Sunroof Question

It should go all the way back with only about 1" visible when fully open.

It should open fully.

Thanks for all reply. Another thing weird is that the liner is missing. So I can see the back half of the panel with paint exposed and the bolts. Before I'm thinking I'll just buy a replacement, but now perhaps it was stuck in the cavity? Hard to see from the slot. Will try with flashlight and mirror tomorrow.

The roof panel is easy to remove, especially if the liner is missing. I suspect your liner is merely pushed back inside the cavity, and if the roof panel was taken out you would be able to see the liner and pull it forward where it belongs.

There are three nuts along the rear edge of the roof panel. The center one is a fixed positioin, but the two outboard nuts are actually a slider thingie that can be adjusted to raise or lower the rear corners of the roof panel. Then, there are two small screws at the front corner of the roof panel that can be removed while sitting inside the car. When these screws are taken out, the part that the screws thread into have a small pin that fits into a hole on the roof (visualize there are two pins on this lever that keep the lever and the roof on a line, then consider that one of the pins is really a screw). When the screw is removed, press the lever towards the outside edge of the car, and the roof panel will be released.

USE CAUTION when operating the roof motor while the roof panel is removed.

Thanks Jeff. I will attempt this soon as I have the time.

Jeff Strickland wrote:

When the roof panel is out, and you pull the liner forward, you should be able to find a clippy thingie on the liner that the cable catches on to pull the liner back and forward when the Tilt feature is used. The clip thingie is on the left side of the liner in the area between the front and back seats. You should be able to see a small tab-like thingie on the end of the cable that slides fore and aft as the mechanism is moving. On my car, the clip thingie has broken, and I am stuck for life operating the liner by hand because there is no means for the tab to lock onto the liner to make it slide when the Tilt is used.

The liner can be pushed off of the clip thingie and get pushed by hand into the roof cavity. If this were to happen, there is a tab thingie on the cross member that the three nuts screw onto that fits into a hole (slot really) in the liner to push the liner around when the roof is being opened and closed - not Tilting. If the liner gets pushed into the roof cavity, then this tab will eventually strike the liner and cause the roof to stop moving. (You should be able to retreive the liner with a coat hanger or other suitable tool with a hook on the end.)

You can watch all of this stuff work when you have the roof panel off, but be careful to not overdrive the motor and the roof mechanism. The roof panel is part of the limiting mechanism, and when the roof panel is removed, there are no limits and you can bind the mechanism if you are not careful/observant.

I finally had the time to do this. After removing the sunroof panel I can see the liner tucked all the way in. I used a clothes hanger to pull it out hooking on one of the holes but it is resisting too much. I can push-pull it about 1 cm and that's it. The next day I removed everything on the way. The panel, the cross member, even the arms that lifts it. Still I have no luck pulling it. I ran the motor so I can see that the small tab on the cable so I know it's not blocking the railing. I also tried it with the motor removed.

I suppose my next question is if anybody knows what might be stopping the liner from moving out, perhaps a tab that I should free first. Should I be OK applying more force in pulling without risk of breaking something.

I like to give this another shot next week. Any more input is appreciated.