servicing power sunroof
07-14-2003, 10:01 AM
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servicing power sunroof
Last summer I got a fiar amount of mud in the tracks/chains of my power sunroof. Because of this, my sunroof won't open. I want to take apart the headliner and see if I can clean the tracks and lube the chain so I can have a working sunroof again.
I remember a while back someone did this on the ODW board, but I can't find the post. I thought maybe they left that board for yotatech. I remember they said it was a major PITA. It is just nussiance, PITA kind of work, or is it actually difficult (mechanically/elecrically, whatever)? If it's just a pain, then it would make a good weekend project for me. Any details on the project would be helpful.
I remember a while back someone did this on the ODW board, but I can't find the post. I thought maybe they left that board for yotatech. I remember they said it was a major PITA. It is just nussiance, PITA kind of work, or is it actually difficult (mechanically/elecrically, whatever)? If it's just a pain, then it would make a good weekend project for me. Any details on the project would be helpful.
07-14-2003, 10:24 AM
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I can tell you a little bit about this. I pulled my headliner down several times. It's not difficult at all, but it is time consuming. 1st time was painful, 2nd time, it was a piece of cake. There's no need to pull it down in the rear for this and there's no need to remove kick panels, like a lot of people suggest.
I start by removed visors, and rear view mirror. Then the seatbelts. then pull back the bottom panels that overlap the seatbelt panels ONLY at the top, which will expose little screws, which you have to undo, to remove the seatbelt panels.
You will also have to remove all the "oh-sh@t" handles (I still don't know why people call them that.. is it because they are so hard to remove or because that's what you grab when you know you're about to hit something?). They're actually not hard to remove at all. All you have to do is use a ratcheting wrench with a 1/4" socket (as a driver) and use a philips bit inside the socket. Push on the head of the wrench with one hand while you're undoing the bolts, to avoid stipping them (they're quite soft). This only applies to A-pillar handles. Roof handles are not set with loctite and come out very easily.
With handles off, you should be able to pull A-pillar panels off easily and that should drop the headliner enough to give you plenty of room to work on the sunroof.
If you undo all the bolts that hold the sunroof motor in place, it should fall right out. If it doesn't, you'll have to wigle it around a bit. When it does finally come out, you'll see that it'll expose a hole in the copper line which has a plastic tube with ridges inside it. This plastic tube is what moved the sunroof. with motor out, you should be able to move the sunroof by hand.
I would guess that you would just wanna lube everything as well as you can.
If motor works, when it's disconnected from the sunroof, the only problem must be that the track is just gunked up.
Hope this helps.
I start by removed visors, and rear view mirror. Then the seatbelts. then pull back the bottom panels that overlap the seatbelt panels ONLY at the top, which will expose little screws, which you have to undo, to remove the seatbelt panels.
You will also have to remove all the "oh-sh@t" handles (I still don't know why people call them that.. is it because they are so hard to remove or because that's what you grab when you know you're about to hit something?). They're actually not hard to remove at all. All you have to do is use a ratcheting wrench with a 1/4" socket (as a driver) and use a philips bit inside the socket. Push on the head of the wrench with one hand while you're undoing the bolts, to avoid stipping them (they're quite soft). This only applies to A-pillar handles. Roof handles are not set with loctite and come out very easily.
With handles off, you should be able to pull A-pillar panels off easily and that should drop the headliner enough to give you plenty of room to work on the sunroof.
If you undo all the bolts that hold the sunroof motor in place, it should fall right out. If it doesn't, you'll have to wigle it around a bit. When it does finally come out, you'll see that it'll expose a hole in the copper line which has a plastic tube with ridges inside it. This plastic tube is what moved the sunroof. with motor out, you should be able to move the sunroof by hand.
I would guess that you would just wanna lube everything as well as you can.
If motor works, when it's disconnected from the sunroof, the only problem must be that the track is just gunked up.
Hope this helps.
07-15-2003, 04:24 AM
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One more very minor part I forgot to mention. There's is cloth trim around the perimeter of the sunroof hole (in the headliner). That also has to come out for the headliner to drop. Just pull it towards the center of the whole from all sides.
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