If your sunroof's inoperative, read this! (type 44)

[Mike Arman]

>Subject: If your sunroof's inoperative, read this! (type 44)
>From: qshipaz at juno.com
>
>Having asked a jillion questions, I'm going to share a fix I came up with- =
>it's about time.
>My 5ktq had an inoperative sunroof. Would tilt, but not slide, so I didn't =
>think it was electrical. Seemed very similar to the symptoms I found in a o=
>vloV 745 I worked ona few months back... so I started digging in the tight =
>quarters of the roof.
>
>Yup. The brackets which hold the panel to the sliding mechanism are just as=
> poor a design as they are on the Swedish brick. And they are, at least whe=
>n comparing a 10/85 5ktq to a 4/86 745GLE, the same part, if not the same P=
>N=2E Blame Golde, who made the durned thing. The parts in question are slic=
>es of pot metal, about 6x1 inches, and around 1/8 inch thick. They are die =
>cut to provide tracks for the pins to follow, to tilt and slide the roof. B=
>ecause of these cuts, the thinnest part of the bracket is only 1/4 inch thi=
>ck. Which is where, on the TQ, the GLE, and two 5ks, and 4 700 series Volvo=
>s at the junkyard, the piece breaks in two.
>
>If your roof will not retract by crank or by motor, I feel pretty sure this=
> is why. If you have patience and skinny fingers, you'll have it working wi=
>th the replacement of one chunk of pot metal!
>
>HTH,
>Rob


Funny you should mention this - I *just* fixed this on my type 44 last Sunday.

There's an upgrade for the parts you describe, and it was installed as
standard on later type 44s. I got all the bits from a '90 model 100 at the
pick and pull (along with a BUNCH of other parts) for almost nothing.

Replacement is much easier than it looks. The gospel according to Bentley
says to unhook the two springs under the sunroof (tilt it up, press down on
the spring loaded flap). Using special tool # B-3456-AOE-569-1-B (bent
coathanger), unhook the two springs at the rear - they are easy to see and
get to. If you can't see them or can't get to them, you are looking in the
wrong place.

Once the springs are unhooked, give the lower panel a shove to the rear -
it unhooks from some spring clips at the front (that's why it needs the
shove), and then gets completely out of your way in the rear cavity.

Next, remove four screws (at rear and halfway back, two 13mm nuts (front
hinge) and two 8mm nuts (same - 5/16" works if you don't have a skinny 8mm
socket - I can't find mine), and you can lift off the entire metal sunroof.
Everything you need to do is then wide open, easy to reach, and you can
even get at it from the top! Skinny fingers are not required.

Yes, the pot-metal parts were all bent and nasty. Mine, by the way, were
made by Rockwell (!) complete with their logo on them.

Lubricate everything, assembly is reverse of removal. (Chapter 5 Verse 27,
Bentley) HOWEVER - there are some front-to-rear alignment marks on the
brackets which are pretty hard to see, and the correct vertical alignment
of the roof panel is NOT flat with the roof! The front should be down a bit
(I think .5mm) and the back should be raised the same!

Takes about an hour or so, messy, because there's grease everywhere on the
sliding tracks, but oh, my, does it ever work nice when it is fixed!

Best Regards,

Mike Arman