Sunroof stuck mid way

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100seriesguy

100seriesguy

Joined
Jul 13, 2021
Threads
4
Messages
6
Location
United Statess
Hey guys, was driving 98’ cruiser last night and attempted to open the sunroof (slide not tilt), it got stuck half way and seems to be jammed.

Don’t think it’s the motor as when I try to close it it makes an effort (and doesn’t sound like it’s dead or slow) but then seems to get caught and pops back to where it was.

Is this going to be an easy fix or am I in for something more painful? 🤣
 
100seriesguy said:
Hey guys, was driving 98’ cruiser last night and attempted to open the sunroof (slide not tilt), it got stuck half way and seems to be jammed.

Don’t think it’s the motor as when I try to close it it makes an effort (and doesn’t sound like it’s dead or slow) but then seems to get caught and pops back to where it was.

Is this going to be an easy fix or am I in for something more painful? 🤣
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Same thing happened to me but stuck closed fortunately lol I think you have to remove the whole liner which is a job for sure. If you bring it to a shop it’s probably going to be expensive due to the man hours it would take from what I’ve heard. I’ve never personally taken the liner off but I’d assume you could get access that way. Good luck I’m sorry this has happened to you lol
 
Did you visually inspect the track to make sure it’s clear? Most common issue seems to be cable corrosion. If it’s corroded and jammed in the tube you will have to drop the headliner to access. It’s not difficult. Just time consuming. You can pull the trim, visors and grab handles off of the A pillar and pull down the front of the headliner to see the copper tube that holds the cable. Try spraying some penetrating oil like PB blaster anywhere you can access.
 
remove motor switch assembly and glass try to move track back or forward if your lucky it will slide then lube you may be lucky. with motor out slides should move freely
 
If the motor still kinda works, you can ‘nurse’ them back home with someone pushing it back to where it needs to be. I would spray the channels with some silicone spray, or even some WD-40… just to get it closed again. Also, check to make sure you have no blown fuses, before you right off the motor.

Mine got stuck once, and I had to really clean it out to use it, as the PO never used it much. Clean out the drains while you are at it. Clean all of the seals.. you’ll be surprised how they are just dirty… and that makes the roof struggle to open and close.

It pays to ‘exercize’ these stupid things every now and again, and clean out at least the front drain tubes (i use a piece of weed-eater string). Then spray some lube on everything. Tree sap is bad, so give all of the rubber stuff a good Murphy Soap scrub or something when you think about it.

It’s the first vehicle I’ve had with a ‘moon roof’ or whatever you call it…. I would be happier without it. If you look at it, it’s more for the rear seat passengers than the driver. The lead edge seems to be over my forehead, at best, and I’m tall and all the way back…. Wow, how cool i feel. I can reach way back and feel the wind rushing through someone else’s hair.

there are a ton of threads on this forum dealing with this trendy gadget.
 
Last edited:
squidmotion said:
If the motor still kinda works, you can ‘nurse’ them back home with someone pushing it back to where it needs to be. I would spray the channels with some silicone spray, or even some WD-40… just to get it closed again. Also, check to make sure you have no blown fuses, before you right off the motor.

Mine got stuck once, and I had to really clean it out to use it, as the PO never used it much. Clean out the drains while you are at it. Clean all of the seals.. you’ll be surprised how they are just dirty… and that makes the roof struggle to open and close.

It pays to ‘exercize’ these stupid things every now and again, and clean out at least the front drain tubes (i use a piece of weed-eater string). Then spray some lube on everything. Tree sap is bad, so give all of the rubber stuff a good Murphy Soap scrub or something when you think about it.

It’s the first vehicle I’ve had with a ‘moon roof’ or whatever you call it…. I would be happier without it. If you look at it, it’s more for the rear seat passengers than the driver. The lead edge seems to be over my forehead, at best, and I’m tall and all the way back…. Wow, how cool i feel. I can reach way back and feel the wind rushing through someone else’s hair.

there are a ton of threads on this forum dealing with this trendy gadget.
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You say “spray some lube”. Can you be more specific? What did you use?
 
wd40-white-lithium-10oz-front.webp
 
cruisin4bruisins said:
Same thing happened to me but stuck closed fortunately lol I think you have to remove the whole liner which is a job for sure. If you bring it to a shop it’s probably going to be expensive due to the man hours it would take from what I’ve heard. I’ve never personally taken the liner off but I’d assume you could get access that way. Good luck I’m sorry this has happened to you lol
Click to expand...
Update: After some troubleshooting and inspecting to make sure everything was clear of debris (it was) I was ready to start the project. Then it randomly fixed itself?

It was stuck for about a week, I would check mulitple times daily to see if it would unjam itself. How it happened:

Attempted to get it to open fully, it got jammed again. Tried a second time, same as every other time, this time I happened to also turn the car off immediately after (not sure if this was a complete coincidence or if cutting the electric off at the perfect moment fixed the bug) and when I looked up it had fully opened.

Turned the car back on, and it slowly closed without any hangups. So at least until it gets warm again the issue is fixed!

Not sure if it would close again, not going to test it! Thank you all for the tips, I'll use them once it is warm enough to risk a permanent sunroof haha
 
So I had this same problem, but stuck closed on my 2000 4Runner. Toyota used some lube that, if not exercised, turned into a chalk-like consistency. I never open my sunroof, but I thought it I wanted it to work. It was a tedious job that mostly consisted of gaining access to the motor behind the map lights, etc, then spraying the ever-loving hell out of the tracked cable with PB Blaster, wiping it clean, then relubing it with white lithium. Not hard, not easy. Simple to take the glass out with 4 10mm nuts behind the plastic trim pieces on both sides. I recall removing the motor to verify it worked. The hardest part was returning the glass to the approximate closed position before tilt to get the motor in the right spot.
 
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