New (to me) 325i / sunroof problems!

[Hotmommaracing]

I spent the whole day happy - bought a new DD today an '89 325i 5 speed sedan - black - altogether in great shape, clean body, great paint, reupholstered seats, etc. 130,000 miles, well maintained - needs some suspension work, but altogether happy at $2400 in. Bought a big cigar, opened the windows and sunroof (footnote there!) and drove it appx 200 miles today with no problems. Then reality set in.

Get home and can't close the sunroof, rear won't come up. Took the handle off, back and forth and ended up fubaring the whole damn thing. Now nothing works and I can't get the rear of the sunroof to rise to meet the roof. Tore the f-ing fabric on the inner sunroof panel, heard a bunch of sh!t crunch in the mechanism, it will turn counter-clockwise and go back but it will not return when I turn the handle clockwise. I can shove the panel forward and the front mates up with the roof but that's it.

I know I should have parked it in the garage and left it until the weekend rather than try to fix it in the driveway with a flashlight and a screwdriver. Now it's a damn mess and I'm wondering just how many $100s more I just cost myself. Any guidance you all can offer to get this fixed will help greatly (FYI bentley manual will be here tomorrow) - really need this functional by Sunday if possible, so if I've got to get some parts enroute immediately I need to order tomorrow and can't wait for the manual.

Thanks all

Adam

[SteveJ]

Not really sure what position your sunroof is left in, but here is a short version of how to pull the panel.
Close the sunroof and crank it backwards a couple of inches.
Using a plastic pry tool, snap the fabric liner down from the metal sunroof panel. There are six metal clips. Try to pry next to the clips to avoid beding the metal frame for the fabric headliner. The metal frame is spring metal. Once bent, that's about it.
Slide the headliner frame backwards into the car.
Close the sunroof and then tilt it forward.
On either side there are three torx head screws holding the metal sunroof panel to the carraiges that slide on the cables.
Remove the screws and carefully lift out the metal sunroof panel from the car.
You will now have access to the cables & carraiges on the cables.
To remove the headliner panel, slide the panel all the way forward. At the back will be slender metal arms at either side attached to a drip tray that spans the sunroof opening left to right. This drip tray is held to the metal arms with small plastic clips. Snap off the metal arms at the plastic clips and the panel should lift out. As long as the panel is not bent, the fabric can be recovered or reglued.
The handcrank has a toothed gear that that moves the two spiral cables for either side of the sunroof. It could be that the handle was loose, not seated right, or that the gear is worn out. Worse off would be if the cables are worn or broken.