trakker

I also had the same problem on a 2004 RX330. I took apart the fabric panels and actually took out the whole motor unit to see what was wrong. It turns out the screws that sandwich the two pieces togther were loose and allowed the gears to slip a tooth. I tore it out and put blue loctite on the screw to make sure they won't come loose again. The 4 bolts holding the whole housing to the roof are loctite'd in, so you need a little more effort to break those loose. I was afraid i was breaking the threaded inserts. You will also have to disconnect the arm from the actual liftgate. There is also a chunk of foam that will come out, its held in with velcro. You can also see the side curtain airbag bundled up in there. While you have it out, change the e-clip. The e-clip gets bent out of shape because of the downward forces. The downward forces also cause the two plates to start separating, so be sure to pick up some blue loctite (gunsmith stores have them). I don't monitor this account much, but you can find me on www.calguns.net as trakker.