Answers to Common Sunroof Problems

[m3j0n]

of course, I was thinking about selling the car and I opened the sunroof to detail the car... and now the sunroof gets stuck a third of the way.... where do I start?!!? damnit!

[ceebus]

My manual sunroof jammed halfway open tonight. Crank spins almost freely (clicks a little bit but clearly not pulling any cable). I've released the sunroof cover, but I can only push it back a few inches since the roof is halfway open.

What the hell do I do here?

Thanks.

[Mistawall]

Same shit happend to me I was able to close it tho took me a good half hour of going back and forth


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[Vincent Brick]

Please forgive me if I missed it, but what is the solution to a sunroof that has gotten difficult to crank open over the course of a few weeks? Sunroof worked great when I got the car, opened it every day, but recently it has gotten progressively harder to crank open/closed, to the point I am concerned about breaking something. Passenger rear side sticks up a couple mm when closed, maybe needs adjustment, but isn't bad. Its a AZ/CA car so rust should not be an issue.

Google turned up a post with the same question on another forum, but no one responded, haven't been able to find info on this specifically.

Thanks.

[estoguy]

I had a similar issue... found that the rear left screw had loosened and the rails were scraping against the frame. Readjusted and all was good.

[TrentOSU]

Hey guys my car was sitting for 6+ years before I purchased it. The sunroof is automatic and works perfectly but on the driver side, the outer seal is cracked and it's incredibly hard (like it's going to turn to dust). Where can I purchase a brand new one so I can prevent leaking? My car is always garaged but I do live in Oregon.

[Vincent Brick]

I had a similar issue... found that the rear left screw had loosened and the rails were scraping against the frame. Readjusted and all was good.

Thanks, I'll try and go through it all today and see whats up.

Hey guys my car was sitting for 6+ years before I purchased it. The sunroof is automatic and works perfectly but on the driver side, the outer seal is cracked and it's incredibly hard (like it's going to turn to dust). Where can I purchase a brand new one so I can prevent leaking? My car is always garaged but I do live in Oregon.

I'd get the part # off RealOEM and try a dealer, not sure if anyone else would stock such a part.

[Vincent Brick]

Not only can I not get the headliner panel to slide independently of the roof panel once the clips are released, I now can't get the clips to seat correctly again, and as a result I have to forcibly push up on the headliner panel while cranking to get the sunroof to close. The whole thing is too pliable to get enough force on those clips to get them back in. Anyone have any advice?

Edit:

Figured it out, you have to get the sunroof panel all the way forward and flipped up before it will slide.


DANGER!!!!! I found out the hard way that the sunroof panel adjustment bolts will seize into their inserts so bad as to break that plastic side rail at the rear. Broke the whole back part of it off right at the insert, fortunately I got it sufficiently superglued back together. Not too happy it came to that, but I'm not replacing that shit right now.

[Vincent Brick]

Can anyone explain the trick to getting the headliner panel back into place? I can't get it to slide forward enough. Running out of daylight...

[Vincent Brick]

My advice to everyone would be to not even think about fucking with this shit unless you have a serious problem with your sunroof that needs immediate attention. Now not only is mine not fixed in any way, my side rail is broken, my headliner panel is in worse shape than it already was, I still cannot get the headliner panel back in place, and now there is a loud clunking noise from the crank mechanism itself when opening, and only the drivers side wants to go up when trying to tilt.

I now no longer have a working sunroof at all, where do I even start? Frustrated beyond the ability to think straight at this point.

[Vincent Brick]

This page helped me out a lot, don't think I saw it posted in this thread, sorry if it has:

http://da3rx.com/vares/BMW%20E30%20M...of/5412240.htm




Over the last couple weeks I have made this sunroof my bitch, the only thing I haven't figured out yet is how to get my indent/click at full open and full close in the right spot, the click is currently about 2 full turns before fully open.

For me, going to the junkyard and tearing one apart helped IMMENSELY in learning how these actually work.

[916e30Dave]

I'm working on my 89 325is and I cannot figure out how to remove the cable on the drivers side. I have a motor driven sunroof. I have read through the his thread and I can't find a good an explanation for that part.
My cable is in good shape so maybe I don't have to take it out but the guide on the end of it is broken and I can't seem to be able to take it off the cable. Maybe some can explain how to just replace that part.

Does anyone know how to remove the crimp at the end of the cable so I can slip off the old part and put a new one on? This seems simpler than replacing the entire cable (that I cannot figure how to get out)



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EDIT: Figured out getting the cables out. Didn't have both sides completely undone. Now I'm having trouble syncing the cables. Gonna read back though this thread to see if that tip was in there

[Poopie]

Syncing the cables was just trial and error. I got it close, then just fine tuned it by twisting the individual cable in or out.

I'm having massive issues getting the sunroof shade back into position. I got everything replaced, but it's 1/4 an inch from sliding to the correct position to clip into the sunroof. Any tips? I suspect the sunroof rain try is running into the back of the sunroof preventing it from sliding all the way foward.

[kronus]

You're probably not getting it seated fully in the rear clips.

When I reinstalled my header panel (I assume this is what you mean by sunroof shade), I slid it about 1.5" back from fully closed, and tilted the sunroof up. I then pushed the panel forward and up through the sunroof tilt opening, pulled back on it, and had a much better angle from which to push it into the clips on the sunroof panel. The front was able to be clipped in fully after that.


p.s. fuck working on these things, so much

[Heitzke]

Syncing the cables was just trial and error. I got it close, then just fine tuned it by twisting the individual cable in or out.

Interesting, I came to actually ask about this. I have the sunroof cables about .5" off on side. Cables spin pretty easily like this when manually turned in/out?