1985 Audi 5000 Sunroof

["B.A. Leibe" <leibe@flash.net>]

I am new to the list so forgive me if the subject of sunroofs has been
beaten to death.

I have a 1985 Audi 5000 with approximately 150K miles.  I have not used the
sunroof since I purchased the vehicle over 8 years ago.  Well this weekend
I decided to attempt to repair the sunroof for the car's latest driver ---
my 16 year old son.  I purchased $250 of parts such as the cable guide set
and the pinion gear.  I have closely examined the repair procedure in the
Bentley repair manual.

Well, today I reassembled the sunroof assembly and reinstalled it in the
vehicle.  I noticed a significant amount of tightness in one of the two
cable guides so I sanded down the plastic guide and managed to get what I
considered reasonable drag between the plastic guide and the aluminum rail.
 With the complete assembly placed back in the vehicle, I attempted to
manually crank the sunroof open but experienced slipping of the driven
pinion gear relative to the cable springs.  For some reason the driven
pinion gear is not maintaining contact with the cables.  I am beginning to
believe there is some part mission which should be in the cable guide
channel in order to prevent the slipping of the pinion gear.

Does anyone have any experience with the repair of the sunroof which may
prove helpful to me?  Any and all comments would be appreciated.  Should I
lubricate the aluminum rails?  I have used light oil on the spring cables.

Thanks in advance for your comments.

Barthe in Houston