Sunroof Repair - Just in Time for Summer
06/06/2024
Sunroof.mp4FINALLY....A functioning, and more importantly fully closed, sunroof.
This jobs didn't come without some heartburn but fortunately, I didn't do any of the work.
This was not a task I was willing to take on in my garage. I wasn't able to find any decent diagrams or manuals on the teardown and I didn't want to get into a situation where I elbow deep in the project and missing parts or couldn't get it all back together. I met a tech at the local Toyota dealership and he said he replaced THREE different 3rd gen sunroofs. Initial cost was $500ish for a full new housing and reusing what parts he could. Feeling that was well worth it for me not to deal with it, I dropped it off.
Unfortunately things went down hill after that.Â
The cables we were going to reuse were so corroded they broke off in copper tubes, and they are really expensive. $250 a piece and I needed two! Not to mention sever bolts needing to be drilled out and a few broken trim pieces, including some that are not longer manufactured.
In total they had the 4Runner for about 3 weeks between waiting on parts and install. I'm actually glad I didn't do this myself because it easily could have been significantly longer without all the resources the dealer has at their fingers. The repair cost hurts but at least it works. It feels good knowing the last non functioning item now works. Plus, I can already tell a huge difference in cooldown time inside the car when I have the vent open and in these Texas summers, that's worth any cost.
Also, since I've been using it more I see the need for the sunroof to be tinted, something I left out when doing the window tint. I purchased a pre-cut, ceramic, 35% tint to put on. Hopefully that makes a big difference as well.
More to come....