2010 Solar Panels loose?

Discussion in 'Prius c Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Ralph Spoilsport, Jul 25, 2016.

Tags:
  1. Ralph Spoilsport

    Ralph Spoilsport Junior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2016
    11
    6
    0
    Location:
    Palm Desert CA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    Hello all, thanks in advance for any help! I have a 2010 Prius, solar panels, sun roof, JBL, the works. (I bought it used.)

    Whenever I go over a speed bump at an angle, or over rough terrain, there's a big clunk form somewhere above and behind me. But I could never tell exactly where its coming from. t First I thought it might be something loose in the sun roof, but I don't think so. I made my wife sit in the backseat while I drove over nearby speed bumps, and she kept pointing toward the area of the roof that houses the solar panels. Can they come loose? Or can the roof struts come loose?

    Anyway that leads to -- my mechanic is trying to figure out how much it would cost to get in there and take a look. He seemed to think that removing the headliner means buying a new headliner (i.e. removing it wrecks it.) That gets very expensive.

    Anybody have any advice? The clunk is very annoying, sounds like the car is coming apart. Maybe it is!
     
    #1 Ralph Spoilsport, Jul 25, 2016
  2. TC400

    TC400 Active Member

    Joined:
    Apr 23, 2012
    751
    169
    0
    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius c
    Model:
    Three
    #2 TC400, Jul 25, 2016
    Ralph Spoilsport likes this.
  3. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2008
    25,215
    16,454
    0
    Location:
    Indiana, USA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV


    Where the repair manual describes how to remove the headliner, it says nothing about having to damage the part, as long as you do it right. It's a lot of steps though, and you almost certainly want to follow the manual carefully so you don't damage it by missing a step. The $15 at techinfo.toyota.com isn't much to pay for knowing how to approach the job.

    If I remember right, to reach the solar panel, you also end up removing a bunch of the moonroof structure. (Or maybe you'll get lucky and just find that part of that structure is what's loose anyway.) Just looked tedious, a bunch of steps in a prescribed order.

    -Chap
     
    #3 ChapmanF, Jul 25, 2016
    Ralph Spoilsport likes this.
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)