Electric Sunroof Problem

[eternalife]

My Electric Sunroof seems to have become misaligned in height.

It does not slide open.
It will Tilt open with the passenger side higher than the drivers side.
Also, when the tilt is closed - the passenger side sits flush, and the drivers side dips lower.

Any advice on how to this out?

Im guessing from the symptoms the runners have become out of sync with each other?

[Pal318is]

Best thing to do Jav, is take the thing apart mate. It's not to difficult to do, just a little fiddly.

You will need to get the lining off from the inside of the sunroof 1st. tilt the sunroof up and unclip the lining from the back, then unclip the front (there should 5/6 clips at the front) once you've got the lining off, it's quite easy to see what going on.

HTH

Pal

[eternalife]

Are they simple 'push-in / pull-out' clips?

Seems really weird for it to happen - as it was working fine this morning.

Did hear a knocking sound which I am guessing was the slipping of one of the runners?

Thanks for the info Pal.

[Pal318is]

Are they simple 'push-in / pull-out' clips?

Seems really weird for it to happen - as it was working fine this morning.

Did hear a knocking sound which I am guessing was the slipping of one of the runners?

Thanks for the info Pal.

The clips at the front of the panel are push in/pull out, the back of the panel needs to be slipped off, once the front clips have been taken off. Just remember to do the back first when putting it all back together.

Pal

[eternalife]

Thanks somehow managed to get the Inner lining off -with great difficulty as the lining had become lodged over the mechnism hindering it tilting properly...

Next the actual Sunroof bracket which causes it to tilt (one side only) has gone all the way to the back - is there a special way to get it bk to the front and link back into the sunroof?? It proves to not slide freely over the runners and is a b*tch to get your hand in to pull it (and even then it does not want to come back to the front).

Any help much appreciated.

[Brianmoooore]

If you can get the thing tilted, unscrew the three torx bolts each side that hold the steel panel in place. You'll than be able to see what the problem is. All dismantles easily enough by unscrewing lots of small cross head screws.
Beware of VERY sharp edges on the stainless steel parts.

[eternalife]

Can get it tilted - will give it a go either tomorrow or friday.

personally thinK that I will need to dismantle a hell of a lot before I can fix it - Blasted sunroofs (!) grrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Cava]

Just a thought from experience but how old is the sunroof seal?

I only ask as I had the same problem about three years ago - I took the sunroof seal off to replace anyway (as the old one was shot) and suddenly found that the sunroof slide function worked again!

[eternalife]

Cava - Sounds like a good idea.

Although, I will first get it working properly and then fit a new seal in the near future.

[Cava]

Sorry - I think I described that a bit wrong. When I changed the seal, I thought that I was going to have to manually slide the sunroof (using the allen key) as the slide function had not worked for ages. While the old seal was off, I tried the motor and it worked perfectly. It appeared that the old seal was preventing the sunroof from sliding.

[Chris-W]

Beware of VERY sharp edges on the stainless steel parts.

Definitely - even when careful and aware you can all to easily end up with 'adidas' stripes across all four fingertips!

[daimlerman]

There was another thread relating to sunroofs last week(must be the time of year...)replace the seals,Brian says that there is a one piece seal available that is about 25%cheaper than the two piece like what I bought...

[topspark]

Found this article which may be of help.!!

http://e30.bmwdiy.info/sunroof-adjust/index.html

lee

[eternalife]

Well the story goes on...

Took the thing apart to realise...

1. Passenger side front corner is getting stuck - causing the motor to 'slip' (making a loud clicking noise)
2. Plastic Brackets on which the Metal part of the sunroof actually sits seems to be cracked/broken in a couple of parts.
3. Drivers Side Wire - cylindrical in nature - (which pulls and pushes the sunroof - runs along inner side of the track) seems to need a bit of a push to get it in once you open it completely.

At the moment I cannot see what is causing the Passenger side of the sunroof to stick - is it the seal causing the problem??

Furthermore - as the brackets (plastic) are also damaged I would imagine i need a new pair?

As the motor is slipping on the cylindrical wire which causes the sunroof to open and shut - Does this wire require replacing? does the motor require replacing?

Need some advice on how i can get it all working properly again...
also if anyone has any idea of associated costs etc etc..

Also - thanks to everyone for advice - i made sure i wore protection on my hands against the dreaded stainless steel parts.

[Brianmoooore]

If you take the motor out (three screws) you'll be able to pull the cables out and see whether there's any damage to the drive sprocket on the motor or the cables.
All the individual bits are available from your dealer - have a look at the realOEM ETK sticky at the top of this forum.
Alternative is to raid a scrapyard, or ask in 'E30 parts wanted'.
Clean the old sticky grease off the cables and treat them to some fresh stuff before you refit them.

[Cava]

I've managed to take the sunroof seal of my car which is being collected to be scrapped over the next few days. It's only about 18 months old so it's still in good nick. Pm me your address, and I'll be happy to send it to you if you want to try this out!

Let me know if you want any of the other small parts from the sunroof mechanism, if it's still on the car, you're welcome to them as they will only end up going to the scrap yard!

[eternalife]

Will try and give this all a revamp this weekend and try and find out where the problem lies....

Cheers Cava - merci.