Moonroof Questions

[tresola]

Okay, this is odd. I realized this morning that there is no cover for my moonroof! I went to pull it back and oh, there wasn't any! I also noticed the piece right above where the cover normally is, is just a piece of plastic and there's a little gap in the back. I guess that explains why when I had the roof tilted last night when it was raining that the top of the seats were a little wet. I can always leave my other roofs tilted without an issue.

So the question is, factory or nonfactory? And broken, missing parts or normal? I sure hope it isn't broken, because then I honestly paid way too much for the car considering the mirror's also broken, I'm missing a fascia piece and its dirty as hell.

[Pogs]

Factory and missing. Looks like your car was a parts car or something and they decided to sell it or something. Shouldnt be to hard to find another one. Installing it may be a whole additional problem

[tresola]

Ouch! I never thought to check for the stupid cover. How on earth, and maybe I just don't want to know...

I did a quick search online for it but didn't turn up anything. Do you know the exact part name by chance?

I was curious about the dripping part as well. Should the rear rail have a little gap in it? My other moonroofs had a different structure to them, no gaps at all. I'm not sure if more parts are missing then? Geez this sucks. I mean, it doesn't leak when closed, but I won't be able to leave it cracked in any inclimant weather.

I'll try and get some pics of what I'm talking about tonight, but I think I'll drive over to my mechanic and his body shop at noon to see what they have to say as well. I'm sorry they didn't catch that either.

[Pogs]

I will wait for pictures. I may be thinking of something different from what you talking about.

[tresola]

I'll post the pics when I get home tonight. I decided to take a little closer look at it when I went out for lunch. The rail I was referring to is the plastic piece that lifts up with the roof slightly when you tilt the roof. The piece creates a slight gap. I don't see hide no hair of the cover, although since you can see all the way back as far as the eye can see, it might have been jammed way far back, you never know. And that also concerns me, am I missing more pieces than just the cover?? Its driving me nuts.

I am emailing the registration stuff to the previous owner in a bit and I plan on asking him about it. How often do you think to check the moonroof cover when looking at cars? You normally end up sliding the cover off to get to the moonroof, but seldom do you think of when you see the glass to make sure there's a cover and its operational. Weird. Chalk it up to another lesson learned the hard way!

[tresola]

We're thinking I'm just missing the cover, but I took shots anyways:
http://s635.photobucket.com/albums/uu74 ... %20Solara/

They're mixed in with my other pictures. Let me know if the pics aren't good enough, I could try again. Its kind of hard to angle in there, I kept hitting the horn with my butt.

[D-money]

WOW ive never seen that happen before

[tresola]

I have, a Celica I was looking at several years ago was also missing it. The owner just said it had been gone a long time, so it could have been the previous owner even who removed it. So how do you remove it & install it? It fits pretty snug in there. I'm not sure how to locate a new one, and I doubt a "universal" one will fit since this is a large moonroof. I'm sorry, its a HUGE moonroof. This is what my Outback should have had, not the dual moonroofs. Cool concept, poor execution.

[mazen222]

ya... you're definatley missing that cover... but IMO, its not worth the trouble unless you live in a cold place or have to go through cold winters.

If thats the case, just go to a scrap yard and get one... shouldnt be too big of a deal to install.

I just use mind in winter to get better isolation

[tresola]

Well, I like to put the cover on most of the way to block the heat in the summers, and i never use the car in the winter so I can get the sunlight in to warm up the interior. I was otherwise just thinking of tinting it a dark color to keep the heat out, its probably a more cost effective measurement than hunting down a cover.

[D-money]

I was thinking of tinting mine also a asked the shop and for the good tint with warranty it will be 40 bucks I dont know where you live but im sur the prices are close

[tresola]

I'm in MN. $40 sounds right, it would be easy enough. I have tint that I bought for my Subaru last year I never used, so I figure I'll tackle the Solara. My bf's installed it before so I'm going to let him have the fun. BTW do you know if you can safely tint the rear window and not screw up the defroster system? And I wonder if I can install a sunshade like the Camrys have... ???

[Pogs]

^^^I had a shop tint my windows. I hear that as long as you arent to rough with the lines on the back window the defroster will be ok. The shop didnt mess mine up.

[tresola]

Cool, I'll have to try doing the rear window. I figure its at such an angle it allows a lot of light in, that it ought to be darker. I'm thinking they have a very similar curve is that of the Camry, and the Camrys have that really nice manual sunshade. I was thinking you could use those dorky baby seat hooks in the rear and have a sunshade like the Camrys have. I used to drive around with mine on all summer and never noticed a different in view.

Looking at these windows, I don't think they're going to be very fun to tint! I had a hard time cutting the right pattern for my Celica's rear windows, and these windows are about the same shape. Oh well, for the price its worth us trying first before letting a pro go at it.

[Pogs]

I got mine done at platinum sounds for 110. That included everything but the front and the sunroof.