Power sun visor - 2005 Journey

[PHESPE]

Anyone had any luck in repairing the power windshield sun visor? Like the ones on my 2005 Journey

One of the two on my Journey was lowered and refuses to return to the storied position.

I know I can fix it by ordering a new one - for ~$200 - but is there any way to fix them or maybe replace the internal motor.

BTW it's off-warranty - of course

PHESPE

[PHESPE]

Anyone had any luck in repairing the power windshield sun visor? Like the ones on my 2005 Journey

One of the two on my Journey was lowered and refuses to return to the storied position.

I know I can fix it by ordering a new one - for ~$200 - but is there any way to fix them or maybe replace the internal motor.

BTW it's off-warranty - of course

PHESPE

[Pubtym]

Can you hear the motor working?

[PHESPE]

Sure - well sorta of

The motor drove the shade down (mading the correct noise) and now will only drive the shade up about 1/2 inch - makes the same noise.

So yes it is getting the voltage needed to make it work but it stops well short of being in the stored position. And it can be lowered back down.

PHE

[Pubtym]

On the way back ip, does the motor keep running when the shad stops upward movement?

[PHESPE]

No, It "thinks" that the shade is fully retracted. I don't know how it does so but it may be a torque sensor in the motor asembly

PHESPE

[ichn2go]

Is the shade "hanging" up somewhere? Can you gently push it up by hand?
Seems like the motor thinks the shade is fully retracted and cutting off.
Some lube on the joint's? WD40 has solved many problems for me..Good Luck

[PHESPE]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by ichn2go:
Is the shade "hanging" up somewhere? Can you gently push it up by hand?
Seems like the motor thinks the shade is fully retracted and cutting off.
Some lube on the joint's? WD40 has solved many problems for me..Good Luck </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

No it cannon be manually retracted, no it is not binding so WD40 is of no help.

I have removed it and removed the motor - a SOMFY unit made in China and it runs on the bench in either/both directions without a problem. That's why I am guessing it's a torque sensing problem - as it attempts to raise the shade it senses that the torque required to lift the shade is at the level that signals that the shade up and thinks the shade is up so should not be moved up any more.

The internals of the motor are like nothing I have ever seen with strange looking gear works and levers running half the length of the motor tube.

I have a feeling no one here, including me, has any idea why or how it works. So it's spend the cash and but a new shade.

Thanks for your suggestions.

PHESPE

[PHESPE]

Found it – the way to get the power sun-visor to work correctly that is

On my 2005 Journey, there are two power sun-visors, That is, they are electrically raised and lowered. The passenger side one went down as it should but would only retract about 6 inches.

Well since a new one cost about $200 I decided that I would lose nothing by taking a detailed look at the internal motor control (read take it apart). I had thought that the levers, switches and springs inside the motor tube were some-sort of torque sensing/ limiting device. With a lot of looking and some disassembly, I figured out how the darn thing works. All these parts are revolution counters – counting the number of turns of the tube as the shade winds up/down and when enough turns have been make it opens a switch that cuts the current to the drive to the motor. Of course there is a counter for each direction of the motor (shade) to control when to stop the shade both up and down,

But how to fix it??

Well early on I had observed two "buttons"� (one black and one yellow) on the end of the shade and I tried pushing on them. These are on the end of the shade mounting and are more of a square shape than round and have arrows impressed into the plastic material. When I pressed on them it would make the shade go up or down much the same was the switch does – the switch by the seat used to raise/lower the shade. What I did not figure out was that they are not designed to act as local up/down switches but as adjustment switches that reset the counters.

It took me a long time to work out the working of the control unit (inside the motor tube) but when I did I found out that if the shade doesn't go down as far as you wish it to – (when it is in the down position) gently press on the black button until the shade is lowered to the correct position. If the shade does not go all the way up to the stored position – (when it is in the up position) gently press on the yellow button.

I say "gently"� because if I pushed them too hard/too far they would jam in the depressed position and I had to dissemble the shade to get to the buttons to unjam them. If you push the buttons when the shade is not at the full up/down position, the shade will go up/down but WILL NOT reset the counters.

I guess the failure rate is so low no one – including me know how to correct a malfunction. Winnebago technical support answer was – Replace it - but in fairness to them, they do not make the shade unit they just install it. So now you know but it may be a very long time before you shades need adjustment so you (and me) will forget all about it

PHESPE

On Edit - One last note
The black/yellow buttons only work when power is supplied - by pressing (and holding down) the normal up/down switch (the switch by the seat)

[dengraham]

PHESPE,
Wow, what a great past. Thanks for sharing - and for your determination in finding the answer.

[cbeierl]

Thanks for the info, PHESPE! I just went out and looked at mine and experimented a bit. I found that my little black and yellow buttons appear to latch in the depressed position and should come back out again a when pushed in again a bit further. (Although I too had to take it apart to get them back out the first time, they seem to be doing better on their own now, with a little exercise.)

My shade didn't move when I depressed either button, but I found that if I latched the black button in I could then lower the shade to whatever I wanted the lowest position to be and then unlatch the black button so it popped back out--this established the extended stop position. Similarly, for the yellow button, with the button depressed I could position the shade to the upper, fully retracted position and pop out the button, establishing the retracted stop position.

[PHESPE]

Thanks for the added info - I did not expierence the "unlatching" by themselves but I'll try it. It makes sense that it should work as you describe.

PHESPE

[RCVIRGIL]

The switch should latch and unlatch when pressed however I found that one of them would not unlatch and I had to take it apart to get it unlatched. The simple way is to apply power to the visor when it is fully down, keep power applied to it, lightly press the black switch (does not have to latch) until the visor is in the position you want and then release the black switch to set that position. Do the same with the yellow switch for the up position.

[AFChap]

Sounds like the shades that came on my 03 Ultimate. Believe the brand was Auto-motion or something like that ...made in Canada. The adjust buttons will latch in, but as you have found, can ve tempermental. Driver side gave me lots of grief .. fell in front of me twice while driving. Finally figured out a small piece was missing and got mfg'er to send me the piece. The shades were too narrow to work well in my coach and I replaced them w/full width MCD shades in 2008.

[RCVIRGIL]

Thanks Paul. I believe they are AutoMotion (FLX-675 Flexi Shade). I have sent an email asking them for a product manual. Here is a link to their site.

Automotionshade - Product

[AFChap]

I got an info/instruction sheet from years ago them ...just checked my website and found I have it there at http://pjrider.com/Sunshade_PowerOperated.pdf

[cbeierl]

See this thread Meridian 36G Electric Sun Visor for information on a later version of these shades without the black/yellow adjustment buttons.