How to remove the Sunroof out of a 2012 Cadillac SRX
Introduction
Hello boys, girls, and other humans! Today this guide will be showing you how to remove the sunroof assembly out of a 2012 Caddy SRX! This is NOT a guide on how to remove the headliner, however that takes up the majority of the job. The sunroof is really only held on by like, 20 10mm bolts, but there is so much junk in the way that I can't just skip to the sunroof removal part!
Estimated Time:
53 minutes (with an extra set of hands)
Tools Required
- 10mm socket
- Ratchet with extensions
- Impact gun (For that 53 min removal time)
- T10 driver
- T20 driver (I think)
- Your wife or husband or a friend to hold the sunroof up for you
- Flathead screwdriver
Step 1: HEADLINER REMOVAL
This is the WORST. There are so many little bits and bobs Cadillac decided to throw on the roof. Lots and lots of brittle plastic to remove!
The first thing you're gonna want to do is remove all of the Jesus handles. All of them had a light behind them, that has to go too.
Remove these things too. I honestly don't know what they are, but they will impede your process.
Remove the sun visors. You remove this little cover plate and then unscrew the T10/T20's and pull the visor out of the roof.
Unplug the sun visors. The plug goes up above the headliner and the wire is glued to the upside of the headliner.
Remove the roof console. It actually has no retaining screws, it just pops out of the roof. It's got those "metal-push-into-rectangular-hole" type pins, so just gently go around prying and you'll have it out. It's also a good time to remove the upper pillar trims, they pull off or have screws behind the airbag warning cover piece.
Once all of the bits and pieces have been remove, you're ready to gently pull the headliner down, It has these clips that fit around the circumference of the sunroof, and it just pulls off. Slowly lower the headliner, and begin to unplug the plugs at the corners of the vehicle, under the pillar trims you removed earlier.
This is one of those plugs. You press on the black fringed areas and fold the while locking tab up. Remove the headliner from the vehicle (Pull it out the back ;) ) and you should have perfect access to the sunroof.
Step 2: Sunroof removal (Finally!!)
First thing you're gonna wana do is remove all of these metal brackets. They're all held in by 10mm bolts and prevent the sunroofs removal. They DO share a bolt with the roof airbags so maybe be careful of that. They've got a little notch that holds them in, just slide up and remove.
Unplug the motors. There are 2, and there are 3 plugs. One plug is basically power in, and the other two plug into the motors. Don't miss these! You technically can leave the motors plugged in, but the harness for them has to be unplugged.
Disconnect the drain lines. You're pulling on the dark gray part. Give it a rotation to break the seal and disconnect it. There are 4! 4 drain plugs! Ah Ah Ah!
Don't drink the water that might come out of them, for my sake. Please.
Now we're really here. I'd remove that black plastic retainer for the roof console as well (It's a 7 or 8 mm bolt, we actually just ripped it out of the roof!). So as you can see, there are a bunch of 10mm bolts holding this sunroof in.
Call your wife over and have her hold up the sunroof assembly as you begin to remove the 10mm bolts. It's a good idea to leave one bolt in each corner, and then slowly remove the last two bolts. Once you've unbolted it, it might take a little tug or a pull but it'll come down into the vehicle.
My coworker and I tilted the sunroof out of the opening and slowly pulled it out. The seats were still in the car, if you fold them down you've got tons of room. You can see how many bolts there are on the front of the assembly, times 2 plus probably another 8 or 10, for sure there are at least 16 10mm bolts to remove. Like I said, now super difficult but there is just so much junk in before you get to the meat of this operation.
Congratulations! Now you can go onto greater things, like putting a new sunroof in because your son just wanted to see what would happen if he hit a rock with a tennis racket. Happy Wrenching!
