Hi Folks. Don't post much on here, but read alot . I figured I'd post because I had a problem happen recently with my Roof that might be of interest.

There are a few other articles on here about this exact same issue (probably). At least the circumstances are the same.

I went one day to raise my roof (after it working flawlessly for years). The front of the trunk raised fine and the roof began to lift, but then wouldn't continue. I could here it trying to open, but something was keeping it from unlatching/opening.

Took it to lexus. They pulled things apart and got to the left hinge assembly. Sorry, I don't have a picture of the schematic here, but it's the main assembly that is accessible in the trunk that attaches to the trunk lid.

What they told me: "there is a broken wire-connector clip on the hinge assembly". The price of the part from lexus is 3500 and total with labor/etc would be up to about 5000 because after they replace that part they have to re-align/etc.

Anyway, this is a 2002 430 and has almost 100,000 miles on it now. I didn't want to spend 5000 bucks and it of course wasn't under any kind of warranty.

So, tonight out of boredom, I tore apart the trunk and got to the assembly to see what it was. Instead of it being broken, the metal clip that holds the wire in place was simply bent out a few degrees and when the wire went to retract (not sure what the wire is for, but I'm guessing it probably releases the latches in the roof that keep the two main pieces from folding?...) it was being pulled out of the harness and therefor the roof would not retract.


Anyhow, I carefully bent the thing back with some pliers and a screw driver... being careful to go very slow and get it almost perfectly back to where it should be so that it holds the wire clip in place tightly. The metal is pretty tough, but easy enough to bend and I think! (hope) that it's not been softened too much by that small amount of bending.

Anyway, after putting it all back together, the roof works fine again.

I suppose it might be worth it to simply get someone that can weld good to weld a small piece of metal on top of the existing so that it covers the bend point well and prevents it from doing that again. Should be easy enough.

Anyway, attached a couple pics.

 

Oh and I wish I had taken a before.. but I badly photoshopped it to look sorta like it was before :P

 

Big time thanks for posting -- there seems to be a rash of top problems this summer and the bigger the DIY knowledge base, the better. As you say, we are gonna have to fix these ourselves because the Lexus dealer charges too much compared to the value of the car.

Did Lexus happen to tell you what DTC code this problem generated?

 

This is great information folks. Thanks for posting it and the steps you took to find and repair it!!!

 

My roof has not had any problems but it is great to know this type of information is available. Many thanks for taking the time do document and post!

Andrew