or electronics for a sunroof fail, not even the 27-year-old mechanism in my 951. The 15-year-old roof in my Volvo is doing just fine too, though I did recently have to perform an adjustment (10 minutes to raise the rear of the glass slightly and tighten two adjustment bolts that had come loose, no headliner removal necessary).

Yes, after 20+ years the rubber strips may need replacing, but that's true of any rubber seal on a car. I've had to replace door seals and trunk seals from age more often than sunroof seals actually.

Yes, if something goes wrong they're a pain, but the reality is that it's really quite rare.

ZV

 

[Ferzerp]

They take up far too much headroom for something I'm just going to leave covered anyway.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Sunroofs are for young girls first "new to me car" because they obsess over that for some reason. Otherwise they are useless and do what they're doing to you. And they'll leak eventually. Most people don't even use or enjoy them after a while. And cutting one into a car without one is a great way to destroy any resale value the car still has left.

My sunroof in my 02 chevy works great and has never leaked a drop even in torrential downpours. If the next one doesn't have a sunroof it won't be a deal breaker but it is nice to have. Certainly doesn't beat having the T-tops off on my Camaro however.

 

[Ferzerp]

I too have never had a leaky sunroof, but this is nerp, so he's talking Chrysler products

 

[Pacfanweb]

I too have never had a leaky sunroof, but this is nerp, so he's talking Chrysler products

Chrysler has the worst sunroofs in the business, IMO.

Their seals pass the most water, and they have the smallest diameter drain tubes. Bad combo.

 

[CraigRT]

Sunroofs are for young girls first "new to me car" because they obsess over that for some reason. Otherwise they are useless and do what they're doing to you. And they'll leak eventually. Most people don't even use or enjoy them after a while. And cutting one into a car without one is a great way to destroy any resale value the car still has left.

I've always liked them, they are nice for letting in just the right amount of air, and in the spring/fall they are awesome, in my opinion.

I have always had a sunroof high on my list of options. I went to look at a Honda Fit and one of the deal breakers was that it did not have a sunroof.

If they leak, they just have plugged drains most of the time. I have been there, it was plugged drains.

 

[LTC8K6]

My 2008 Jeep has only had clogged drains one time, and I don't hold that against it because we have incredible pollen clouds here, to the point of the pollen looking like a yellow wave washing over your car when you drive off.

 

[nerp]

I too have never had a leaky sunroof, but this is nerp, so he's talking Chrysler products

Heh. I say just get a convertible. I own a Subaru Forester with a sunroof and it leaks when you go through a car wash. My 92 Jetta Wolfsburg edition had a sunroof with a hand crank that broke off and it leaked. I say what I say because of the hundreds of people I've known who have sunroofs, maybe one or two have actually used it more than once or twice when the car was new.

 

[nerp]

Factory sunroof, OK, fine. But people who take a brand new car to get chopped. I just don't get it.

 

[Pacfanweb]

My 2008 Jeep has only had clogged drains one time, and I don't hold that against it because we have incredible pollen clouds here, to the point of the pollen looking like a yellow wave washing over your car when you drive off.

That was kind of my point. Pollen shouldn't clog the drains. Tree debris can and should, but not pollen. But it will on a Chrysler drain.

 

[exar333]

Sunroofs are for young girls first "new to me car" because they obsess over that for some reason. Otherwise they are useless and do what they're doing to you. And they'll leak eventually. Most people don't even use or enjoy them after a while. And cutting one into a car without one is a great way to destroy any resale value the car still has left.

Sorry, but this comment is just plain wrong. Sunroofs are a great option IMHO and make a lot of cars more enjoyable to sit in. Modern sunroofs are extremely reliable and generally have secondary systems to prevent leakage as well. Many cars without them (especially these days with small door windows and high doors) feel very claustrophobic without them. Factory sunroofs are also one of the better options that add to resale value as well.

For those of us who live in colder climates, I love them. You can crack them in the winter and get fresh air without freezing yourself out. I also like the choice to have more sun in the car, or just to close the visor.

I do agree about non-factory sunroofs though. Add at your own risk and it does negatively affect the value of the car. At the worst, it could even be dangerous.

 

[LTC8K6]

That was kind of my point. Pollen shouldn't clog the drains. Tree debris can and should, but not pollen. But it will on a Chrysler drain.

We get so much pollen that you can't tell what color any car is. You can't see out the windshield. Pollen is piled up in all the openings, and piled up on the wiper blades. You leave a massive pollen contrail when you drive off and you leave tracks in the pollen on the roads.

It snows pollen.

 

[Pacfanweb]

We get so much pollen that you can't tell what color any car is. You can't see out the windshield. Pollen is piled up in all the openings, and piled up on the wiper blades. You leave a massive pollen contrail when you drive off and you leave tracks in the pollen on the roads.

It snows pollen.

Yeah, it does that here, too. Doesn't affect the drains of most cars. I love it, though....the trails of pollen the water leaves behind makes leaks easy to find.

 

[LTC8K6]

Yeah, it does that here, too. Doesn't affect the drains of most cars. I love it, though....the trails of pollen the water leaves behind makes leaks easy to find.

One clog in 5 years is fine with me.

 

[Ferzerp]

We get so much pollen that you can't tell what color any car is. You can't see out the windshield. Pollen is piled up in all the openings, and piled up on the wiper blades. You leave a massive pollen contrail when you drive off and you leave tracks in the pollen on the roads.

It snows pollen.

Don't you love the massive green blob using your wipers makes if you've parked outside? Ugh.

 

[BUTCH1]

I use mine in nicer weather, right now in FL it's AC season, I have to admit that at highway speeds it gets rather noisy, I think you can buy a kit that cuts that down however..

 

[LTC8K6]

Don't you love the massive green blob using your wipers makes if you've parked outside? Ugh.

If you don't drive the car, the dew in the morning makes a nice pollen slurry...

 

[TridenT]

Do you guys actually have a sunroof or a moonroof? There is a difference!

I'm a huge fan of moonroofs. I have one in my honda civic and it's awesome. It makes the car feel so much bigger inside. It also lights up the interior hugely during the day (Which is fucking awesome). I'm a big fan of any sunshine and a moonroof maximizes that. I've never had mine leak on me either or any operational problems with it.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Do you guys actually have a sunroof or a moonroof? There is a difference!

I'm a huge fan of moonroofs. I have one in my honda civic and it's awesome. It makes the car feel so much bigger inside. It also lights up the interior hugely during the day (Which is fucking awesome). I'm a big fan of any sunshine and a moonroof maximizes that. I've never had mine leak on me either or any operational problems with it.

LOL

There's no difference, they just use a different name. Sunroof/Moonroof, same thing.

 

[NutBucket]

Sort of. I always think of a moonroof as having a glass panel and sunroof having a steel/solid panel. But its certainly not a hard definition.

 

[TridenT]

Sort of. I always think of a moonroof as having a glass panel and sunroof having a steel/solid panel. But its certainly not a hard definition.

It's actually that. It is a hard definition. Anyone who doesn't adhere to those definitions is just ignorant of them.