1995 Lexus Es300 Moonroof Problems

[iopknuckles]

Hello everybody. I am just recently home from the emergency room and all pain killer(ed) out so i apologize ahead of time for any bad grammar or misspells.

I have a 1995 Lexus ES300 and the moonroof is having problems that i was hoping someone could assist with. Now the moonroof will tilt up and down but it will not slide. When i press the slide button i can hear the clicking of the transisor (or whatever it actually is in there clicking) but it will not even slightly budge.

I was wondering if anybody could point me in a direction of what could be wrong. It doesn't seem to be the fuse since it will click. Also if anybody could point me in a direction of where to find directions on how to reach the internals of the moonroof to check it out?

I appreciate any and all help and thank you in advance. Also i would like to apologize again for any bad grammar or things of the such. I should be clear headed tomorrow to answer any questions or explain better. Thank you

[gbhrps]

I've repaired several sunroofs over the years and replaced entire assemblies as well, all on different makes, but they all share pretty much the same workings. Unfortunately, almost all of the diagnosis and repairs that can be made are done so with the headliner out of the car. And even then, sometimes the entire sunroof assembly has to be removed from the car to affect a repair. Read into all of this, you are going to have to spend some dollars .... unless you are a handy DIYer. To do the repairs is fairly easy, if you can easily see the step by step of what comes apart to allow you to get to the next section.

That said, I would try to see if you don't have a binding somewhere that isn't permitting the sunroof motor to pull its 2 geared whips that slide the glass in its tracks. I suspect your car came with an allen wrench that can be inserted into the drive gear of the motor, for manually opening and closing the sunroof when the electrical mechanism fails. Check your owner's manual to see if it so. Either at the overhead console/maplight or dead centre of the headliner and two thirds of the way to the back of the car, will be a ceiling plug. Under it will be where the allen key/wrench inserts. Cranking it one way opens the sunroof and the other way closes it. Try moving it back and forth to see if that frees up the mechanism, and if it will then work from the switch.

If that doesn't do it, I suspect you'll have a broken geared whip or the clips that fasten the glass to the whips, and that means the headliner must come out, and maybe the sunroof assembly as well. To get the headliner out is not hard, just time consuming.

If you should decide to tackle the job, depending on what is to be replaced, you might find that buying a complete used system from a wrecker might be cheaper than new parts. I did this recently on a Ford Crew Cab Dually and it worked like a charm. Good Luck!

[iopknuckles]

I appreciate you taking time to help me out. Now i checked for this allen key port you were talking about and couldn't seem to find it. I checked in the owners manual as well and didn't see anything on it. When i opened the maplight cover to look in i did however see something that looked like it might do the same idea of what your explaining but it was a flat head screw instead of allen key. I tried turning it with a screwdriver and it would not budge either way. I have included a picture of what im talking about so you could get an idea:

If you look at the bottom left in between thhe two switches youll see the brown flathead port i was talking about.

I am going to see if i can find information of where this allen key port might be. Once again thank you for helping. I greatly appreciate it

[gbhrps]

After looking at your picture, and the fact that you didn't find a plug dead centre of the headliner at the rear, I suspect that you have found the manual close. I'll bet that if you were to remove the 2 small black screws about dead centre and top and bottom of the map light, you could drop the whole unit down to hang by its wires. That might give you a good look at the sunroof motor and drive gear. I think that flat head screw you found is what you're looking for. By all means, carefully try to move/budge it one way and then the other, to free the system up. Then try the switch to open the sunroof in slide mode.

If that doesn't get things going, you'll have to drop the headliner and possibly remove the entire sunroof assembly from the car. Be aware, the headliner was put into the car from the rear or front windshield ... before the glass was installed. To get it out now you will be forced to bend/kink it to get it out one of the front doors. When its reinstalled you will not be able to entirely get the creases out of it. This may determine whether or not you wish to proceed.

[fpny]

Can we get an update on this flat head screw? Did you sucessfully move the sliding moonroof using this screw.

After looking at your picture, and the fact that you didn't find a plug dead centre of the headliner at the rear, I suspect that you have found the manual close. I'll bet that if you were to remove the 2 small black screws about dead centre and top and bottom of the map light, you could drop the whole unit down to hang by its wires. That might give you a good look at the sunroof motor and drive gear. I think that flat head screw you found is what you're looking for. By all means, carefully try to move/budge it one way and then the other, to free the system up. Then try the switch to open the sunroof in slide mode.

If that doesn't get things going, you'll have to drop the headliner and possibly remove the entire sunroof assembly from the car. Be aware, the headliner was put into the car from the rear or front windshield ... before the glass was installed. To get it out now you will be forced to bend/kink it to get it out one of the front doors. When its reinstalled you will not be able to entirely get the creases out of it. This may determine whether or not you wish to proceed.

[gbhrps]

In the photo (several posts above this one) the large screw in the lower left is the one I was referring to.