01 VDC Dual Moonroof Problem(!!!)

[william_hunter]

 

So...I found a great deal on a lightly used 01 VDC and went and bought it. Brought it home and was very happy, until a few days later, sunny day, and I went to open up the tilting moonroof as I drove down the road..and the glass lifted up like a backwards spoiler. It appears that the mounts have rusted through, and there was a goodly bit of water in the channel around the inside edge of the roof's well. I am obviously upset about this, but I did some searching here and found that some other people have mentioned TSBs about this car, and was wondering if it was an issue that might have caused this rust through of the mount, and whether I should take it to a Sube dealer to see what's what.

 

On another note, should I just tack that thing down with some caulk and forget I have a tilting roof? I also noticed that the rear roof section is now not seated properly and won't slide, I am assuming that happened after the front section tried to fly away. What do you folks think?

[Suzam]

If you're handy and have a LOT of time, the whole assembly is accessed from above the headliner. This has been covered on the board, with a little searching you may find the procedure. The whole window unit needs to come out and takes several hours to remove.

 

If you're lucky you might find a replacement in a junk yard, but it would need to be removed also, but that would be good practice for yours.

 

Otherwise caulk the front one and see if you can realign the back one and go from there, although the rear rails might have snapped the screws that keep them aligned which is a headache. You can drop the headliner and take a look.

 

You could always talk to a dealer and see but a 10 year old car with addition problems to the unit might not be covered. It doesn't hurt to try.

[gbhrps]

I've done several of these sunroof fixes on different cars, as well as on my last 04 OBW LTD.

 

It takes a lot of time to remove and replace the headliner. Not hard to do, just very time consuming. Dropping the entire sunroof assembly out of the car is not particularly hard either, just pull the door weather stripping, the A,B and C pillar mouldings, disconnect some wiring, 6 drain tubes, the front sunroof lift mechanism from the rear of the tilt sunroof , about 10 nuts along both sides of the sunroof assembly and its out the back of the car.

 

And yes, if your system is badly damaged, your best bet is to find a wreck that's been hit front or rear and change the entire system over.

 

The front tilt section has two hinges on its front that bolt to the inner roof structure. In your case they're rusted off. You'll need rusted sections cut out and new metal welded in.

 

Once done and the front tilt section is hooked up correctly to the tilt mechanism, that should realign your rear sunroof to open correctly. Just be very careful with the front tilt mechanism. Don't force it up or down. Small plastic parts can be broken very easily.

 

As far as the TSB was concerned, the problem was along the sides of the rear sunroof opening where water was being wicked into cracks in the paint. Then the water found its way down to the overhead maplights. Your rusted area has a different culprit perhaps. Good Luck!

[Fairtax4me]

This is why sunroof assemblies are made of aluminum nowadays.

 

I digress.

If you have water in the assembly, its because the drain tubes are plugged and are not allowing water to drain properly. Usually they can be flushed out by running water though them. But if that doesn't work you'll have to carefully run a wire or something of that nature down the tube to knock the crud out.

[william_hunter]

I've done several of these sunroof fixes on different cars, as well as on my last 04 OBW LTD.

 

It takes a lot of time to remove and replace the headliner. Not hard to do, just very time consuming. Dropping the entire sunroof assembly out of the car is not particularly hard either, just pull the door weather stripping, the A,B and C pillar mouldings, disconnect some wiring, 6 drain tubes, the front sunroof lift mechanism from the rear of the tilt sunroof , about 10 nuts along both sides of the sunroof assembly and its out the back of the car.

 

Useful info, thanks. I can probably manage this, I am not all thumbs.

 

 

As far as the TSB was concerned, the problem was along the sides of the rear sunroof opening where water was being wicked into cracks in the paint. Then the water found its way down to the overhead maplights. Your rusted area has a different culprit perhaps. Good Luck!

 

 

There was water dripping from the maplight console yesterday, and I cannot imagine that the issue is not related in some way. Water filling the gutters where the sunroof is connected just cant be good

[eulogious]

Remove the sunroof and then use compressed air to blow out all the drains while it's out. I just did that on my legacy because the seal went bad, like what's mentioned in the TSB. Took me about 3 hours total to remove it, fix it and reinstall it. I also had my dad help me out to have another set of hands which was much needed. So if you have someone to help you out, it will go ALOT faster than if it was just you.

 

I would go to the yard first and pull one, then you can see what it takes to take it down. Sounds like yours is kinda messed up anyways, so replacing it might not be a bad idea. That way you can destroy the JY car and not yours when trying to figure out how to remove it

 

I would also stay away from the stealership on this one. The labor alone will probably be $500 if not more. So if you are capable, do it yourself and save your money!

 

Good luck man, and post back if you fix it!

[william_hunter]

Yeah, I called the dealer on this, just to find out costs so I knew what to demand back from the dealer that sold me the car: $757 just for the assembly.

 

Labor would probably be at least that, so I will do this myself.

[Suzam]

Keep us posted on what you decide and how you make out with the project. Should be useful info for others who may want to tackle this in the future!

 

And good luck!

 

[gbhrps]

If you decide to tackle the job, here are some hints to help out.

 

There may be shims under the front sunroof mounting points. Make note of where and how many. You'll need them in the same place upon reinstallation.

 

Keep your hands clean. The fabric of the headliner marks easily, and cleaning it afterwards will leave marks that will show up.

 

Pull all of the headrests. It'll give you a lot more room when you drop the headliner.

 

You'll need a Torx 55 socket bit to remove the seat belts at the top of the B pillars, in order to pull off the B pillar mouldings.

 

The centre section of the headliner between the two sunroofs has 3 or 4 special fasteners. You can see them from the roof looking down into the car when the rear sunroof is open. They are flat, rectangular plastic push plugs with smaller rectangular centre pins that must be pulled up to release.

 

I seem to recall that the mouldings around both sunroof openings in the headliner must come out. I believe that they hold the headliner to the roof structure when in place. They are easily removed and replaced. Just pull the moulding into the opening of the sunroof.

 

When you go to replace the entire sunroof assembly back into the car, have the system in the closed position. That way the rear sunroof will be correctly positioned in the roof opening with no alignment problems. Once fastened in, then reinstall the front sunroof and centre it side to side.

 

Lastly, test drive the car for wind noise before you reinstall the headliner. The front sunroof may need to be moved side to side, or have shims removed or added. (Ask how I know.)

 

Good Luck!