Spencer, thanks for recording and sharing this. I had almost the exact same problem with my kid’s 05 Highlander. The end of one belt was mangled in the motor housing. The dealer said it would be $7000 to replace if they could find the part - it’s been discontinued. The mechanic felt 95% certain he could close it if he pulled it out, but that would be $2500. It was a day’s work, but I pulled out the sunroof, fixed it and put it back. Your video helped give me a good sense of what I was getting into. 10mm deep socket and a screwdriver was all I needed. For anyone else reading this, after I trimmed the mangled part of the belt, I put the sunroof assembly back into the car UNDER the headliner and used the front seat backs to lift it up close to the ceiling, plugged it back in and used the motor to close the sunroof. Afterward, I reinstalled everything.
Great vid once I git the headliner off I cut a small part off the belt then put the motor then it closed perfectly so If anyone looking at the comments it's a 10mm socket and about 2-3hrs depending how Mechanical Inclined. You are
Thnx for the video, I also had this exact same problem on my 05 Highlander. Took me about 45 mins to fix without removing the whole sun roof. Removed control panel / cover to motor and disconnected wire harness, front handles on sides of head liner, removed and disconnected sun visors and clips, removed seal around inside of headliner in the sun roof, losened top edge down sides of front winshield covers where airbags are, all this took 5-10 mins, then i had my wife sit behind me to hold liner open while i removed the bracket covering the motor and then removed the cover to the gear housing itself. The ends of the plastic belts had been chewed up so i feed the belts through by manually pulling the window closed enough to expose the ends of the belts so i could cut the last inch or so of the belts wth a good pair of cutters because there’s steel wire that runs through the belts. Feed the belts back into the gear housing which then allowed me to then re feed the belts back in the tracks for each belt respectively, then i could manually close the window almost entirely, then from here it was just a matter of putting everything back, liner, handles, visors and lastly the control panel for the sunroof to then which i could finish closing the window with the control panel after applying power. Thnx again as this helped me alot, cheers.
Wow! This is a pain in the you know what. I just want it to shut and never open it again. Thanks for the video. I have the same exact problem on my 04 Sienna.
Hey Spencer! This video explained a lot for me, though I was wondering if before the repair did you have loud clicking sounds? I currently have a 2007 highlander and trying to find the issue before tearing everything apart first. If you could let me know that would be awesome!
You can use needle nose pliers to grab the interior wires of the belt that are tangled up and cut them out with wire cutters. As for the broken section of the belt that’s chewed up from being jammed, you can cut that with wire cutters as well and use the needle nose pliers to feed it back into the track. It’s a bit of a pain but it does work and saves you from having to remove the entire assembly. That being said, if I had to do it again, I’d probably just remove the entire assembly as you did, unless you have a lot of patience and enjoy working with little to no space lol. Hope this helps!!
Spencer. Thank you for the video. Do you know how the black plastic clamp is supposed to be installed? My belt/cable is fine. Any help or references would be greatly appreciated
I put my motor back in put everything completely back together and my wife and I forced it closed. I kept hitting the button and pulling it closed at the same time. I'm just never going to open it again. 😆. They should have a way to manually close these sun roofs.
I have a 2005 Highlander Limited. The moon roof sucks balls they should have made a button to close it completely. The tab it has slides the moon roof back and forth as well as up and down. It's retarded. They should have just added a simple button to close it automatically. If there is even a slight opening and it rains or if you're washing the car, then it completely gets soaked inside. Other than that, the car is amazing.
Dang guy
U got guts!!!
Spencer, thanks for recording and sharing this. I had almost the exact same problem with my kid’s 05 Highlander. The end of one belt was mangled in the motor housing. The dealer said it would be $7000 to replace if they could find the part - it’s been discontinued. The mechanic felt 95% certain he could close it if he pulled it out, but that would be $2500. It was a day’s work, but I pulled out the sunroof, fixed it and put it back. Your video helped give me a good sense of what I was getting into. 10mm deep socket and a screwdriver was all I needed.
For anyone else reading this, after I trimmed the mangled part of the belt, I put the sunroof assembly back into the car UNDER the headliner and used the front seat backs to lift it up close to the ceiling, plugged it back in and used the motor to close the sunroof. Afterward, I reinstalled everything.
Awesome, i am glad it helped 🤙
Great vid once I git the headliner off I cut a small part off the belt then put the motor then it closed perfectly so
If anyone looking at the comments it's a 10mm socket and about 2-3hrs depending how Mechanical Inclined. You are
Thank for the video i just got an 01 Highlander and the sun roof is taped shut. As always looks simple when someone else is doing the repairs.
Thnx for the video, I also had this exact same problem on my 05 Highlander. Took me about 45 mins to fix without removing the whole sun roof. Removed control panel / cover to motor and disconnected wire harness, front handles on sides of head liner, removed and disconnected sun visors and clips, removed seal around inside of headliner in the sun roof, losened top edge down sides of front winshield covers where airbags are, all this took 5-10 mins, then i had my wife sit behind me to hold liner open while i removed the bracket covering the motor and then removed the cover to the gear housing itself. The ends of the plastic belts had been chewed up so i feed the belts through by manually pulling the window closed enough to expose the ends of the belts so i could cut the last inch or so of the belts wth a good pair of cutters because there’s steel wire that runs through the belts. Feed the belts back into the gear housing which then allowed me to then re feed the belts back in the tracks for each belt respectively, then i could manually close the window almost entirely, then from here it was just a matter of putting everything back, liner, handles, visors and lastly the control panel for the sunroof to then which i could finish closing the window with the control panel after applying power. Thnx again as this helped me alot, cheers.
My black plastic belt clip broke. The belt seems fine. A assistance would be appreciated. Sunroof broke in the vent position. 04 Highlander
Amazing Video Very Helpful 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
So much work.... impressive
Looks like your done.
Id leave it that way
Wow! This is a pain in the you know what. I just want it to shut and never open it again. Thanks for the video. I have the same exact problem on my 04 Sienna.
Hey Spencer! This video explained a lot for me, though I was wondering if before the repair did you have loud clicking sounds? I currently have a 2007 highlander and trying to find the issue before tearing everything apart first. If you could let me know that would be awesome!
You can use needle nose pliers to grab the interior wires of the belt that are tangled up and cut them out with wire cutters. As for the broken section of the belt that’s chewed up from being jammed, you can cut that with wire cutters as well and use the needle nose pliers to feed it back into the track. It’s a bit of a pain but it does work and saves you from having to remove the entire assembly. That being said, if I had to do it again, I’d probably just remove the entire assembly as you did, unless you have a lot of patience and enjoy working with little to no space lol. Hope this helps!!
Spencer. Thank you for the video. Do you know how the black plastic clamp is supposed to be installed? My belt/cable is fine. Any help or references would be greatly appreciated
Sure helped me a lot thanks
I put my motor back in put everything completely back together and my wife and I forced it closed. I kept hitting the button and pulling it closed at the same time. I'm just never going to open it again. 😆. They should have a way to manually close these sun roofs.
Can you fix my sun roof lol
I have a 2005 Highlander Limited. The moon roof sucks balls they should have made a button to close it completely. The tab it has slides the moon roof back and forth as well as up and down. It's retarded. They should have just added a simple button to close it automatically. If there is even a slight opening and it rains or if you're washing the car, then it completely gets soaked inside. Other than that, the car is amazing.