2005 4Runner Sunroof jamed open

[toyot4]

Many thanks JFRD10. Our 05 Toyota 4runner sunroof was stuck in the totally open position. Pushing the slide button made the motor try to close it but although the passenger side seemed to work, the driver side of the sunroof was totally stuck. We thought we would have to take it in for repair. I tried your solution holding down the tilt button 15 seconds. IT WORKED GREAT and closed the sunroof perfectly. We tried reopening the sunroof to a mid-position and it works fine. I would definitely recommend trying the tilt button for 15 seconds for anyone whose sunroof is stuck in a fully open position before getting it repaired. Needless to say, we will not open our sunroof fully ever again. Many thanks for all those who have written in as we got a lot of great ideas and help with this problem.

[Kogos]

everyone for the great advice and confirmation posts!! I was looking for parking in NYC in my 2004 Toyota 4Runner this afternoon and I decided to open up the roof to enjoy the nice weather. In the process I heard that not so nice sound described pretty well by others.

Due to living in NYC and with rain coming I was thinking about putting the car in the garage until Monday morning (yikes $$$) but I ended up with a spot in front of my building. So I figured why not do some research on the Internet. My Google search was '2004 toyota 4runner sunroof broken' and this thread was the first link.

I printed out Merrifie's instructions and pictures, but figured why not try the 10-15 second option. Interestingly enough, after holding the Tilt button down for approx. 15 secs. the sunroof started closing on its own but it didn't go all the way. So I held down the Tilt button again and after about 10 secs. it moved a little closer. Well I kept repeating this until the sunroof closed all the way. Awesome!!!

I may remove the broken pieces this weekend just b/c I can!

Thanks for keeping me away from the stealers!!!

[rmartin1954]

Originally Posted by merrifie

I don't own a 4Runner but experienced the same issue (open sunroof... clicking... won't close) with my '04 Highlander. I know it's not a real SUV but the sunroof components are probably quite similar (as a couple people pointed out with the Camry info.). My first reaction was to search online to learn what others encountered. After picking my jaw up off the floor, I thought I would open up the motor / gear box assembly to see what I was dealing with rather than fork over a pile of cash to anyone. In my case, it turned out to be a fairly simple and straightforward repair.

For the following, refer to these photos.

I removed two screws inside the overhead sunglasses holder (photo 1) and the trim ring around the interior sunroof opening. Reaching between the headliner and the roof at the front of the sunroof opening (just behind the map light & sunglasses holder), I pulled down a bit to pop the map light assembly loose & disconnected the electrical connector. On my Highlander, there was a metal bracket with a nut on one end to remove. Now the motor assembly held on by two bolts could be removed (photo 2).

There should be two flexible plastic rack gears running through the remaining half of the gear box. I could immediately see that one of the two rack gears was broken and thrashed with the reinforcing wire cables exposed in a knotted mess (photo 3 & 4). The broken rack attached to the passenger side of the sunroof.

With the pinion gear / motor housing removed, the sunroof was easy to move manually. My son pulled the damaged rack end down as I slid the sunroof forward. Admittedly, I was more interested in getting the sunroof closed for minimal expense than trying to achieve a complete repair. I cut off the damaged end (photo 6) so that the broken end could be reinserted through its slot in the gear box (photo 5). I had to move the sunroof back and then forward again to get the broken rack back into position (photo 5).

I could now move the sunroof all the way forward manually but not into the closed (sealed) position. I reassembled everything and engaged the motor to pull the sunroof into its typical closed position. Although the sunroof now works normally (tilts up, slides back and forward), I'm not going to push it. Of course, if I tried to slide it all the way back, it would run past the broken end of the passenger side rack and likely get stuck again. At any rate, I'm happy to have the sunroof closed and sealed without spending a dime. The whole project only took less than a couple hours.

I hope this information is helpful to someone. What I found on the net was helpful to me so I wanted to contribute my experience.

Replay to merrifie 's post. I'm having the same problem with my 2005 Toyota 4Runner Sport moonroof as well. Even though I'm a girl I sure would like to attempt this repair myself. Unfortunately I don't know how to view merrifie's pictures. Can anyone enlighten me? Thank you in advance. rosemmartin@comcast.net

[merrifie]

Originally Posted by rmartin1954

Replay to merrifie 's post. I'm having the same problem with my 2005 Toyota 4Runner Sport moonroof as well. Even though I'm a girl I sure would like to attempt this repair myself. Unfortunately I don't know how to view merrifie's pictures. Can anyone enlighten me? Thank you in advance. rosemmartin@comcast.net

What happens when you click on the link?

[2005sport4runnerV8]

At 30k my sunroof took a dump. It was in the dealer for 10 days waiting on parts. I have a 05 4Runner Sport 4X4 V8.