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Headliner removal/creak update. A really long one.  1 Saabers Like This Post!
Posted by B Millar [Email]  (#1109)  [Profile/Gallery]
(more from B Millar) on Sun, 26 Jul 2009 06:49:43
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I was just reminded that I never followed up on the question I posted a couple weeks ago about getting the headliner out of my 9-5 sedan. I had a miserable rattle/creak around the sunroof that I could hear through my music and with my windows down; it was BAD. And it took nothing to set it off. Driving down a newly paved, flat road it just creaked away. "Ee ee ee eee ee e eeeee eee."
I started with removing the plastic trim piece around the sunroof because I honestly thought that was the culprit... not. So then out came the headliner, which required removing the sun visors, a-pillar trim pieces, b-pillar trims pieces, c-pillar trim pieces, overhead console, roof handles, and rear high mount brake light. I figured out that to get the headliner out the front passenger door the seat bottoms have to be bottomed out, the seat backs have to be back as far as they'll go, the steering wheel needs to be in the lowest most forward position, and the shifter needs to be in "1" or "L," reverse for manuals. I bent it in a couple places getting it out and in but I can't see any evidence of damage with it reinstalled.
I thought that the creak was coming from where the sunroof assembly meets the roof of the car. There is no padding in there at all. So I backed all the screws out about halfway and one-by-one skewered the screws through a 1"x1" piece of felt with a hole in it. Imagine my reaction on my test drive when the *#%!ing creak was STILL there! So at 9pm, I dropped the whole sunroof assembly which not surprisingly weighs about 300 lbs. (exaggeration). I got it down and balanced on the headrests but got stuck there. WIS STRONGLY recommended using two people and my mother was the only one home so... We each held a side as we reclined the seat backs. The leading edge of the sunroof (a thin piece of sheet metal) came down on the back side of my leather shifter cover and gashed the crap out of it. :(
So I took it for a ride around the 'hood at 10:30pm expecting for it to be SILENT. But on top of the thunderous "WHUMP WHUMP WHUMP WHUMP" sound of the air going over the empty sunroof hole the squeak was more prominent than EVER. I got back to the garage starting to become hysterical. I found that if I pressed outside on the rear corners of the sunroof opening I could recreate my creak. Where the B-Pillar meets the roof of the car there is a bunch of angled sheet metal. There's some reinforcement coming up from the B-pillar, and the roof cross-bar just behind the sunroof ties in. They were somehow rubbing against each other (sorry, at this point I was PO'ed beyond belief and didn't take any pictures) to make the sound. There was also a piece just ahead of the sunroof hole creaking. So I finished off at least half a can of silicon spray lube, and shoved a lot of craft fabric from Walmart in the places. And reassembled.
I got the sunroof in by myself that night. I covered the interior of the car with the three sets of floor mats we've accumulated from our various cars and used the seats and headrests to jack it up into place with a stack of boxes supporting the front. I thought it was pretty clever, especially for 12:30am.
Anyway, it's all back together, the headliner went in the way it came out, and KNOCK ON WOOD BIG TIME the creak is pretty much gone. If it comes back I will probably be forced to take more drastic action like fire and collect insurance, haha. Thanks for listening!
, Sun, 26 Jul 2009 06:49:43 <-- Viewing This Message
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, Sat, 28 Jun 2014 06:32:55, Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:40:38
, Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:21:33, Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:53:20, Mon, 27 Jul 2009 07:02:59, Sun, 26 Jul 2009 07:27:58, Sun, 26 Jul 2009 07:49:08, Sun, 26 Jul 2009 07:56:07, Sun, 26 Jul 2009 08:44:24
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