2003 Toyota 4Runner Sunroof

Sonds like the track is jammed or broke on the one side.

Can you get it shut at all or is it stuck open?
IF the track is jammed or broke the motor may have blown a fuse. Typically these are all one unit, not serviced separatley. I'll see if I can verify that.

The passenger side tries to close and actually moves an inch or so. The driver side doesnt move at all and when the passenger side starts moving, the motor reverses when the passenger side gets out of alignment wuth driver side, and it moves back to full open position at which point the motor shuts off.

If there are two motors it could be a fuse on the driver side motor (assuming separately fused), if a single motor then its probably somethng mechanical. Any ideas?

You need to dissemsemble to find out what is happening. The good news is that the parts are available individually.

Maybe it is just a matter of resetting it into the tracks...

I think it is a mechanical binding on the driver's side. Maybe the cable is disconnected or the track is no longer connected to the roof.. IF this procedure doesn't work, it may confirm that:

IT looks like one motor.

Thanks. I got the manual close operation to function. It closed the roof to within an inch of being completely shut before it couldnt move it any further. It seems to not have enough power to get it all the way closed. I re-opened it and it did the same thing as before, opening all the way and then clicking. To close, I had to activate manual again since the auto function still just inched it forward and then reversed.

Sounds to me like the track is either broken or off track. I guess I'll have to pull it apart. Have you ever done that? Is it relatively easy?

I haven't had the pleasure...but this should help:

Thanks. Appreciate it!

Sounds tedious! I'll give it a shot as soon as have a couple hours to spare and will let you know how it goes. Cheers.

The problem fixed itself (at least for now). I ran the roof as far closed as it would go manually, then opened it. I did this three times and the third time, as it opened it made a loud popping sound. After that it closed automatically all the way and reopened automatically fully open, with no unusual sounds. I presume it must have somehow 're-tracked' itself.

So, all is well. And good thing, we have flash flood warnings out all day as the rain moves in.

Thanks for the help.

I fixed it over the internet...talented huh? LOL....Glad to hear your back in business.

I just had the same issue happen to my 2003 4Runner. The service manager at the Toyota Dealership told me that the cable came loose and got jammed in the sun roof housing. So the known cable issue caused all three parts to become damaged and need to be replaced. Well it's a good thing I bought the extended warranty to cover this. Well not exactly. They will only cover the motor $350with the warranty and want me to pay for the cable $500 and the housing $600 plus the labor $800 and in total $2300 to fix a sun roof that won't close. I've escalated the issue and was told to wait 2-3 days to see if they'll cover the costs since I did buy a warranty. It's all BS. I do appreciate the info on this post I will have to resort to this if I can't resolve this with Toyota. Any recommendations?

Hello, Sounds like this is a somewhat common problem with these sunroofs. I'm having exactly the same noises and operations as previously described. Did you ever have the cable and housing replaced? Did that fix the problem? I had downloaded the Toyota TSB on repairing the guides and taken that to the dealership to fix....that fix only lasted 6 days before the same operation happened again. Trying to troubleshoot it for them so I can save some green. Let me know what worked for ya'll. Thank you!