Click, clink,clink Moonroof

[ghost2]

This little "clinking" noise has driven me mad for 2 months. While driving over slightly rough surfaces I can hear a metallic clinking sound [like cheap tin hitting metal] it sounded like it was coming from the dashboard area so that area is what got the attention. However yesterday with my son driving and me moving around with a stethoscope I isolated the sound at the moon roof. I opened the sunshade and closed it briskly and the "clink" sound vanished. I think something is loose up there.
If I look through the roof from the top I can see a metal bar about an inch wide lying at a diagonal. In other pictures I have seen [here] that metal bar is straight and runs front to back under the glass. What is that thing and how does it affect the moonroof? [man these little things can drive ya nuts]
Thank you

 

[J]

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Open the sunshade, remove the 3 or 4 screws behind the plastic trim on the sun roof glass. Lift the glass out. Slide the sunshade out. Remove that metal bar. Put it all back together. Bar is not needed once it falls off the sunshade.

 

[tixer]

here are some photos. what I don't have, is the initial disassembly process. here's how I'd do it.

1) snap a photo across the roofline of your car showing the sunroof alignment you'll need to match this later.

2) gently pop open the black plastic trim on either side of the sunroof opening on the inside. (they hinge at one end, and clip at the other)

3) remove the 4 torx screws that hold the glass in, and lift out the glass. Notice that the screws fit into elongated openings. this is how you will have to re-adjust the glass when you reinstall it.

Look! photos!

you can see that due to the design of that metal bar, the screws have a tendancy to pop out of the "U" shaped slot. You can just re-secure everything, but chances are that sooner or later, you'll be dealing with this again. I, like J, simply removed the bar. now I have a lower center of gravity. Or something..

 

[J]

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I didn't remove the bar, YOU did. I just threw it in the garbage.

 

[tixer]

Ok, so for clarification, I have removed this component from *two* evergreen Mark VIIIs, and life is good.

The fact that one can see reflections in the paint should be sufficient indication that this is my car, rather than Jesse's

It is worth noting that this part is responsible for nudging the sunshade forward when closing the sunroof, and I think it may cause the shade to open with the sunroof also? I have had mine out long enough that I forget now.

Still, I haven't really missed it.

 

[ghost2]

Ok, so for clarification, I have removed this component from *two* evergreen Mark VIIIs, and life is good.

The fact that one can see reflections in the paint should be sufficient indication that this is my car, rather than Jesse's

It is worth noting that this part is responsible for nudging the sunshade forward when closing the sunroof, and I think it may cause the shade to open with the sunroof also? I have had mine out long enough that I forget now.

Still, I haven't really missed it.

Do you need to dismantle the moonroof to eliminate the bar or can it be reached by opening the back side and reaching into the opening.

 

[tixer]

I couldn't figure out how to remove it without removing the glass, but it is only 4 torx screws to get the glass out. it is not a hard job. getting the glass re-aligned afterward is the only tricky bit. that just takes time and guess-work, unless you take good notes beforehand.

...I didn't.

 

[ghost2]

Here is the culprit. It's a rubber thing that looks like a 30" windshield wiper blade. I circled the end of it in the picture. Looks like some type of sweeper. It was laying on the upside, metal side of the sunshade and made a hell of a racket when I went over bumps. Can this be reinstalled without removal of the glass?

 

[J]

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Look at the bottom of your picture. It's not the rubber thing it's that entire metal piece. You can see the screw and notch on the bottom of the picture. Match those together and retighten the screw.

 

[Mad1stGen]

96 LSC sunroof is designed entirely different that the 97-98 one.

 

[ghost2]

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Look at the bottom of your picture. It's not the rubber thing it's that entire metal piece. You can see the screw and notch on the bottom of the picture. Match those together and retighten the screw.

Not exactly. That is not my picture, it's Tixers pix, I swiped it and circled rubber thingie which was laying disattached on the sunroof shade. So I'm lost as to how to reattach it. Or if it's even necessary????????????????? [My life would be much easier if I didn't care about these details, but, oh well]

 

[tixer]

For some reason, I have yet to throw mine away. I still had it hanging on a nail in the garage.

the rubber "sweeper" is glued to the bar. Still, I think if you take out the glass, you'll find it is the screws instead, like in my pictures. It is a sound I am keenly familiar with, and I don't see how that rubber bit being lose would cause the clanking.

Also, I need a macro lens. Sorry these shots aren't better. But yes, that is the official LOD calendar on the wall in that first shot.

 

[ghost2]

Mad1stGen.....nice catch. Mines a 96.
Nice catch. It now appears that I have 2 sources that rattle. One is the rubber sweeper that attaches to the metal bar. I have since removed the sweeper becacuse it was laying loose on top of the sunshade. And this square channel at the front. [I swiped this pic from Drillers other photo essay on moon roofs. [thx Driller]

 

[J]

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You probably have 4 screw (not torx) on each side of the glass. I have yet to successfully remove a Gen 1 glass at the junk yard. The screw keep stripping.