thallium

I saw the little hole in your picture there but the indentation that most others have mentioned is not really there, kind of like yours.

Anyway, I did this swap without removing or unscrewing the glass and a little warning to people. Don't pull too hard and be careful. I tore a small little chunk out of the top inside edge of my seal. I don't think it will affect anything but it ticked me off.

The reason it happened was because of the weird moonroof controls. I hardly use the thing so was not totally familiar with it. It seems each time you tap the open button it toggles between opening while the button is held to auto fully opening. If you want to halt the auto opening my thought was that you'd push the close button, but that does not work. You have to push the open button again. Intuitive right?

So I'm frantically trying to stop the moonroof from fully retracting into the roof and can't stop it. Well this caused my half installed seal to get all twisted and bound up on the sides so I had it 85% installed except for the passenger front corner and after some wrangling and hoping it hadn't been torn or cut I got everything but the last little bit in place. I got a platic tool and got the bound up piece between the glass and the edge of the opening lined up then pulled on the corner to get the side to slide onto the edge of the moonroof. It did but then the edge tore, maybe 3/8" by 1/16" long.

uibalnme

All that trouble when removing 2 screws would have made the install 1000x easier.

peasodos

iTrader: (1)

yeah I found it easier to remove the glass, 4 screws, do the install, put it back in, and adjust it. No issues with the install that way.

swat1727

iTrader: (2)

Hi, have you gotten a chance to install the seal? I just got mine, but I'm still a little scared about the steps between 3 and 4. If I can clarify the steps:

1. Tilt up sunroof
2. Remove old gasket
3. Install new gasket on tilted up/rear portion?
3.5. Close the moon roof, while the seal is squeezed on the side?
4. Slightly retract sunroof glass, install gasket on front?

If you can take a picture or even a video that will be super helpful. I'm trying not to remove the bolts, as there are risks of stripping the screw... Thanks!!

thallium

Do the screws allow adjustibility or are they fixed holes. I guess that's what I was worried about, having to readjust/align the window again. Also wasn't sure how to move the accordians out of the way.

viperr

iTrader: (1)

Yes, the screws allow for adjustability as there is some play for each of the 4 screw points...

peasodos

iTrader: (1)

Just grab an edge of the accordion panel and pull, they pop off, you won't break it. Adjusting/aligning the window is not hard, just do one side at a time, loosen the screw, adjust window tighten. I had to do it a couple of times to get the window perfectly aligned, but it's not that hard.

swat1727

iTrader: (2)

I just changed my seal today and like everyone said, no need to remove the screws. Below are some step by step pictures, hope it can help someone who is on the fence regarding which method to use.


Lift one side of the seal with a panel removing tool

Remove the other side, and pretty much you can just pull and the seal will come right out. Removing the old seal is super easy.

Then install the seal from the back. This is also easy. You just need to line the green dot to the corner and make sure the drain hole is in the back of the moonroof and not the front. Then just follow the seal and push to make sure it's tightly secured on the moonroof. Push it all the way around as far as you can.



Then you can close the moon roof Don't worry the seal is pretty flexible.

Now you can open the sunroof slightly.

Now you can install the front of the seal, Don't worry about the corner you can fix that in a little bit.

I used the dash be moving to to slowly fix the corners.

All done took about 20 minutes!

Kengs350f

Many many thanks to all the folks that posted info on this. My CPO GS 350 went to the dealer 5 times to fix the sunroof. 1st it was clunking, then I got it back with very loud wind noise. The service manager at Coliseum Lexus finally refused to warranty it, saying it's normal for a 5 year old car to make noise and I am not interested in test driving it. But if you care to pay us $200 to look at it, bring it in. He told me the warranty will not cover wind noise or clunking so if nothing else is broken, you would have to pay for any repairs. They had already replaced the sunroof motor and more under warranty. I mentioned that there is a TSB on it and he said there are hundreds of TSB's out there, so that does not matter. I was going to sell the car and never buy another Lexus after having happily owned several Lexus cars for the last 15 years.

Thank goodness for ClubLexus. I read the posts about DIY fixes here. Went and bought the part 63251-30100 the revised weather strip. Installed it today, using the good folks tips and instructions posted here. 1 hour job start to finish. Now there is no rattling and no wind noise at all! The car is eerily quiet now and it has 80k miles. I could not have done it without the good people posting on here. Shame on Coliseum Lexus for not providing better service.

Thanks again,

Ken

Kengs350f

Thanks, I used your advise, bought the part, installed it. It's so quiet now. I feel I finally got my car back.

Ken

9TO5NOT

Thanks for the awesome write-up guys. I just did this fix the other day and the car has been silent since! WOOHOO!

GS350Boi

This is a fantastic thread! I do however have one question. I have a 2013 Lux with 20K miles on it. I HAVE NO CLUNKING, but I HAVE WIND NOISE. When the interior panel is slid back, I hear a lot of wind noise from the sunroof. Will this new rubber seal fix wind noise too?

Thanks in advance!

thallium

I had clunking and wind noise with the shade retracted. When I replaced the seal the wind noise was greatly reduced. Funny that you don't have clunking but have wind noise.

thisguy_06

I did this over the weekend and now my car is much quieter. thanks for this thread.

mjrudick

This fixed the rattling noise I was experiencing. Though, I did not have any wind noise others reported. No need to remove the screws, but the right tool helps. These are indispensable when doing any sort of interior trim work. In this case, they helped press in the gasket sides parallel to the driver and passenger side doors when you slide the roof back in the half-way position.