Moonroof inside plastic trim pieces: tab locations and removal (1 Viewer)

[e9999]

Thought I could maybe help somebody not damage their trim pieces. Mine (22 y.o.) shattered into smithereens on the lightest pull. They are held by tabs but those are not obvious. They are all "vertical". Meaning to remove the trim pieces you need to lower them, not pull them towards the center of the moonroof, as one might expect. Since I don't recall that the locations of the tabs are shown in the FSM and that given the age of the plastic you likely want to be very careful if you would like to keep yours intact, I am enclosing some pics showing the position of all the tabs so you know what to expect and where to pry. Here goes, it's starting from the DS front corner moving towards the PS. I'm pointing at the remnants of the tabs (note that all the tabs are oriented parallel to the main direction of the trim piece - side to side for the front and rear pieces and front to rear for the side ones):

 

[e9999]

PS front corner:

and PS rear corner (there are only 2 tabs for the side pieces) :

then DS rear corner moving towards the PS:

 

[e9999]

last ones on the rear side:

and back to PS rear corner again:

Hope that might help somebody not break their trim. In my case every single tab broke in its clamp. (There are little serrated metal clamps that grap the tabs (hard). Not one came out intact and the trim pieces themselves also shattered when prying. 22 years of UV exposure... To remove the remnants of the tabs I had to pry real hard and in some cases about pulverize the tab before the clamp would come out. Good luck!


added: one more thing: I would suggest that if you try to get the trim off without breaking it, start with the side pieces, these are only held by tabs at the very ends, so easy to find tabs, and IIRC (not sure) they overlap the other ones.

 

[mingles]

Thanks for the reference pics.

I had the same experience. No hope in saving the old trim.

If you do get new trim however, it comes with new metal clips already installed on the plastic tabs, so you don’t need to save the old clips.

 

[jonheld]

The metal clips should come out with the plastic trim tabs. If not then the plastic tabs have fractured. Very hard to keep 22+ year old plastic in 1 piece, and those trim pieces are NLA in tan. Not sure about grey.

 

[96FZJ80]

Very helpful. Thanks. Do those trim pieces serve any function other than aesthetics? I have had a rattle up there for the last 7-8 years over the passenger's head and I need to get in there and figure out what it is. Haven't done it yet because of the experiences read about here with them disintegrating during removal.

 

[lumbee1]

Removing the sunroof glass takes about 5 minutes. Once it's out, you can work on removing the remaining plastic bits with needle nose pliers. My sunroof trim was crispy and shattered like glass when I pulled on it. The exposed black metal doesn't really bother me so I never replaced the trim.

If you have a lot of wind noise coming from the sunroof, this would be a good time to fix that as well. Search for the bicycle inner tube fix (much harder) or the wire fix for the sunroof.

 

[Shipwreck]

Trim pieces are really just for aesthetics. Mine also developed a rattle and then began to drop pieces off. When I tried to pull the trim, mine also desinegrated despite using trim removal lever at the tabs. I ordered the gray trim and painted with SEM 17313 paint to match the tan interior.

 

[rolliges]

It doesn't look so bad without the trim; thanks for the pics, good reference.

 

[e9999]

that's right, the look without the trim pieces is not bad at all, mostly black metal with some boltheads showing. A bit of an industrial air but fine for most cruiserheads I would imagine. Not planning to replace mine.

I would suggest that you be very careful not to drop bits of plastic in the sunroof pan if it breaks on you. You probably don't want little pieces up there moving around, rattling, and possibly getting into the mechanism.

One other suggestion I would make, though, as discussed amply in a companion thread, is just NOT to open or tilt the sunroof during the rainy season. The chances that something would break are just too high after 20 years and having the moonroof stuck open when it rains daily is a pain, as I just experienced.

 

[mingles]

On the flip side, to steal a phrase from @BILT4ME , “dis-use is harder on a car than misuse”.

I think that the reason my sunroof mechanism has lasted so long is that it is used daily, almost year round. Once a year I will clean and lube what I can on the mechanism and it runs smooth.

The huge sunroof is one of the things I enjoy most in daily driving and I hope to keep it operational as long as I own the truck.

 

[e9999]

^ well, there may be something to that, but I think the opposite is more likely in this case. Wear and stress is not a good thing for mechanisms in general, especially without access for proper lubrication. But here, based on comments made in another thread about sunroofs and plastic blocks shattering, I suspect the problems are likely related to aging of plastics, which would have little to do with use. Or it could even be related to fatigue failure of flexible cabling and that certainly would be exacerbated by use. So I guess it's a guessing game and YMMV. But I for one, can easily wait until good weather to enjoy using the sunroof, and leave it closed in the winter, especially given the ungodly amount of aggravation created by a stuck open sunroof in the winter. But to each his own.

 

[rolliges]

two words: speciality lube: penetrating grease

 

[flagstaff]

Mine broke without touching them. I do live in Arizona so I shouldn't be surprised. On a good note partsouq.com has original Toyota replacements that aren't too expensive. I got new ones, and had to paint to match.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Anyone have the part numbers? The trim on my 97 is about half gone.

 

[e9999]

I will say, though, that for all the brittleness problem of the trim pieces, it is a testament to at least some good thinking on Toyota's part that the weatherstripping soft seal around the glass is still reasonably pliable after 22 years exposed to the sun. That's something at least. Having thought of that, I'm gonna go put something on there to try and help keep it that way. Maybe a silicone grease of sorts?

 

[mingles]

After a bunch of research online, I went with Gummi Pflege. Seems to work well.

I know Amazon carries it.

 

[Red Merle]

Gummi Pflege is legit. I must be the only person to ever not break any of the trim pieces when I pulled my sunroof to exchange it with a better one. I used one of those body trim pry bar kits on a warm day and I left the truck sit outside and get hot inside before I tried, but since I kinda knew where the clips were because I had the eBay seller include the busted ones in the wrong color along with the glass/frame assembly, I was able to finesse it off.

If you are careful, you might be able to sneak them out.

 

[Michael Hanson]

Hi, Never remove these plastic parts in anything but hot weather. Mike

 

[spazzyfry123]

Anyone have the part numbers? The trim on my 97 is about half gone.

Anyone able to provide numbers on all trim pieces?