Sun Visor Won't Stay Up

[DMW 99 RX300]

The driver's side visor is a bit loose so that it no longer stays all of the way up. Is there anything other than replacement (probably $$$) that can fix it? The Celica that I used to have had the same problem.

[jgr7]

Are the screws that hold the arm tight?

[DMW 99 RX300]

:(Are the screws that hold the arm tight?

There aren't any screws on the actual visor panel. The pivoting hinge that allows the visor to swing to the side window is the only part that I can see that has screws which attach the whole assembly to the headliner. The visors in my old Porsche have screws that actually allow the tension to be adjusted but the RX300 doesn't have anything external on it for adjusting the tension. Actually, there must be some sort of spring/cam mechanism inside because the passenger side visor will flip itself all the way up once it is about 1" from the headliner.

I guess i'll see if I can remove the vanity mirror assembly so that I can see what's inside.

[Ericok]

:(Are the screws that hold the arm tight?

There aren't any screws on the actual visor panel. The pivoting hinge that allows the visor to swing to the side window is the only part that I can see that has screws which attach the whole assembly to the headliner. The visors in my old Porsche have screws that actually allow the tension to be adjusted but the RX300 doesn't have anything external on it for adjusting the tension. Actually, there must be some sort of spring/cam mechanism inside because the passenger side visor will flip itself all the way up once it is about 1" from the headliner.

I guess i'll see if I can remove the vanity mirror assembly so that I can see what's inside.

There's no adjustment. The visor is held up by a friction mechanism inside that gets lose over time. The best you can do is cut the visor open, clamp the friction mechanism tighter and sew it back up again - or, like I did, get a new visor on ebay. You have to cut the visor open because the friction mechanism is surrounded by styrofoam and you can't clamp it down with the foam in the way.

[DMW 99 RX300]

:(Are the screws that hold the arm tight?

There aren't any screws on the actual visor panel. The pivoting hinge that allows the visor to swing to the side window is the only part that I can see that has screws which attach the whole assembly to the headliner. The visors in my old Porsche have screws that actually allow the tension to be adjusted but the RX300 doesn't have anything external on it for adjusting the tension. Actually, there must be some sort of spring/cam mechanism inside because the passenger side visor will flip itself all the way up once it is about 1" from the headliner.

I guess i'll see if I can remove the vanity mirror assembly so that I can see what's inside.

There's no adjustment. The visor is held up by a friction mechanism inside that gets lose over time. The best you can do is cut the visor open, clamp the friction mechanism tighter and sew it back up again - or, like I did, get a new visor on ebay. You have to cut the visor open because the friction mechanism is surrounded by styrofoam and you can't clamp it down with the foam in the way.

Seems like there must be a spring/cam mechanism that causes the visor to pop all the way up into the headliner when it gets within about 1" from the top. I guess I check eBay to see what I can get one for.

[DMW 99 RX300]

Tonight, I think I'm going to go ahead and cut along the hinge-side seam to see what can be done to fix it and then sew it up. I think that it will look better than toothpicks shoved into the hinge or velcro. The only visors on eBay are tan (I need gray) and there's no way to tell whether or not the ones on eBay have the same problem. My visor feels tight throughout the range of motion; it is just slightly looser in the up position. Wish I had a junk one to experiment with before cutting blindly into it.

[peteanello]

Both of our sun visors stay up, but when put in the down position the flaps over the mirrors will not stay up. All these little things happen after the warranty is up. :(

[tmastres]

Well, if you do cut it open I'll be curious to see what you find out. I disassembled mine (didn't cut it open though) last month to see if there was a way to get at the friction mechanism but came to the same conclusion that anything that might work would most likely destroy or disfigure the visor. I stuck a long straight pin into the visor where the L-arm attaches to the visor and that gave a few percent more friction but not enough to be worthwhile.

[Ericok]

:(Are the screws that hold the arm tight?

There aren't any screws on the actual visor panel. The pivoting hinge that allows the visor to swing to the side window is the only part that I can see that has screws which attach the whole assembly to the headliner. The visors in my old Porsche have screws that actually allow the tension to be adjusted but the RX300 doesn't have anything external on it for adjusting the tension. Actually, there must be some sort of spring/cam mechanism inside because the passenger side visor will flip itself all the way up once it is about 1" from the headliner.

I guess i'll see if I can remove the vanity mirror assembly so that I can see what's inside.

There's no adjustment. The visor is held up by a friction mechanism inside that gets lose over time. The best you can do is cut the visor open, clamp the friction mechanism tighter and sew it back up again - or, like I did, get a new visor on ebay. You have to cut the visor open because the friction mechanism is surrounded by styrofoam and you can't clamp it down with the foam in the way.

Seems like there must be a spring/cam mechanism that causes the visor to pop all the way up into the headliner when it gets within about 1" from the top. I guess I check eBay to see what I can get one for.

Nope. no spring/cam mechanism. I speak from experience since I've taken mine apart. You don't have to cut the entire seam, just about 1/4 of the way or less accross. The clamp mechanism is closest to the pivot end.

[Ericok]

My finger is pointing to the part that has to be tightened (i.e., clamped down with vise grips). It should be obvious why sticking toothpicks in there is futile - the clamp's too far in. Make sure the mechanism is in the "up" position before clamping it.

[DMW 99 RX300]

Great picture! Looking from left to right, there is the tan curved part, a gray part, a goldish part, a gray part, a tan part, and then the silver part that you are pointing to. I suspect that the goldish part is the spring that causes the visor to pop all the way up to the headliner. The gray parts on either side of the goldish part are probably one part that has a flat side (cam) obscured by the goldish part. I suspect that the problem with mine is that the spring (goldish part) is weakened so that only the friction of the assembly is all that is left to hold the visor up. This is only based on what I see in your image and the way that the good visor works which must have a spring mechanism to allow it to retract the rest of the way up by itself.

First, I'll see if my assumption is correct about the location of the spring (goldish part in the picture) and see if I can reshape it so that it works again. If that fails to work, then I'll try to apply some Loctite (thread locking compound) to the friction mechanism (silver part) to see if that will work before I try crimping it. I didn't have a chance to cut into it last night but I'll give it a try tonight. I'll take some pictures when I do.

[desertwren]

Great picture! Looking from left to right, there is the tan curved part, a gray part, a goldish part, a gray part, a tan part, and then the silver part that you are pointing to. I suspect that the goldish part is the spring that causes the visor to pop all the way up to the headliner. The gray parts on either side of the goldish part are probably one part that has a flat side (cam) obscured by the goldish part. I suspect that the problem with mine is that the spring (goldish part) is weakened so that only the friction of the assembly is all that is left to hold the visor up. This is only based on what I see in your image and the way that the good visor works which must have a spring mechanism to allow it to retract the rest of the way up by itself.

First, I'll see if my assumption is correct about the location of the spring (goldish part in the picture) and see if I can reshape it so that it works again. If that fails to work, then I'll try to apply some Loctite (thread locking compound) to the friction mechanism (silver part) to see if that will work before I try crimping it. I didn't have a chance to cut into it last night but I'll give it a try tonight. I'll take some pictures when I do.

Did anything you did to the visor work?

[kaebella]

My finger is pointing to the part that has to be tightened (i.e., clamped down with vise grips). It should be obvious why sticking toothpicks in there is futile - the clamp's too far in. Make sure the mechanism is in the "up" position before clamping it.

Worked GREAT!!! Thank you! I didn't even cut the fabric open. I just clamped down with a vise grip in the general area according to your picture. Thank you so much!!! :)

[desertwren]

My finger is pointing to the part that has to be tightened (i.e., clamped down with vise grips). It should be obvious why sticking toothpicks in there is futile - the clamp's too far in. Make sure the mechanism is in the "up" position before clamping it.

Worked GREAT!!! Thank you! I didn't even cut the fabric open. I just clamped down with a vise grip in the general area according to your picture. Thank you so much!!! :)

[desertwren]

The driver's side visor is a bit loose so that it no longer stays all of the way up. Is there anything other than replacement (probably $$$) that can fix it? The Celica that I used to have had the same problem.

Our 99 RX 300 has had a problem with the sun visors dropping down. My wife used velcro & that worked okqy for a couple of days (The velcro glue did not hold when in the afternoon heat).

I used a pair of vise grips and squeezed the visor - per the photo in one of the postings. That helped & both vissors were workable, but they still dropped down slightly.

I checked E-bay motors for RX300 sun visors & found a number listings on April 19, 2009. I was the successful bidder on a pair of visors (1 with home link, both with lights & mirros ) from a 2001-02 RX. My bid was $84.00 plus shipping. The visors arrived yesterday & they were installed by my local garage for $42.00. The visors were in excellent condition & are really stiff.

I would not fool around with the other stuff as my new visors are as good or better than new. They do not have the extenders that were on the 99 RX sunvisors.

I purchased my set through E-bay from: www.LKQonline.com. They are a large auto dismantler & stock zillons of parts. You may want to check them out on their web site or through E-bay

[Ericok]

The driver's side visor is a bit loose so that it no longer stays all of the way up. Is there anything other than replacement (probably $$$) that can fix it? The Celica that I used to have had the same problem.

The visors arrived yesterday & they were installed by my local garage for $42.00.

I should open a business where I install those visors for $42. Can easily install both visors in less than 10 minutes - maybe 5 if I hustle.

[farmerfelts]

My finger is pointing to the part that has to be tightened (i.e., clamped down with vise grips). It should be obvious why sticking toothpicks in there is futile - the clamp's too far in. Make sure the mechanism is in the "up" position before clamping it.

Any way you could measure that and let us know the distance from where the pivot arm goes into the visor to the "squeeze" point? Just trying not to have to cut into it.

Thanks.

[Rogerm]

My finger is pointing to the part that has to be tightened (i.e., clamped down with vise grips). It should be obvious why sticking toothpicks in there is futile - the clamp's too far in. Make sure the mechanism is in the "up" position before clamping it.

Any way you could measure that and let us know the distance from where the pivot arm goes into the visor to the "squeeze" point? Just trying not to have to cut into it.

Thanks.

---------------------------------

Just eyeballing it.... It Looks like the distance to the middle of that part that needs to be crimped

.... is about 6 times the diameter of the prvot arm ROD.

Has anyone tried ... probeing with a long needle or pin ... to find the two ends of this part?

[Ericok]

It's 2 and 5/8 inches to the center of the squeeze point.

[farmerfelts]

It's 2 and 5/8 inches to the center of the squeeze point.

Yahoo!!!!! Thanks so much Ericok. just put the squeeze on it with my "tractor" channel locks and presto, after four years, no more sag. I'm a happy man. :) :)

[jmcohen23]

FYI, velcro has not worked successfully b/c the adhesive is not stronger than the bond of the velcro. perhaps a quick stitch could work.... I don't see paying $120 for a sun visor is appropriate.

[RXnewguy]

hello I recently came up with a solution to this issue, either you can look to replace the visor, either on ebay or at a dealership OR you can take industrial strength Velcro (I mean the expensive stuff that is hard to separate the sides) and straight pins (ones used for sewing with the plain silver head) and take some time to line the top velcro up with the bottom velcro On the top of the visor to the right of the mirror and as far to the driver as you can get. Then use the straight pins( I used 26 in all, 13 for the bottom and 13 for the top) and insert them into the velcro at an angle and slowly push them in (I used a thimble to make this easy and not to hurt my fingers) until you can only see the tip. Repeat on the bottom and wooola the visor not only will stay up in eXtreme heat (Texas 100+ degree heat but will come down if you need to use the visor (just be careful and don't jerk it down or you may lose some straight pins).

Hope this helps

RXnewguy

[Rogerm]

FYI, velcro has not worked successfully b/c the adhesive is not stronger than the bond of the velcro. perhaps a quick stitch could work.... I don't see paying $120 for a sun visor is appropriate.

Two Points of Velcro:

o Get the auto velcro that withstands the heat.

o Cut off some of the "hair" on the velcro...so it does not hold quite so tight... so tight that it pulls the

velcro adhesive off the headliner; but still tight enough to hold the visor up.

I posted the velcro solution before the crip solutio was posted... the crip at 2 5/8ths inches in is probably better.

[Islander]

It's 2 and 5/8 inches to the center of the squeeze point.

I found this thread for the same problem and will give it a try this week. Will let you know how it went. 1999 RX300.

Thanks for the info.

[Her RX300]

If the hinge is intact, but just won't hold the visor in place, you can attach a small strip of adhesive-backed velcro to the upper inside corner of the visor where it meets the headliner. I used about 1" wide by 2" long.