[urq] Sunroof not sealing

[Buchholz, Steven]

... calling on some seriously old brain cells here ... so caveat reader
... :-)

I remember having issues with this many moons ago ... ISTR the drive
gear in the crank mechanism was worn and did not engage the drive cables
reliably.  I removed the crank mechanism ... held in place by a couple
screws inside the car.  I have a very hazy recollection that there's a
TSB on this issue.  I do remember seeing that the drive gear on the
crank handle was worn ... at that time new gears were available ... but
for a price of $15, which to me was unacceptable at the time.  I'm
pretty sure I tried installing the gear "upside down" but I don't
remember that this was the solution to the problem.  What is standing
out for me as the real problem was that the threads in the pot metal
bracket which holds the crank handle were worn and the crank mechanism
wasn't being held in the proper place to engage the drive cables.  I
remember that the factory screws engaged holes that had maybe a couple
threads, but there were other holes in the crank/sunroof assembly which
had more threads ... and there were access holes to allow different
screws to be used.

So ... after all this ... I'm pretty sure what I did was to use
different screws in those other holes ... which allowed me to cinch the
crank assembly tighter against the sunroof.  I'll look at the car
tonight to refresh those worn brain cells ... and if there is anything
further that comes to mind I'll post that up ... 

Personally, I'd refrain from lubricating the drive cables in any way ...


Steve B
San Jose, CA (USA)
> 
> Recently my sunroof seems to not be sealing well - more wind noise on
the
> highway.  The felt seal is in good shape - its only a few years old.
> 
> So I've popped the sunroof off - first time ever since owning the car
(8 yrs
> now) and last night spent some time trying to just clean off any
tracks and
> pivot points in the pop-up mechanism.  I also took off the cable drive
and
> cleaned it off.
> 
> Coinciding with the wind noise - the crank feels different - as in it
would
> get to its end detente but the roof could still be pushed down
slightly from
> outside/above.  I think the cable drive had skipped on the cable and
was not
> pulling the roof down completely as all the parts seem to be fine.
And the
> height adjustment screws for the back of the sunroof were maxed out to
bring
> the roof down.  Any pointers on any not so obvious places to clean,
things to
> avoid, etc?  Any recommendation on lube?  And is there a [easy] way to
reduce
> friction of the cable through the guide?