Sound Deadening Your 4Runner - Part 2 - Headliner
By: Bob_98SR5
Last Update: August 4, 2003
Application: 1998 Toyota 4Runner SR5

Obligatory Disclaimer
I am providing this write up for illustrative purposes only. Perform at your own risk. Any mods (including this one) you perform on your vehicle is your responsibility. Commercial use of this write up will result in legal action as well as the undying scorn from members of the online Toyota 4Runner community. You've been warned.

Edits to this Page:

8/4/03: Under Step 7, I could not find the tool that I used to remove it. I tried a putty knife and it worked like a charm too. The original tool looked like one of my former woman boss' tongues, so use your imagination when browsing the tool section at Home Depot.

Summary
Removing the headliner will allow you to sound deaden your roof. There are plenty of areas where you can deaden, namely the areas in the rear passenger and cargo areas. The A, B, C & D pillars in my opinion are not worth it and might even cause difficulty in re-assembling the trim panels. However as I said, the roof is a major area that can be quickly improved upon with the deadening materials.

Here is a great picture of the headliner removed and what pieces hold the headliner to the 4runner:

The Anatomy of a Headliner The parts that hold the headliner to the 4runner are as follows: (V) Two sets of visors and visor retainer clips (R) Rearview mirror assembly (M) Vanity lights/garage remote assembly (T) Moonroof trim (D) Middle Dome Light (H) Four headliner fasteners (G) Four Grab handles Also note that the entire headliner "slides" and is held in place by interior trim panels and pieces. Read on and learn how to remove this very unwieldy interior piece.

Step 4: Rear Cargo Panels
There are several pieces of body panels you'll need to remove to expose the interior sides of your 4Runner. For the most part, they are easy to remove. However, the body panels have attached fasteners which affix themselves to the 4runner itself. The chance of breakage is always there if you rush it, so definitely use caution. Or like me, buy the fasteners ahead of time so if you break them, you can just replace them.

Since you've already removed the front and rear passenger as well as the rear cargo step plates, you've set the stage to remove the body panels. We'll start from the back by removing large rear cargo side panels. Begin by removing the cover off the top rear cargo area dome light. Tape up a flat-bladed screwdriver, wedge on the right side, and pull downwards. This one required a little more force that I expected. Once removed, you should see four screws. Unscrew them, pull out the dome light, and then unhook the harness. After unhooking it, re-insert the screws back into the dome light, snap the cover back on, and then put the whole thing in a safe place.

Take a taped up flat-bladed screwdriver and wedge it in (W). Pop out the light cover to expose the 4 screws		Remove the four philips-head screws. Pull it all out, unhook the harness and then safely stow away.

You can now pull the top trim panel down. Pull down with firm yet gentle force. There should be several plastic fasteners holding it up. These are the easier ones to remove because they are all plastic. Once you remove this, you will have exposed another two screws that hold the large rear cargo area panels at the top. Unscrew and tape them to the ends. You know the drill.

If you have a rear cargo cover, you'll need to unscrew both the cargo cover mount as well as the "holder". Sorry, no pics of the holder portion but you know what it is. Take a long philips-head screwdriver and remove all screws.

After pulling down the top trim panel, remove these two screws (one each side)		Remove the cargo cover mount and "holder" screws with a long, philips-head screwdriver. Tape up and put in a safe place

You're now ready to remove the large rear cargo panels. We'll start with the easier of the two, the left one. Starting from the bottom, firmly but gently pull to the right. You'll probably feel a nice "pop" sound similar to the top trim panel you've just removed. However, these snaps are different because they have a metal enforced tip to it so don't be surprised if they dont come out with the body panel. Don't worry, veee haf ways to get deez out. Now work your way up and to the front to remove the panel. Once done, remove the the small trim piece at the front of the rear cargo panel which is adjacent to the rear passenger seat belt.

To fully remove the rear cargo panel, unbolt the rear passenger seat belt bolt with a 14mm socket. Remove the bolt and then thread the seat belt through and out the rear cargo panel. Once you've done this, hand tighten the seat belt bolt.

Remove the front panel if it didnt come off by itself.		Remove the seat belt bolts and then thread the seatbelt (minus the bolt) through the rear cargo panel. Don't worry, it'll go right through.

To remove the right side rear cargo panel, do the same as above. However, there is one extra step. You will need to remove the rear 12v accessory outlet. Begin by starting at the bottom and pull a few fasteners out. Then pull the bottom part out and then you'll see that the "tub" that the 12v outlet sits in has two tabs at the top. Push both down with your fingers and then push out. Remove the harness and then stow this in your parts area.

Here's the left panel exposed. Notice that several fasteners didn't make the journey. You'll have to go from behind with pliers, squeeze the metal parts and push through.		Push these tabs down, push through, unhook the harness and put this this part away in a safe place

Step 5: Removing the Roofline and Moonroof Trim
There are two sets of interior roofline trim pieces that need to be unfastened at the top only. They are locate in the driver and passenger compartments. Unfastening these pieces will allow you to slide the headliner out. As with other trim pieces, firmly but gently pull towards you. These fasteners are not the plug type like the other ones. They will all come out so don't worry. Do NOT pull off these panels. Just unfasten the top portion. Sound deadening the areas behind these panels is not worth it and might actually make re-assembly difficult. If you think you can swing it, go for it, but you've been advised.

Remove the moonroof trim by simply pulling it off.

Here is the B-pillar roof trim. Remove the top portion of both trim pieces (T) and remove the grab handles (G)		Remove the moonroof trim by simply pulling it off

Step 6: Removing the Visors, Vanity Light/Garage Opener, Rearview Mirror, and Passenger Dome Light
Ok, these are pretty easy to remove with one exception to which I will get to. First, start by removing the visors by detaching the visors from the visor retainer clips. To remove the visor retainer clip, unscrew the single screw and pull down on it. It will take some effort. To remove the visor itself, move the visor out of the way and remove the two screws. You can now wiggle that piece out. Of note, the passenger side has a harness for the visor vanity light that you need to detach.

Unscrew the retainer clip screw and then pull forcefully downward to remove this part		Remove both screws and remove the visor

To remove the moonroof assembly, open the garage remote hatch and remove the single screw. Pull the assembly downwards and detach the harness...if you can. I tried several times and in several ways but I was not able to remove it. If you find a way to remove it, email me.

You'll need to remove these two assemblies. Open hatch (G) and remove screw. Remove trim piece (T) and snap off cover.		Remove screw (S), pull down and detach the harness

To remove the vanity light/rear view mirror assembly, remove the trim piece, pull off the vanity mirror cover and then remove the four screws. Now to remove the rear passenger dome light, take your taped flat-bladed screwdriver and pry off the cover. Remove the two screws and pull the assembly off. Put all assemblies in your parts area.

You'll need to remove these two assemblies. Open hatch (G) and remove screw. Remove trim piece (T) and snap off cover.		Remove screws (S), pull down and detach the harness

To remove the grab handles, remove the protective covers and unscrew the screws with a philips head screwdriver. Sorry no pictures but this is easy enough.

Step 7: Removing the Headliner Fasteners and the Headliner
You might want to call a friend or someone else to give you a hand here. To remove the headliner fasteners is not an easy task. Luckily, I had the a tool (shown below) that allowed me to easily remove these fasteners. If you can find a similar tool, it's definitely worth your time. Otherwise, you're on your own. Have your helper hold the back part of the headliner up while you remove these fasteners.

Try to find a similar tool like this to remove these headliner fasteners.		Here's what the headliner fastener looks like. Order 4 of these just in case you break them. Ask your Toyota parts guy for this part. Just describe it and he'll find it for you (color specific)

Once removed, get ready for tne headliner to suddenly drop. Also of note, there was a black box and some wires that was attached to the top of the rear of my headliner. I have no clue what they are but I'm sure I can find out. Detach them from the headliner and then with the help of your friend, slide the headliner out towards the back.

Here's a pic of the mystery black box and wires that were attached to the top of the headliner in the rear cargo area. Detach it.		Here's what the headliner looks like almost removed.

Step 8: Cleaning and Prepping the 4Runner
Now that you've removed all the body panels and headliner, you'll have to tear out the all the stock roof padding and scrape the padding off. Begin by tearing off large pieces of the existing roof padding. Take a piece of it (or an old t-shirt) and soak it in mineral spirits. Take this now-soaked piece of padding and soak the roof padding remnants. Let it completely soak and take a flat blade to it.

Here's a pic of stock roof padding. As you can see, it's not much. Gaps in the padding (G) are clearly shown. Roof section (E) is completely unpadded. Pull and scrape the existing stock padding off.		Soak the remnant carpet padding with mineral spirits. Let soak for a few minutes and then scrape off

Clean up the rest of your 4runner with a brush and a soapy rag. You're now ready to move onto the fun stuff: sound deadening.

To view the interior shots of the side panels and roof, click here.

NEXT PAGE - Sound Deadening

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