Headliner sagging

Thanks for the response, Aurora40.

The panel itself is not that large. It's on the underside of the sunroof. If I had to guess I'd say it's about 18 3/8" x 29 7/16".

;D

I'd like to try brining this back to the front. I have an 01 and the sunroof headliner as well as the part that fits over the rear window brake light is sagging. The car looks great and I fear that as this continues to sag it will look stupid.

Same for me. This happened on my 89 Jag XJS, and I just sprayed it with 3M adhesive and it was just like new, but be careful peeling back the fabric, and be EXTRA careful when re-attaching the fabric; this stuff really works, and if it goes on wrinkled, it will stay that way! lol

To remove the 3rd brakelight panel, just grab an edge, pull the tape off the glass, and pull down on the entire unit. Becareful, there is a plug/wire, and you can damage it.

To remove the sunroof panel, push the panel fully closed. Open the sunroof 1/2 way allowing the sunroof to push the panel back. Get out of the car, and stick your hand under the sunroof. Grab the panel and pull down and towards the front of the car. It should slide out from under the sunroof. Now get back into the car and fully open the sunroof. There are 4 slide-clips on the panel, dislodge each one, then the panel will pull out from the top of the car. If you can't reach the sunroof from the outside, use the doorsill as a step-stool.

OK, sagging headliner fixed, sunshade re-installed. A-OK. Here's what I learned to make it easier for others.

Sunshade removal from the 2nd Gen moonroof:

I advise other members to be aware that there can be a drawback to the shortcut method for sunshade removal recommended in the post in this thread on 7/18/08. That method for sunshade removal does work, and it is sort of a shortcut. It is a good method if you can't get this all done at once, and you want to leave the glass in place while you try to fix a sagging headliner on the sunshade.

But, that method does leave an interference when you try to re-install the sunshade. Re-installation will require that you remove the glass and a piece called the sunshade drain drip channel.

Here's an alternate removal and re-installation procedure if all you need to do is quickly remedy a sagging headliner on just the sunshade, and you think you can live with the glass off while you do that:

You will need to remove three items of the moonroof assembly: the glass and frame, the 'sunshade drain drip channel', and the sunshade itself.
Each one is a piece of cake by itself, so all together it's still pretty easy. Others have posted on this procedure, but I'll repeat it as a refresher.

1. Let's start with the moonroof fully closed.

2. Move the sunshade to the full open position.

3. Cycle the glass to the vent position.

4. From inside the cabin, observe the four Torx fasteners holding the glass and its frame to the moonroof assembly.

5. Before going ahead, be aware of three cautions:
First, the exposed tracks and mechanism are greased. Keep your hands and tools clean by watching where you let them wander. It would ruin your day to get grease on the headliner.
Second, according to the shop manual you must resist the urge to energize the moonroof assembly until this procedure is completed. Otherwise you risk breaking the wind deflector at the front of the moonroof opening.
Third, others have reported that there is some risk that the glass and frame assembly may slip forward just a bit during disassembly, potentially scratching the paint just forward of the moonroof opening, so use rags or towels or tape or whatever to protect your paint. Or, just be very careful and maintain full control of the glass and frame once you have removed the four fasteners.

6. Back to the four Torx fasteners. Remove them, and carefully lift the glass and frame from the moonroof assembly. I placed a thick terry cloth towel on the roof to receive the glass when I removed it. I like to think of it as sort of a 'receiving blanket'. One piece down, two to go. Caution: These four Torx fasteners are fine-thread fasteners, don't confuse them with the Torx fasteners in the next step.

7. Observe the flat bar at the rear of the moonroof opening, and the two Torx fasteners holding it down. This is the 'sunshade drain drip channel' according to the 2001 shop manual. Remove the two coarse-thread Torx fasteners, and remove the sunshade drain drip channel. Two down, and one to go. (This piece is the interference that prevents re-installation of the sunshade after the shortcut removal procedure first posted in 2008.)

8. Pull the sunshade to the fully closed position.

9. Observe the four spring-loaded clips that engage the sunshade tracks in the moonroof assembly.

10. Using a small flat blade screwdriver, disengage one front clip from the track by inserting the blade in the slot on the clip and pulling the clip inward so that it retracts from the track. Lift the sunshade just enough to get the clip above and out of the track. Likewise disengage the rear clip. Disengage both clips on the opposite side by simply moving the sunshade over just a bit. Lift the sunshade out.

Now do whatever you have to do to fix the sagging headliner. My fix was extremely easy, since I really only had a bubble close to the forward edge of the sunshade. The fabric, foam, and backing membrane were all in very good condition. I just had peel back the headliner enought to 'burp' the bubble, and everything was fine. That is, until I tried to re-install the sunshade, hence the write up above, and below.

Re-installation of the three moonroof components.

11. Put the repaired sunshade back in; place it in the full closed position.

12. Put the sunshade drain drip channel back in using the two coarse-thread Torx fasteners.

13. Slide the sunshade back to the full open position.

14. Put the glass and frame back into position on the moonroof assembly. Since you have not operated the moonroof, the glass goes back in the vent position. Use the four Torx fasteners to attach the glass. Tighten the Torx fasteners.

15. Cycle the glass from the vent position to the full closed position to the full open position to the full closed position. The shop manual reports that you cannot adjust the glass height if you just go from the vent to the closed position. So, cycle through the full open and full closed positions as directed in the shop manual.

16. Glass height adjustment: Loosen the four Torx fasteners, but don't remove them. From this point on, one person can adjust the glass height alone. But it goes much faster if you have a friend or helper outside the cabin who can advise you to move the glass up or down for final adjustment.

17. Adjust the two front fasteners so that the glass height is in the range of flush with the roof to 1mm below the roof. (0 to -1mm)

18. Adjust the two rear fasteners so that the glass height is in the range of flush with the roof to 1 mm above the roof. (0 to +1mm)

19. Cycle through the moonroof positions, recheck the height adjustment, recheck that the four fasteners are tight.

You're done.