abirvalg

can one of the happy owners of the service manual do me a little favor
and post the pages where they describe how to take off the roof moldings

you know those two black plastic things running from the back end of the hood over the roof (probably covering the welding joints) and over to the top of the rear glass

i think mine are too loose
they create what sounds like a heavy rain sounds at speeds 65 and up
only it sounds like it's raining on one side but not the other

i want to try and pull those bastards off and put them back on some clear silicone caulk

thank you!

Hybrid

Have the manual, but no way to scan it at the moment. It's on pg. 20-134 of teh '04 manual if anyone scans it. Looks kind of involved, surprisingly. Need to remove windshield trim on the side of the windshield first. There's lots of clips and retainers just for those pieces. The roof trim itself has clips under it, as well as a holder-pin at the back.

Have you tried putting masking tape over the offending piece to see if eliminating the wind (and/or taping it down) makes the noise disappear? It doesn't look like you want to remove this unless you really have to.

abirvalg

great idea!
i'll do that
thanks

and i guess all i need is to lift the back end of it to caulk the roof part
i found a spot, which feels loose or should i say more loose since the whole thing is not exactly mounted to stay

abirvalg

alright that didn't do much
i think it made it harder to engage that noise but i may be just making it up
the noise was still there

i do have a section of the molding, which bounces in place a lot more than the rest of it on either side
but the tape didn't hold it in place
the metal edge is slightly taller than the plastic
when i put the tape across the molding it doesn't press down hard enough to hold it down
when i put it along the molding is still too loose
i can tell by tapping at it
and with to much tape the tape itself makes too much noise

doesn't feel right to go to a dealer with this
not only we will have to take a drive somewhere where i can go that fast to prove that something is wrong
but they'll probably do more damage to the rest of the car than that fix is really worth

Ron A

Do not attempt to lift the back end of the molding!

You cannot lift up the back end. There is a pin in the roof with a head on it, and a keyhole slot in the molding which slides over the pin, so you have to remove all the fasteners in front of the pin and then slide the molding towards the front to get it off of the pin.

I looked at the pages also and it is complicated, and you will probably damage something if you don't have both the proper tool and the experience.

I usually scan stuff in when requested, but am busy tonight, and also, it is better if this is done by the dealer. But if I get a chance tomorrow I will scan the pages and post them here.

If the tape trick tells you it is the moldings, you should let the dealer mess with them.

havokgroup

Here you go! Hope this helps ya out!

http://www.havokgroup.com/tl_manual/

abirvalg

ouch!
alright now you got me scared
i'm 90% positive it's the molding
may be i'll just tell the dealer that's what it is
instead of making them test it
since it is noticably loose on the "noisy" side

my worst fear is - they'll be looking into the same manual and have just as much experience doing this as i do
i just know how mechanics are
and how much they care
plus putting caulk in there may not even be an option
even though it's better than having an air gap it's not in the manual

abirvalg

thanks a bunch!