Manual sunroof control for 1986 190e?

Hey!

I have a 1986 190e, that I just got recently bought and am whipping into shape. It's a very nice car and I am enjoying it's ride and gas mileage in particular (my other car is a 1968 buick GS).

Anyhow, I am dealing with a sunroof issue, that seems to come down to the fact that the teleflex assembly (the cable that pushes and pulls the roof) has come apart and is stuck in the tube. This really is a pain and would/will require major effort to disassemble...

I notice that the headliner cover for the sunroof has a punch out for a manual sunroof opening locking setup.

I would love to convert this to a manual setup, as it would avoid the whole teleflex issue, and then I could sell my good sunroof motor :~)

My local wrecking yard which specializes in MB's says that these cars were only sold as motor driven sliding roofs in the US. Is this true?

Does anyone have ideas on where I could buy the manual roof handle assembly?

Thanks for any useful info...

Marty

Reply to
Martin Joseph
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If you can pull them out... then it is not so bad. You got two places to pull them out... One by the sunroof... and the other one by the trunk sunroof motor... driver side.

Reply to
Tiger

I don't recall the official MB manual mentions anything related to a manual crank. I believe they are all motor driven.

The teleflex itself is not easy to break, except at the end connecting the sunroof. The clip may break there. The other possible problem is the drive gear inside the motor. The gear is made of plastic, while the teleflex is high strength steel. If sunroof is stuck, and motor keeps running (with an incorrect adjusted clutch), the gear may be gone. The teleflex tube is not very easy to break either. However, if you do have to replace it, the whole roof panel has to come down, then we are talking about lots of labor.

Remove the interior sunroof panel (roughly like this. I may remember wrong since I did it 2-3 years ago):

  1. open sunroof 1/3
  2. pull down the panel at front end. There are 4 or 5 snap pins. Just pull hard
  3. pull panel toward front and down

See if the teleflex is still connected to the clip. If yes, loose the clip and operate the sunroof motor to see if the teleflex moves.

Good luck

Tan

Mart> Hey!

Reply to
Wan-ning Tan

I have the shop manual and it definitely shows a manual setup. I guess it was european only :~( I would love to switch to the manual style as it's clearly such a simple sunroof this would work great. I am tempted to design one of my own actually.

It's nopt actually broken, just frayed. I successfully pulled it out of it's tube today, although it took a lot of force to do so. I ordered a new cable/teleflex but am worried it won't go in very smoothly. We shall see.

Right. The motor seems to be fine, but I have not actually looked at the gear either. If the new teleflex controller goes in well we shall see.

Actually step 3 should be pull the panel UP out through the roof of the car.

Thanks for all your help Tan, and the other poster too, although there post seems to have dissappeared?

Marty

Reply to
Martin Joseph

Ya... this newsgroup feels very quiet nowdays... I am starting to feel like a Maytag man... Summer vacations... people are busy.

As for putting the cable back in... attach a drill to it so you can spin it while feeding it back into the slot.

Reply to
Tiger

Good thought,

Turns out I didn't need to do that...

I got the replacement cable from Aurora auto wrecking here in Seattle for $75.00. Genuine Mercedes part.

Then I gave it a good slathering of my favorite chasis lube (mobile one EP), and fed it back into the tube. Went in without a hitch unlike the frayed and damaged old one which was a bitch to get out.

When it's gone in as far as it will travel, actuating the "open roof" button, and pushing lightly engaged it into the motor. Oh yeah, try not to bend the crap out of the plate that holds the cable to the roof (doh) you don't get a new one with the cable (hammering sounds).

Sunroof works great now.

The best lesson I learned, is that if you have a cable which is hard to get out, lay on the windshield (feet on hood edge) and use a c-clamp onto the old cable end (not the plate). From this angle you can pull pretty hard, which isn't easy to do from inside the car.

Thanks to all, Marty

Reply to
Martin Joseph

Just don't crack your windshield as you do that...

Reply to
Tiger

Very good point! I weigh about 150, so it wasn't a big issue, but big guys be ware!

Marty

Reply to
Martin Joseph

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