glass sunroof stuck: halp

[c0rbin9]

Probably should have seen this coming, but the last time I slid my sunroof closed the rear didn't seal. Now it doesn't work at all and operating the switch it just clunks. Save me r3v. :D




Please help, I'm supposed to be installing sik modz not looking at sunroof diagrams.

[roguetoaster]

Can't tell much from that pic, but there is a hand crank hole under a removable panel next to the switch on factory power sunroof mechanisms. You can get the crank handle from your in trunk tool box or use an appropriate non BMW supplied tool.

[c0rbin9]

Oh dear. There is no removable panel nor do I have a sunroof tool.

I'm going to have to remove the entire trim piece behind the visors. Hopefully I can somehow fix it from there.

[Kershaw]

Post a pic of the area of your roof near the rear view mirror. The tool is just a hex key. Although a hex socket and an impact gun will move the sunroof a lot quicker.

[Zeemz]

Oh dear. There is no removable panel nor do I have a sunroof tool.

I'm going to have to remove the entire trim piece behind the visors. Hopefully I can somehow fix it from there.

It is the little blank panel to the right of the sunroof switch seen in the first picture in the thread I linked below, once removed you can use an allen wrench.

http://e30performance.info/viewtopic.php?t=1374

You can see it here too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATwmkiMoWQo

This will let you close it properly for the time being, but if you have to change out the motor for the permanent solution it is easiest to pull the whole panel.

And if you are so frustrated with your glass moon roof, you should sell it to me. :devil:

[TobyB]

hex socket and an impact gun will move the sunroof a lot quicker.

Be careful with glass!
one of the things that goes wrong is
that the rails come unstuck
from the glass itself... and it kinda sounds
like the gear on the motor's stripped, or worse, the cables
have stripped where the gear happens to be right now.

Go slowly and carefully, he says from experience...

t

[c0rbin9]

Thanks for answers all, definitely going to try to fix when I get home.

There is definitely no removable panel next to the switch. The glass is stamped "Sekurit" and the shade says "Hollandia Sunroofs"

[Kershaw]

Well the hex key hole is still there, because it's integral to all e30 sunroof motors.

It's in the center of the 17mm nut.

[rcsoundn1]

It seems like he has an aftermarket SR?

[TobyB]

Yeah, all the glass ones are aftermarket. Dealer installed, maybe?

t

[c0rbin9]

Contact cleaner to the rescue! I sprayed the switch and some of the grounds with contact cleaner and it started working again, just enough to shut it, never to be opened again, at least until more urgent projects are completed first.

I did end up removing the long trim piece trying to find the manual crank, and nothing of the sort was there. Just a little relay box with wires from the switch and the back of the sunroof. Moral of the story - don't get a fucking aftermarket sunroof.

[roguetoaster]

Moral of the story - don't get a fucking aftermarket sunroof.

100%, when someone gets one installed in a car they should be required to get "I am a moron" tattooed on their foreheads.

[TobyB]

Nah, not always.
Some of these things were dealer- installed before the car ever went up for sale new.
I parted one- the only giveaway is that, as you found, there is a maker's mark on the
mechanicals. I don't remember Hollandia, but Sekurit made the glass in mine, too.

Now, when they start with the tinsnips, THAT gets the tatoo. T-Tops, I think, get it too.

t