Sunroof cable ends

[Heitzke]

Currently in progress of reinstalling a set of mostly functional sunroof parts in my touring. Got all of the old parts out pretty easily



The cables slid right out through the little hole between the silver flashing like material and the channel (you can see it on the front right corner of this picture)



My question now is, how does all this stuff come apart?



I seem to be missing something, because I just can't see how the molded plastic ends on these sunroof cables are going to be able to be fed back through like how they came out.

[916e30Dave]

You need to remove that whole metal flashing to get it out usually. However l, looks like you got them out without doing that first.

1. First remove the black metal plate (2 screws) towards the back of the track (bottom left of your pic).
2. Second remove the thinner metal piece that runs from that plate up to the hole.
3. Then you can feed the cables back in till they catch. You will need assistance with this because they have to be fed in simultaneously while it is cranked with hand crank or the button for the motor is pushed. Keep trying till you get them to go in even or your sunroof won't close correctly or at all.

NOTE: looks like the picture at the top the cable assembly is broken. You replace the whole thing. But you can buy them on Pelican parts. There is a left and right specific part. I found their DIY helpful

http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticles/101-Projects-78-Sunroof/101-Projects-78-Sunroof.htm

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[Heitzke]

Ohhh ok great, thanks. I completely understand how the cable is supposed to look now. Makes a lot more sense that it's a full assembly.

I'll have to look at the exploded view of the whole sunroof a little more closely. There are some gaps in my understanding of it since I haven't been able to see what a fully-functioning group of parts looks like.

edit: Had to come back and thank this response again. For some reason, I hadn't grasped how the cables and gearbox work together. I kept imagining that the gearbox and cables had to be installed as a single piece.