Introduction

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The sun roof assembly is often the most annoying piece to have break on you because if it breaks at the worst time possible letting rain water and leaves in.
Symptoms

• Annoying pops or loud clicks and the sun roof doesn't raise or lower without help
• One track slides while the other lags behind and there by makes the motor click
• The alignment of the tracks keeps getting thrown off and thereby makes it impossible to close the window
• When using the wrench it takes alot of force to close/open it.
• You hear rather loud noises coming from the motor as it struggles to close/open the window.

Preliminary Cleaning and Lubrication

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If you have not yet cleaned and lubed the tracks and sun roof assembly then you should do so prior to engaging in anything else on this write up. In most cases this will fix your problem.

Supplies

• Brake Cleaner Spray Can
• Clothes/Towels
• Lithium Grease

Procedure

1. Manually crank the window open.
2. Spray the brake cleaner onto the tracks and where ever else looks dirty (Take special care not to get it on any good paint as it will ruin your paint job)
3. Manually close the window until a majority of the "spring" is visable in the track
4. Spray the brake cleaner onto the tracks and springs and everywhere else
5. Repeat steps 1-4 using the clothes to sop up the brake cleaner, and to clean the track
6. Use the Lithium grease to re-lube the track and everything else that may need it.

Now, if you have done this to the best of your ability and it still has not helped with your problem you may need to do a little more work on the sun roof.

Reparing the Sunroof's Mechanical System

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Supplies

• Brake Cleaner
• Towels
• Lithium Grease
• very small shims/or plastic pieces

Procedure

Step 1: Pull the head liner down so you have enough access to the motor as well as the sun roof panel. If you wish (and I highly recommend it) remove the liner from the sun roof panel as well. This will insure that you have easy access to everything you need and are able to determine which pieces may need shims later on.

Step 2: Remove the sun roof panel by unbolting the 6 nuts (3 on each side) so that the track assemblies can operate independently.

This makes things much easier to troubleshoot later on.

Step 3: Manually open and close your sun roof to check your alignment. If one falls behind then make a mental note of it. It will most likely be the one that needs the shims.

Step 4: Remove the motor. We will now focus on the motor for right now:


Step 4.1: Check the movement of the motors internals by manually turning the hex piece (IE, as if you were trying to open the sun roof manually--but with out it connected). If it is difficult to turn then we will need to open it. Mine was rather on the hard side of things to turn. (this next piece of information I did on the spur of the moment. I'm not exactly sure how it will effect the performance of the electric motor itself, but after completing this the movement of the sunroof became alot easier)


Step 4.2: Use the Brake cleaner to clean off the driving gear (the piece that moves the "springs"). Make sure to remove all the old grease, and inspect the outside casing for any visable damage.


Step 4.3: Remove the Codder clip and and remove the driving gear as well as the spacer underneath that. Further clean those three pieces and remove excess grease and dirt. Use a pocket knife to clean inbetween the spokes of the drive gear. Inspect the gear for any damage. If there is more than one tooth visably damaged I would recommend buying a new one. IF there isn't significant damage then it will be fine to be re-used.


Step 4.4: Remove the top plate and expose the internals of the motor gearing. Please be mindful of the four little black washers that are in there too. Do not loose them. Also prying up the plate is a little difficult it seems that it needed a screw driver and some TLC to get it to pop off. Do not rush, but take your time. It will come. Try to pull it off evenly as to not damage any of the gears inside.

Do not loose these small black washers. There are four (4) of them. Each stacked two high.

Step 4.5: Remove any debris and old grease (if any--Mine was completely dry and rust had started to propogate on the metal gear inside). Use the brake cleaner to desolve the old grease and remove the dirt. Allow to dry and mop up excess brake cleaner.

Clean the other components of the motor as well

Step 4.6: Repack the housing with lithium grease and move the gears back and forth to spread it around. Apply it generously as to cover everything. And repeat this step as often as needed until the grease is everywhere inside the casing.


Step 4.7: Reinstall the cover plate, and washers. Install the spacer, the drive gear, and the codder clip. Apply grease to these generously.


Step 5: Remember the track that was lagging behind before and didn't want to move? Well now we get to fix it. This will require you to install the motor several times until you get it perfect. Notice on the sunroof assembly side that the tracks go above and below the driving gear. If you're facing forward the lower one goes to the right side, and the upper one goes to the left. Above the upper one there is a Black thin strip of metal sitting on a silver block of metal, and on the lower track there is a similiar piece below it. This is where the shims go. I placed shims on both of mine to insure proper contact with the drive gear. What you do is take a pocket knife and pry open the black metal from the silver block a little bit (no more than a few mm is all that's needed). Take a small shim, I recommend 1mm, or .5 mm plastic shims (they work pretty well) and place them inbetween the black piece and silver piece. This forces the "spring" closer to the drive wheel forcing it to move instead of slip.

Install the shims between the Red and Grey area on the diagram.

Step 6: Make sure alignment is accurate by forcing each track piece forward as far as possible (with the motor still not connected!). Make sure they're even this will make it easier to troubleshoot which side needs more shims than the other. Install the motor and manually crank it open/close to see if they both work. Use the entire range of motion. If one slips, or you hear pops, install more shims.

See Also...

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• [FC Community Service Manual]