Sun Visor Issue -- Fixed!!!

[Warhammer]

I finally took the time today to tear into the drivers side sun visor. For about a month now, the drivers side sun visor has been able to stay up in place but there is no adjustment except for straight down when I'm trying to use it. It's extremely annoying and keeps me from seeing what I need to see!

I had a very small amount of time to fix it so I don't have any pictures yet. The passenger side visor is doing something similar except it's not staying up but has adjustment when down. I'll fix it the same way because I think it's only a matter of time before it too has no adjustment while down.

The pictures posted in PaulS's gallery are very blurry and lack intimate detail. I used his pictures as inspiration. Basically, you have to tear apart the entire upper portion up to the point in his pictures. He's showing the drivers side visor so you need to tear apart the upper left third of the visor to fix it right.

Nissan Murano Photo Gallery - 2004 Murano Sunvisor - inside

When you tear into it, use a seam ripper to undo the threads closest to the area where the sun visor screws into the ceiling. The adhesive that holds together the rest of the fabric easily separates. After that, you need to remove all of the foam around the arm and mechanical mechanism to expose the entire sun visor adjustment mechanism. You'll have to remove some extremely annoying adhesive tape from both sides of the visor. The only way to remove the adhesive from your hands is acetone! I tried soap, rubbing alcohol, etc. I just said to heck with it and used acetone on a rag. After removing the tape and foam, you'll easily see the hole that already exists. This is where PaulS shows where he put in a screw. Putting a screw into this hole will allow the sun visor to stay up in place when not in use.

If you have the other issue with the sun visor dropping straight down, you need to install 2 more screws. They will be to the left of the hole that PaulS referenced. However, you will need to drill 2 holes to put the screws in. I will post detailed pictures of these later. Bottom line...I used 3 size #6 hex headed screws, 6 locking washers, and 3 standard nuts to tighten up the sun visor mechanism. After drilling the 2 extra holes, just insert the hardware, tighten and you're done. The tighter the screws are, the harder it will be to adjust the sun visor. I adjusted them and did multiple tests until I found the perfect amount of resistance. It doesn't feel anything like OEM, but at least it works perfectly!

I'll be taking care of the passenger side visor sometime this week. I'll take detailed pictures and post them here. Hopefully they will help someone else forgo spending a ridiculous amount of money!

[turbizzy]

Good job.

But you get partial credit for no pictars. Post up some pics so we can see!

[mjs9811]

Thanks to Warhammer and everyone else who has done fixes on this, I gave it a go today. So far, all is well. I pretty much followed the same steps...here are three photos (2003 Murano):

Nissan Murano Photo Gallery - Sun visor fix

1) Cut open the fabric, cut away the tape, cut away the foam (see the photo)

2) If you cut away enough foam, you will see there's already a hole in the metal that wraps around the axis (see where my screw/nut is located). I did not drill any holes.

3) I just put a screw/nut in the existing hole and tightened it. Sorry I don't have a screw size -- I just dug through my magic bag of leftover screws and found one that was short enough. The hole was actually a little too small so I had to open it up a bit (I put a nail in there and rolled it around inside the hole to loosen things up. That's what she said.)

4) After tightening, I re-mounted the visor. I was a little too tight, so I loosened the screw a hair

5) I used some double sided foam to patch things up. This is probably the least appealing part of the fix. It looks a little trashy, but then again, it's not that noticeable (and it's SO much better than a floppy visor).

As always, thanks to the Mo crowd for sharing notes. I'm at 125,000 miles and still going strong!

Mike

P.S. For those who were saying that the heat might have been the cause of the visor losing tension, I'm in Scottsdale, AZ, so it might be true.

[nitely]

Did this fix last weekened---both sides. I only added one other hole by drilling on the aluminum part only (after the midsection/gap with plastic that hugs the rod). New hole was aligned with the existing hole. The closer to the rod the new hole is the more effective the tension you can put on the rod. Tighten with the #6 screw and nut and all is functioning as it should again. My daughter said the blanket stitch that I did closing up the cloth cover looks "ghetto". "Its only temporary" I said....... Hey! atleasts its working again. No more blinding light.

[Warhammer]

There's actually more to it. Just putting the screw in the existing hole will help to keep the sun visor up and out of the way. If your visor stays up okay but doesn't adjust when down, then there is a separate fix for that. That's the one I figured out.

Will hopefully get pics of the passenger side fix soon. Already fixed the driver side visor.

[nitely]

Yeah. Putting a screw on the existing hole did not give enough tension on my visors. So I added one more screw on the other end of that aluminum bracket kinda thing. And that did it. Enough tightness when moving the visor up and down the different angles. Drove around hitting some bumps to see if it will fall down like before. All is good. Yippie!

[Warhammer]

How did you put yours back together? The fabric came apart easily but it was a PITA to get it back together. Going to have to find some kind of matching patch material to make it look somewhat decent.

[nitely]

Just sewing needle and thread--similar to color of the covering. Seals it back as before --but the stitch you can't hide.

[Warhammer]

I wish I could do that. While drilling the new holes in mine, the bit caught the fabric so it's torn to shreds. I glued it back together the best I could but it still looks like hell. Will definitely treat the passenger side nicer.

[ksullivan58]

Thanks to all who contributed to this write-up. I just did it on my 2004 SL AWD and it works great. My visor was dropping at any little bump and I was afraid it might cause an accident. I didn't want to pay the $134 for a replacement visor (Courtesyparts.com).

[pandatx]

I am so disgusted with Nissan. I have started a Facebook Page entitled Nissan Should Fix its Sunvisor Issue. It can be found at
https://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/fixnissansunvisors


Nissan isn't going to change a darn thing if we just complain on the Nissan site. They know nobody else is looking here. Perhaps if we widen the scope of people who see this issue they will do something to fix it. Feel free to head over and "Like" the page and also to leave your thoughts, stories, etc. The people that see the info and the more that people see about it will at least let more people know that there is a problem, it has been known about for several years, and not only will Nissan not fix it, but expects the consumers to spend a ridiculous amount of money (sometimes repeatedly) to replace a part that fails due to their design flaw.

Thanks for any support!
Amy

[knumbknuts]

That hole tells me the manufacturer missed a part. Or we're lucky that clip had a bonus hole.

I used a 6-32 x 1/2" bolt.

Thanks a million for posting this fix. Or at least thanks a couple hundred bux.

[Amir]

It's fixed! After 3 years of putting up with the ****ing visor flopping down I finally fixed it thanks to all the people who posted. Following the directions (I used 1 screw; no drilling), it took me about an hour from start to finish. I took my time so as not to screw it up since this is my wife’s car. I used a razor to open up the visor, then relying on my military experience, I used a needle and thread to close things back up...looks good as new. Just saved $150. Sad that Nissan doesn’t stand behind their product and wants to charge an arm and a leg for a $20 part. My next car won’t be Nissan because of their lack of customer service.

[Pilgrim]

Just a note - the photo gallery is the worst feature of this website. I'd much rather see photos posted in the thread or see a link to a Photobucket or other file folder...ANYTHING but the gallery. It's awful to try and work through a sequence of photos with all the image reloading and images jumping around.

[frank1492]

Originally Posted by Amir

It's fixed! After 3 years of putting up with the ****ing visor flopping down I finally fixed it thanks to all the people who posted. Following the directions (I used 1 screw; no drilling), it took me about an hour from start to finish. I took my time so as not to screw it up since this is my wife’s car. I used a razor to open up the visor, then relying on my military experience, I used a needle and thread to close things back up...looks good as new. Just saved $150. Sad that Nissan doesn’t stand behind their product and wants to charge an arm and a leg for a $20 part. My next car won’t be Nissan because of their lack of customer service.

I wasn't able to find the pre-existing hole that everybody talks about so had to drill. Using a sheet metal screw is much easier than a machine screw with nut because you don't even have to take the visor off. Just make sure that when you drill through the clamp that you use two sizes of drills. Drilling through the top of the flange on the clamp, use a drill big enough to let the screw through easily. Drilling through the bottom side (through the first hole) make sure the hole is slightly smaller than the diameter of the screw measured across the *bottom* of the threads so the screw will catch well and you can tighten it up real good to pinch the clamp. Total time: about 1/2 hour. Repair life: Until it needs to be retightened or when I sell my vehicle.