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Replacing the seal on a ZJ sunroof

42K views 33 replies 24 participants last post by  fezzie020 
#1 ·
The seal on a Grand Cherokee sunroof is something you want to make sure is good. I found out the hard way that when the seal is bad you wind up getting a shower in a car wash. I bought my 98 ZJ and the PO never mentioned a bad seal and I didn't find out about it until I went through the car wash for the first time. I also found out that information on how to replace this seal is almost non existent on the web. Even the repair manuals don't have it. So here's what I did.

I purchased a sunroof seal from the Sunroof Dr for $80.00. The nstructions that come with it are not very good, hard to understand and in one case wrong.

First thing is make sure the sunroof is in the vent position which means the back of the glass must be up above the roof. Open the sunshade and close the sunroof completely and keep the button depressed until the back of the glass goes as far up as it can. On mine the broken seal was so twisted up behind the glass that it wouldn't allow the sunroof to go all the way up into the vent position. I was lucky in that I could still see the nuts holding the glass in place. Here is the sunroof in the proper vent position.



Both sides are indentical so just do the same thing on each side.

Next remove the plastic side covers from the frame. You do that by sliding the cover TOWARD THE BACK OF THE VEHICLE, not forward like the instructions say, and pull them off. Your sunroof will look like this. You can see the three nuts securing the glass to the slide mechanism.



Just loosen those 3 nuts using a 10mm open end wrench. You could use a socket on the two back nuts but not on the front nut. ONLY LOOSEN THE NUTS do not remove them. Visible here is one of the posts the plastic snaps on to.



The frame has 6 keyholes in it (3 on each side) that allow you to simply slide the glass toward the back of the vehicle and lift it right out. (Only one keyhole shown here)

 
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#2 · (Edited)
After removing the glass, with attached frame, I removed the sun shade to reattach the fabric to the front and back by pushing the spring plungers on one side and lifting it out of its groove under the slide. You can see the spring plungers in the picture. I used two way trophy tape to hold down the fabric but it was so rotten in spots that I used Gorilla tape on the whole front of it. The back wasn't bad so trophy tape worked just fine.




Next picture is the glass with the old seal on it. You can see how twisted the seal was and in the upper left corner how ripped and damaged it was.



Next step is removing the old seal which just pulls off no problem and installing the new seal. Start at the middle of back side of the glass which is the side with the trademark on it and put the seal in place with the rubber part on the glass side not the metal (frame) side. Use a rubber hammer and stretch it into place and wrap it around the corners gently pounding it into place. Pound it down good and secure. Be careful that you don't roll the rubber part as you install the seal. Make sure it is flat against the glass. Make sure you have straight smooth edges that meet tightly. Follow the maker's instruction on this. At this point I removed all the nuts and put a drop of non hardening thread locker on each one and screwed the nuts in place leaving about a 1/16 inch space between the base of the nut and the frame. That will allow plenty of room when installing the glass on the mechanism.





After you have installed the seal you are ready to put it all back together. If you pulled the sunshade you have to install that first. Just lay it over the opening and push the two spring plungers on one side to drop the sunshade into its place in the groove. Repeat on the other side and make sure it is seated in its groove and moves easily.

Next put the glass with nuts in place over the keyholes, line the nuts up and push down. When all three nuts per side are in place push the glass forward and tighten the nuts with your 10mm wrench. I just tightened good and tight but didn't use a torque wrench.

Almost finished. Now you have to reinstall the covers. Note the clips and the pins they snap on to. There's three on each side and you just line them up and push the cover toward the back of the vehicle.



Now you can enjoy the beautiful sunshine and stay dry too.
 
#15 · (Edited)
Use a rubber hammer and stretch it into place and wrap it around the corners gently pounding it into place.
I'm new to the forum and I found this thread. GREAT WRITE UP!!! 2 THUMBS UP!!!
I'm not trying to split hairs, nor am I sure if it even applies here, but I worked at a glass shop for a few years and we were told to always compress a rubber seal into place, rather than stretching it into place.

Compressing it into place will help compensate for the rubber's tendency to shrink over time, helping it seal well for a longer time.
Compressing it TOO MUCH will make the seal bulge too much to let the glass come up though the hole, and it will remove the seal from the glass when trying to lower the glass into the roof.

You may have to shorten it SEVERAL times to make it fit perfectly, but if you make it too short you may just end up over-stretching it and it won't seal at all. Or in a year or two's time it may shrink so much that it no longer seals and you'll have to do it over.

I may be completely wrong and you may have to stretch the hell out of it to make it work right, but just remember to always cut these seals too long, rather than too short the first time.

My $0.02
 
#6 ·
Gary has some short legs.. :D



Nice write up, just saved it in my bookmarks. needs to be in the faq's
 
#14 ·
leob1 said:
Great write up, this is on my to do list.
One kinda dumb question though, do you have to keep the ignition in the "on" position to keep the sunroof open the whole time?
Or is there a trick to keping it open with the key in the off position?

Thanks.
On my 93, there is a button labeled ASC with the other 2 buttons unlabeled. If you move the ASC button, in one position it shuts automatically, the other it does not.
 
#18 ·
If you think your sunroof drains are clogged, you can run a piece of plastic weedeater string from the bottom of the jeep up to the sunroof. The front drains come down the A-pillars and the back drains come out behind the rear wheelwells. If you keep pushing the string in, you will eventually see it come out under the sunroof.
 
#20 ·
Hey. I am headed to the salvage yard for a few things. My father in law's '98 ZJ had the glass panel sucked out after passing a lorry/rig. The yard doesn't have the battery in the vehicles. Is venting the panel a requirement to get to the 6 fasteners? Or does it make the job easier?
 
#21 ·
I am pretty sure that the six fastners are between the glass and the sunroof tray and cannot be accessed when it is down. You can remove the entire tray (with glass). You can then cut the power line and use a portable jumpstarter on the power wires to move the gears and raise the glass.
 
#23 ·
Sunroof seal question

Hey Gary, greetings from NorCal and Merry Xmas.

I read your old post on replacing the ZJ sunroof seal and was wondering if, when you had finished, the new seal was ALOT tighter than you expected.

I just installed my new seal and man, this thing was super tight. I had to feather the switch and work the SR into place from the top, it was so tight. I did adjust it as far forward as it would go and everything is centered up but DAMN this thing is tight.

Did you have to leave yours closed in the sun for a few days to let the new seal soften up and 'break in'?

As a note - the ZJ seals have been discod but Rick at the SR Dr. said they had used a Ford seal from an '06 escape on ZJ sunroofs and it had worked so he sent me the PN for that one - which is on my ZJ. Before installing I did compare them sided by side and the profiles of each looked to be an exact match.

Anyway, sorry for the long note, was just hoping to get your input.

Thanks and Merry Xmas.
Mikey
 
#25 ·
Hey Gary, greetings from NorCal and Merry Xmas.

I read your old post on replacing the ZJ sunroof seal and was wondering if, when you had finished, the new seal was ALOT tighter than you expected.

I just installed my new seal and man, this thing was super tight. I had to feather the switch and work the SR into place from the top, it was so tight. I did adjust it as far forward as it would go and everything is centered up but DAMN this thing is tight.

Did you have to leave yours closed in the sun for a few days to let the new seal soften up and 'break in'?

As a note - the ZJ seals have been discod but Rick at the SR Dr. said they had used a Ford seal from an '06 escape on ZJ sunroofs and it had worked so he sent me the PN for that one - which is on my ZJ. Before installing I did compare them sided by side and the profiles of each looked to be an exact match.

Anyway, sorry for the long note, was just hoping to get your input.

Thanks and Merry Xmas.
Mikey
any chance you can share that escape part #?
 
#28 ·
Where can I find a replacement sunroof seal?

Has anyone found where to get a new seal for the sunroof yet? Looked every where with no luck
I too have had zero luck finding a replacement sunroof glass seal. I emailed the SunroofDoctor.com with that question 2 or 3 times, but never got a reply.

We live in Oregon, and the rains will be coming soon and lasting 5 months. The prospect of the wife's 1996 Grand Cherokee Ltd. driving around with the sunroof glass duct-taped is not going to make me popular when I suggest it as a last resort.

Jeep Dealer recommended replacing the entire glass panel for $825 part cost, only to look it up and find FCA discontinued it.
 
#27 ·
Dude, don’t dig up 4 year dead threads and start a new one on the same topic.
 
#30 ·
Land Rover P/N EEQ100400 works with ZJ

Still need a ZJ sunroof gasket replacement?

I spoke with Rick at the Sunroof Doctor today, Wednesday, March 18th, 2020, about the status of their replacement gasket for the ZJ Grand Cherokee sunroof. Their attempt to get a replacement gasket made was unsuccessful. Rick said the all-rubber gasket the aftermarket manufacturer proposed did not meet the Sunroof Doctor's quality requirements.

He did tell me another car maker used the same sunroof with the same gasket. He suggested Land Rover part number EEQ100400, which is the identical to the gasket sold by Chrysler. I checked on eBay and found a plentiful supply of Land Rover P/N EEQ100400 offered for sale.

A big thank you to Rick at the SunroofDoctor.com in Arizona for sharing this fact.
 
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