Joined the seized sunroof club
- Thread starter halbeezy
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Malleus
Far west of Siegen
At most, it's a two hour job to remove the sunroof, regrease the cables and reinstall it. A new glass seal is $40 or near that (I haven't looked in a while) and will last much longer than hope in a can.
nukegoat
Should have bought a Jeep
Nah, flex seal your cruiser
ramangain
Clarksonian disciple
I vote for flex shot
I service the sunroofs on my LC and 4R once a year. Clean the channels and drains and grease the cables. Hate these sunroofs. My new Taco came without a sunroof... Peace of mind.
I wish I didn't have a sunroof. I got sand in the tracks that I think worked its way into the cable. It still works for now, but it's sluggish.
Do you have pictures or tips on what to service and where to lube? What products do you use?
Two hours? You are just removing the glass right and then do your cleaning and lube. Sunroof is the most useless junk that manufacturers added to any vehicle IMO and expensive to repair or replace when it breaks.
Count me in the sunroof haters club. I sealed mine not long after I got my 100. It was leaking where the seal meets the glass. I'm yet to develop a desire to go to effort to replace it.
I've owned 4 vehicles with sunroofs and all have developed leaks at some point. Way more trouble than they're worth, IMO.
I've owned 4 vehicles with sunroofs and all have developed leaks at some point. Way more trouble than they're worth, IMO.
Two hours??? I've never removed a Sunroof from a 100, but I have on my Isuzu Trooper.
On the Isuzu I had to remove the interior side panels and drop the headliner.
BTW, on my Isuzu there was a way to insert an Allen Tool and manually close the Sunroof ... is there a way to do that on our 100's?
BTW, you've made me a little paranoid ... what grease should we use on the Sunroof tracks?
My sunroof hasn't worked since I bought the cruiser 6 years ago and I am happy that I sealed it up.
Nope.
Nope?
So how do you close the Sunroof if the motor, gears, or cables break?
SOL?
So how do you close the Sunroof if the motor, gears, or cables break?
SOL?
Correct, there is NO manual close option on the 100.
When it beaks and the sunroof is open, you get to frantically search Mud for suggestions on how to get the sunroof closed as its starts to rain.
If the motor or gears break, and your cables aren't seized into the guides, then you can probably remove the glass and slide the cables into the closed position by hand and reattach the glass. If the cables break or seize up while it's open, then you'd need to pull the assembly and replace them.
I just did this a few weeks ago: How To: Stuck Sunroof Repair - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/how-to-stuck-sunroof-repair.1263070/post-14039719
I'd say 2 hours is a bit optimistic, although having done it once I could probably have it out again in maybe 3 hours. But, I like to take my time with any interior panels to be sure I'm not breaking clips or scratching anything up.
As for grease, it looked to me like Toyota used white lithium grease on the new cables I ordered, so that's what I used for the tracks as well. If you're servicing the roof in place, I'd slide it open all the way and look down the sides. The cables are spiral wound and at the extreme edges of the track assembly. I'd pay extra attention to the forward end of the tracks where the cables enter the guide tubes. But, if you're already seeing rust on your cables, yes it's probably only a matter of time. The tolerance between the cables, tracks, and guide tubes are pretty tight, even when brand new.
My feelings are maybe opposite of some in this thread, I think the key is to use the roof often, keep those cables sliding so they don't seize in place. Keep the drains clear, and clean any foreign material off of the cables and out of the tracks before it has a chance to work its way deep into the guide tubes where you won't be able to reach it.
I just did this a few weeks ago: How To: Stuck Sunroof Repair - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/how-to-stuck-sunroof-repair.1263070/post-14039719
I'd say 2 hours is a bit optimistic, although having done it once I could probably have it out again in maybe 3 hours. But, I like to take my time with any interior panels to be sure I'm not breaking clips or scratching anything up.
As for grease, it looked to me like Toyota used white lithium grease on the new cables I ordered, so that's what I used for the tracks as well. If you're servicing the roof in place, I'd slide it open all the way and look down the sides. The cables are spiral wound and at the extreme edges of the track assembly. I'd pay extra attention to the forward end of the tracks where the cables enter the guide tubes. But, if you're already seeing rust on your cables, yes it's probably only a matter of time. The tolerance between the cables, tracks, and guide tubes are pretty tight, even when brand new.
My feelings are maybe opposite of some in this thread, I think the key is to use the roof often, keep those cables sliding so they don't seize in place. Keep the drains clear, and clean any foreign material off of the cables and out of the tracks before it has a chance to work its way deep into the guide tubes where you won't be able to reach it.
Ya that's brutal that it stopped working after 21 years of neglect. These sunroofs on these Land Cruisers are useless junk. I don't understand how these things get their reputation for reliability. I had to replace my lower balljoints last year after only 200K miles. I mean, C'mon Toyota. Get your s*** together.
on the 80, which I assume is similar, it is trivial and very fast (minutes) to remove the actual glass, which helps a lot to check things out. However, dealing with the mechanism if it's locked up is a different story. You may or may not be able to move it by hand and then reattach the glass (best scenario if you're lucky). And god forbid if you have to get into the recess where the glass slides in cuz you'll likely need to remove the headliner which is a big job and fraught with expensive potential damage.
Obviously, if this all happens in rainy weather, it's not good.
Obviously, if this all happens in rainy weather, it's not good.
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- #20
Yup. It’s a 20 year old sunroof that got beat in TX heat. I don’t use it ever.
