Hope this finds everyone enjoying a wonderful summer & for my American friends, a great 4th! We actually saw 75 F yesterday & may be the same today!

Used the moonroof a few times a couple of weeks ago & the fabric partially fell off. Is it difficult to replace? I endeavored to cut it off & it is pretty tough fabric. Now, I wish I could try to glue it back. But, too late for that!

It is closed normally, and, I suspect, it operates well.

Is it removed from the outside? If it is a lot of trouble, I could cut the fabric off as best I can and spray with a similarly colored grey paint? Idea being that I could do a more complete repair when more time avails itself.

Thanks and best,

Steve S.

 

Hey Steve! The low 70s sounds mighty nice compared to the upper 80s we've been hitting here, gotta love the summer nonetheless.

Man this is so timely as I've had the same exact problem with my sunroof fabric. I used a few credit cards along with an extra pair of hands to tuck it back in and so long as you don't close the shade all the way.

It helps to have someone hold the shade fully closed so that it doesn't slide back as you push in the fabric with the cards.

Not in anyway the long-term solution it's just the shortcut I've come live with while I work on the more pressing matters like replacing the dim factory bulbs and a hard to find oil leak.

I figure I'll need to have the entire headliner redone soon unless I dare take a crack at it myself, that would be more intimidating than the transmission fluid change!

 

Hi Steve,

if you want to do a proper job, you need to remove the whole headliner of the car.

It helps if, additionally,you also remove tha glass partition of the sunroof, which is easily done with the roof closed (remove two black plastic covering rails, and then it is only 4 screws).

Done that, you can partially unbolt the frame of the sliding roof and slide the sunroof shade back towards the rear window until you can take it off the rail it is in.

You will have to remove the screws at the rear, but you can just loosen the ones at the front. After removing the panel, I would again fix the rear part of the frame temporarily to avoid a bending of the same.

The recovering of the shade panel itself is then pretty straightf orward, apart from dismantling and reassembling the handle because it was mounted by Jaguar in a cheap way that actually does not allow it to be reattached properly without using some tricks.

Reassembly of the whole thing is then the other way round.

If you do the job, you can also take care of cleaning the drain hoses of the sunroof at the same time.












Best regards,

Thomas

 

Thanks, JagNYC & Thomas. Great pictures!

Sounds like a winter project!

Best,

Steve S.

 

@04Xjrsteve Steve, considering the jobs you've tackled, I've got to say you are one brave man! You are certainly educating yourself. And the rest of us in the process. Thank you for that. Best of luck to you if you decide to tackle this one.

 

Hi Steve,

I don't know what the climate in winter is where you live, but if it gets cold, I would rather recommend it as a springtime project (or to have a heated garage).

The reason is that the plastic parts involved, and also the headliner, get brittle with lower temperatures. Also the glue needed works better in higher temperatures.

I have to admit that I did not recover the whole of the headliner mysef, only the sunroof panel, as I had bought a new headliner in the UK and replaced the whole thing. Because of that, I had to transfer the wiring loom from the old headliner to the new one, but, all in all, the valley hose is much worse...

Best regards,

Thomas

 

Luv2Fly, thank you for the compliment! Thanks to you and the others on this wonderful site, I am still enjoying my car!.

It's funny as I approach 80, how my time perception has changed. I still consider my 2004 as my new car! Funny, particularly since I've owned more cars than the law should allow (as many as 6 at one time!). At one point, I even subscribed to the concept of a new car every 2 years!

I look forward to getting back to it this winter. I need to change the transmission oil and fix the fabric on the moon roof and-- by then, there will be a few more things to do as well.

Thanks again for all of your generous help!!

Steve S.

 

Excellent pictorial above on replacement process. Materials will cost $200 or so, but figure a very long days work.
Suggest replace sunroof seal as well. Old seal can overwhelm sunroof drains in a hard downpour, plus wind noise.
Headliner card out through the RR door. Careful of card wiring - there is quite a harness up there.
Use headliner material and adhesive from pro trim shop supplier. Remove old foam with handheld wire brush...