Lexus IS 2014+ :: Sunroof Stuck While Trying To Dip Down?

1. I can tilt the sunroof up and down with no problem.

2. When trying to open the sunroof, the sunroof is supposed to dip down about 1/4", then retract back. Mine gets stuck while trying to dip down.

3. If I get outside the car, and press down on the glass with about 1 lb of force, the sunroof will pop down, and retract back just fine. It will also close just fine.

I took the car to the dealer yesterday. Four hours later they called me and said it was fixed. I arrived 30 minutes later and tried it, and it was still 'catching' a tad bit...and then would 'pop' down on its own. So the problem was better, maybe by 50%, but still not fixed. The tech comes out, makes more adjustments and finally its perfect, just like factory.

I drive to my destination and try the sunroof out 3-4 times and it worked perfectly. I went inside my destination for an hour, came back out, and immediately tried the sunroof having my doubts. Sure enough, it was catching just like it was at the dealership an hour before hand. Now, the following day, its completely stuck like it was before I took it in for service all together.

It seems to be changing based on duration, or time. It makes NO sense to me. I do have an appointment for 8am tomorrow morning to address the issue yet again. Got the car back and it still seemed like it was catching a little as it retracted down. The loaner IS I had was smooth as butter with zero catching. The service department told me they compared it with a brand new IS and said this was the same on their new one.

After about 2 hours later, I noticed it got a little worse and is causing a major 'thud' when popping down. I immediately called and scheduled ANOTHER service appointment for Monday morning. The sunroof won't even open now. It gets completely stuck as it retracts down. Seriously... what is the freaking deal here??? Its like it keeps getting off track without even using it... I feel like this is never going to end.

Tonight, I decided to look at the sunroof myself and see if I could figure this out on my own. I tilted the sunroof 'Up' and examined a light 'sticky' residue all along the black lip of the sunroof glass itself. I began to assume that perhaps this light sticky residue was causing the glass to 'stick' as it was supposed to come down & retract back. I got some white lithium grease (liquid in a rattle can) and sprayed it in a terry cloth and wiped down the black edges of the sunroof glass. I then tried opening & closing the sunroof to see if this work... and it DID! The 'thud' noise as the sunroof comes down was instantly eliminated... but I noticed the more I opened & closed it, the thud started reoccurring ever so slightly.

I then tried lubing up the sunroof the best I could using the terry cloth and liquid white lithium grease and now the sunroof is opening and closing near perfectly. It appears it needs quite a bit of grease though as the black rubber surround on the sunroof glass seems to be absorbing the grease very rapidly... and if I could find some white lithium grease that's a solid base (solid like Vaseline), I could probably lube it up enough to rectify the issue permanently.

Lexus has had the car since 03/11. They called me today and came to the conclusion that the sunroof glass + seal needed to be replaced. They claimed to call a technician (I guess at Corporate Office) and there has been two incidents of this happening where replacing the sunroof glass fixed the issue. They said the glass was on backorder but said it showed it was going to be delivered to them tomorrow. Very strange. But lets see if this fixes it.

Coincidentally enough, the drivers door lock actuator also went out Thursday morning. So a new one goes in tomorrow. The sunroof glass and seal has been replaced. The sunroof opens normal and appears to be fully functional again. Very interesting! The tech notes describe the issue as the seal having become warped and catching on the roof panel, which caused the 'thunking' and 'catching' of the glass on the roof.