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Old 05-29-2016, 12:04 AM   #1
salguod
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Default Sunroof Diagnosis

I'm starting to dig into my non-functional sunroof. Well, more like poorly functional, I guess.

The previous owner stopped using the sunroof when a year or two ago he heard a scrape when closing it and found a long scratch on the driver's side paint on the sunroof panel. It was closed, so he left it that way.

I haven't touched it until today. It opens to the vent position fine, and the inner panel retracts. It then closes, but the inner panel does not close from the vent position. Is this normal?

When I try to retract it, nearly immediately the rear part of the sunroof drops with a bang, like it's not connected to something. When closing there's a scraping sound from the driver's side and the scratch in the paint. Is the drop-with-a-bang normal? Any idea what that might indicate?

I think my next step is to drop the headliner (it needs replaced anyway) and see what I can see. I'd rather not have to pull the entire cassette to diagnose it, but it seems that I might have to.

Any ideas on what might be wrong?
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Old 05-29-2016, 06:40 AM   #2
Dr Shuffles
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No, the drop-with-a-bang is definitely not normal. And no, I have no idea what's wrong. I can tell you this, though: you'll probably have to remove the whole thing to fix it. When I dropped my headliner panel, I had no reason to mess with the sunroof, but I could see that the sunroof mechanism is enclosed from below, so I doubt you'll be able to fix it in-place.
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Old 05-29-2016, 06:37 PM   #3
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Yeah, I've got to dig into it today or tomorrow.

I did watch a couple of videos found in other threads and learned:
  1. Most of the mechanism is accessible from the top with the outer panel removed.
  2. The inner panel definately should close when the sunroof is closed from the tilt up position. Unfortunately, this fix may require pulling the entire cassette.

Here they are:

Outside repair:


First of 4 videos pretty thoroughly explaining the full mechanism:


I watched them at 1.5 speed, which saves a fair bit of time.
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Old 05-29-2016, 10:04 PM   #4
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Well, I figured out at least part of the problem. The plastic part at the base of the LH control rail is broken.

That's all I can see broken, but the reason that it's scraping is that the inner panel isn't tracking properly. When the sunroof retracts and is then closed, the inner panel slips and doesn't close all the way. The next time it retracts, the inner panel is misaligned (the tab in the one image needs to drop into the slot in the inner panel and it can't) and the outer can't drop all the way, so it scrapes on the inside of the roof.

The first step is replacing the rail and the slider at it's base. Then I can see if that was causing the misalignment. Hopefully that's the case, because where the inner attaches to the cable system is beck inside the roof and not accessible without dropping the cassette.
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Old 05-30-2016, 06:29 AM   #5
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I have an extra for parts. Let me know what you need

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Old 05-30-2016, 12:39 PM   #6
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Thanks for the offer. I've already ordered the rail from Pelican.

Is yours operational? I'd love to see how the inner panel connects to the cable back at the rear. Any pictures or video of that connection would be helpful. I believe it's on the driver's side behind the cross member. It's not visible with the cassette in the car.

Sent from my SM-T320 using Tapatalk
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Old 05-30-2016, 12:42 PM   #7
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I just took apart the whole thing yesterday. I'll try to gets some pics later today
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Old 06-08-2016, 02:55 AM   #8
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I replaced the driver's side rail on Saturday. It went well, mostly, but I had trouble getting the right front corner attached properly. After several tries, I evidently still missed getting the locating pin in the hole because that corner still sits high. It's mostly fully functional now, including the inner panel, which is nice. No removing the entire cassette at this point.

A couple of minor things, however.

When I push the switch all the way, the sunroof opens all the way automatically. However, even though I can feel two detents in the switch for closing it, it won't close (or vent) automatically. Is this normal?

When opening automatically, it stops about 3" or so from the back edge of the opening. Based on the dirt marks on the inner panel, this is where it has always stopped. If I push the switch again it will open it farther, to the back edge of the headliner. Is that normal that it should stop short but still open farther?

If I do open it all the way to the rear edge of the headliner, it won't close at all. I have to open the access panel and turn the sunroof by hand a bit with an allen wrench and then it will close. How do I fix that?

Thanks!
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Old 06-08-2016, 07:14 AM   #9
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Did you recalibrate the motor? If it and the sunroof casette are not in the exact same position they were were when you removed the motor, you need to resync the two together.

If the sunroof is completely open, set the sunroof motor to be fully open too. That is with the sunroof motor plugged in, press the switch so the motor spins to the first open position. Like 80% open. Press once more in the same direction until it stops again.

This is the fully open position as far as the motor is concerned. If your Sunroof is fully open, you can reinstall the motor and press the button until the motor reaches the fully closed position , but not tilted. using the adjustment tool. (kind of Z shaped Allen wrench, tun the motor manually until the top is positioned closed, not cracked, not high, but a mm below level in the rear. Then pull off the motor and resync to fully closed. Your sunroof cassette and motor should not be aligned.

If you don't properly sync the motor and the cassette, the motor can over tilt your sunroof and break the lifting rods then you have a bigger repair.

There are threads around on this procedure. Cheers and good luck.
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Old 06-08-2016, 11:19 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by salguod View Post
When I push the switch all the way, the sunroof opens all the way automatically. However, even though I can feel two detents in the switch for closing it, it won't close (or vent) automatically. Is this normal?

When opening automatically, it stops about 3" or so from the back edge of the opening. Based on the dirt marks on the inner panel, this is where it has always stopped. If I push the switch again it will open it farther, to the back edge of the headliner. Is that normal that it should stop short but still open farther?
Mine does both of those things too and always has, so I would guess they're normal. However, you may still need to do some alignment like BlackBMWs suggested.
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Old 06-08-2016, 01:18 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BlackBMWs View Post
Did you recalibrate the motor? If it and the sunroof casette are not in the exact same position they were were when you removed the motor, you need to resync the two together.
Thanks for the procedure, I'll look into it, however I didn't have to remove the motor to do my repair. In fact, I didn't even pull the cover from the headliner until it froze in the full open position.

I assumed that I wouldn't have to sync it if I didn't pull the motor.
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