So today the outside temperature got up to 85º (30ºC) today and the wife and I decided to run some errands with the top on our 2010 ISc down. The car has developed a nasty rattle over the driver side sunvisor. Evidently the latching mechanism for that corner of the top has come loose. When we close the top and it is all latched up, there is no rattle.

So I guess I'll have to pull the trim off and tighten it or wait until the bolts fall out completely and the top blows off.

 

As stated in my previous post, I had a severe rattle coming from above the sun visor on the driver side when the convertible top was down. If you moved the sun visor out of the way and hit the area above the sun visor, the rattle was easy to reproduce. When the top was up, there was no rattle.

There is a guide & latch mechanism mounted in the windshield frame at both top corners of the windshield that you can see and touch when the top is down. When I touched the latch, it moved very easily while the latch on the passenger side was rock solid.

Time to tear the car apart and hope that I don't need anything welded. The trim piece that covers the inside top edge of the windshield will have to come off in order to see and do anything.

I have to apologize for the crappy photos, the battery in my camera was discharged and I had to use my cell phone.

To start with, put the top down. To remove the windshield top trim piece:

1) remove the A-pillar trim on both sides. You can just pop the top end loose and pull it out to the side and leave it there, complete removal is not necessary.

2) remove the plastic trim from around the latch mechanism by prying a corner straight out towards the rear of the car. Do this on both latches.

photo 05b


Trim piece removed.

photo 06


3) remove the round plastic push stud from the top corner of the latching mechanism.

photo 07



4) remove the dome/map light console. It is held in place by 4 plastic "pop studs", one near each of the corners that are similar to what is used all over the car. Use a pry tool, placing it on the side of the light about an inch from the corner. The console is a very sturdy piece of plastic, so you can put some force to it. Unplug the wire harness or leave it hanging, your choice.

5) remove the sun visors on both sides. Tilt the visor so that it is straight down.

5a) remove the cap from the swivel arm by putting a flat blade screwdriver in the slot that is towards the windshield and twist it gently. This will pop the corner off and then you can take it off.

photo 03


5b) remove the 2 Philips head screws that hold the visor to the windshield frame. The visor will fall when the screws are removed.
CAUTION - be gentle with this as there are 2 tiny electrical plugs for the vanity mirror light built into the mounting block.

5c) remove the clip that holds the other end of the visor. Give it a quarter turn in either direction and pull it down and out. The socket for the clip also helps hold the trim panel in place, so it needs to be removed.

photo 04


5d) to remove the socket the proper way, take a small tipped screwdriver and press the front and rear release tabs (circled in yellow below) towards the center of socket, pulling down on the socket as you press on a tab. I found that it is easier to use a needle nosed pliers to press both tabs together at the same time as you pull on the socket.

photo 4a


Now you are ready to remove the top windshield trim panel. Do not pull downwards on the trim panel, always pull straight back towards the rear of the car.

6) Starting at one of the ends, pull the end back. It won't come out very far, but you want to get it free of the latch mechanism. There are 4 clips spread out across the edge of the trim panel. They are flat metal blades that slide into a slot. I used an up and down wiggling or twisting motion as I pulled, it seemed to work better than just straight pulling.

Now you have access to the latch mechanisms. The latch mechanisms are bolted on with 3 Torx head bolts. The Lexus service manual says they are size T30 but they were actually T40.

photo 13


In my situation, 2 of the 3 bolts had fallen out and the 3rd one was one turn away from falling out.

photo 11


Here is a photo looking upwards at the bottom of the other latch.

photo 12


Here are photos of the latch removed from the windshield frame. The first one is the top side that mates to the windshield frame and the other is the bottom side that you put the bolts in from.

photo 15


photo 14


The white stuff that is around the boltholes looks like the old typewriter White Out correction fluid. I believe that it was used by repair technicians to be able to remove the latch and then put it back in the same position. The previous owner (I'm the second owner) kept taking the car back to the dealer complaining of the top squeaking and rattling. The service history is page after page of things done to the top. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the service bulletins for the convertible top were brought about because of this car. But I digress.

When it came time to put the car back together, I wondered about the positioning of the latch since the bolt holes allowed for the latch to be moved around. What I did was attach the latch mechanism with the bolts loose enough that the mechanism could still move. I then raised the top and tightened the bolts. Before I tightened the bolts, I tried to move the top but I couldn't. The top was theoretically adjusted properly before the latch came loose and the latch on the other side was still solid, so the latch was where it needed to be.

The torque spec for the bolts is a disappointing 16 foot pounds for a steel bolt in a steel plate. So I put blue Locktite on the threads and did a back alley mechanic torque on those suckers. I decided to check the other side latch and I doubt if those bolts were torqued to spec. So I applied some Locktite and some BS&I (brute strength and ignorance) to them.

Putting the trim panel back on is essentially the proverbial "just follow the removal procedure in reverse" but there are several cautions that you need to be aware of.

First, check the 4 pairs of guide fingers (in the yellow circles below) along the middle edge of the trim panel. They are not super strong metal and they bend easy. Instead of pulling straight back when I initially removed the trim panel, I pulled downwards and bent them. You can easily straighten them with your fingers,

photo 09


When you start to re-install the trim panel, I found it easier to start at one end and work your way over to the other side. The very end of the trim panel has a bracket that has a push stud going through it (see step 3 above). Make sure you get this bracket on top of the latch. Then you can feel along the edge of the trim panel for the easily bendable fingers and make sure you get them in the slots (circled in yellow in the below photo).

photo 10


A glitch I encountered was when I had the trim piece back in place and went to put the sun visor on. The socket for the passenger side sun visor pivot had gotten dislodged. I removed the trim piece, put the socket back in place and re-installed the trim piece using more caution and less BS&I. The socket became dislodged again. Removed trim panel, put socket back in place and this time I started installing the trim panel from the passenger side end. The socket was dislodged again. I finally used a screwdriver to pry the socket back in place without removing the trim panel again.

 

Very detailed
thank you

saving this thread for future need

 

Thank you for going to the trouble of posting this. Just hope I never have to go there.

Dec.

 

Thanks for this detailed post and all the photos. Another thing to file in my library!

 

Great write up. I hope I don’t need this in the future but great to have it.