Struggling Sunroof!

[quincy777]

Hi all,
My sunroof seems to struggle to open and close the last 1/4 (closest to rear of car) I usually need to help pull the first bit.

It looks like everything is straight, nothing is bent or rusty. I put fresh grease on parts I could see, but didn't seem to help.

Is this normal? any advise would be great.
Cheers

 

[Sydo]

It's not normal.

My advise is to fix it before your motor burns out!!

My sunroof motor eventually shit itself with the roof open - and it's a real bitch of a job to close manually. (you have to remove the motor totally before it will budge)

My only advise is to check the alignment when fully closed. Is it flush with the roofline? Because is sounds like it's getting caught on something, somwhere.

 

[SiliconAngel]

Cam leave it closed until you get some time, then take your roof lining out and check it from end-to-end.

Andy's previous sunroof probs discussed here.

(how did you go getting that fixed anyway, Andy??)

 

[Sydo]

Andy's previous sunroof probs discussed here.

(how did you go getting that fixed anyway, Andy??)

Yeah - all good now.
Was able to source a second hand motor from Kempys for about $120..
Calibrating it is a total bitch of a job however!! I had to screw in the motor, test, and unscrew at least a dozen times over a few days to get it right.

The good news is however, I'm now such a friggin expert at the job I can remove the motor and ECU without removing the headlining!

 

[SiliconAngel]

Good news dude So you're the OzVR4 Moonroof go-to guy now

 

[quincy777]

Hi guys,
In the heat yesterday i took out all the roof lining. The rails for sunroof were dirty so I wiped them out and put down fresh grease. I could not find any visual defect - nothing is bent or out of alignment.
The crap part is problem not fixed!!! anyone got more ideas or know where I can take it. thanks

 

[Sydo]

When you close the sunroof - does the interior shade close too? If this is the case, I'd suggest you alignment is out somewhere (it's not meant to).

I had this problem for a while and did notice the extra strain on the motor.

 

[quincy777]

I can defanatly hear the motor under extra strain, but it does not close the interior shade. Who checks alignment on these things.

 

[Sydo]

I had another thought..

When removing my sunroof motor, a great deal of gunk fell out of the gearing mechanism. My suggestion for you would be to remove the motor, and give it a bit of a clean.


You can do this without totally removing the headlining.
- Remove the interior light surround. (2 screws)
- Remove driver and passenger sunshade (2 screws each)
- Remove driver and passenger interior headlining handle things (2 screws each)

- Peel back the headlining as best as you can without creasing it.

You now should be able to (just!) access the sunroof motor.

- Using a 12mm spanner to loosen the screws (3) holding the sunroof motor in place. This is fairly difficult to do from the limited angle of access, but be patient.. Once they are loose, it's probably easiest to remove them with your fingers.

WARNING. DO NOT OPERATE SUNROOF WITH SCREWS LOOSE, OR WHEN THE MOTOR IS OUT. This will mess with the alignment and you'll have to recalibrate the whole thing.

- After removing the screws, the motor should come straight out. Use a little force if necessary.

- Clean the gearing on the motor, and remove any gunk from the sunroof while you're at it.

- Replace and refit.