Sunroof stuck in "tilt" position

[highonpottery]

We almost never use the sunroof on our Hundy, but yesterday the decided she wanted to open it up in the tilt position and I didn't say anything because arguing with an 8 month pregnant woman is highly ill-advised! I'm sure many can guess what happened when we parked the rig...

sunroof motor is working fine with the switch and the glass tries to close. what's happening is the glass closes to around 95% closed, then there is a "new sound" I've never heard from the sunroof before (similar gears crunching/hitting an obstruction), then the thing automatically opens back up into the tilt position as what i'm assuming is a safety thing (like how a garage door re-opens after it closes on something). thankfully it's not in the fully open position and it's not supposed to rain much (if at all) in the weather we're having this week.

tried fiddling with it for like 10 min and gave up because you can't really see any of the moving parts when it's in tilt position. thought there might be debris being chomped by the glass, but cannot locate anything out of the ordinary. i haven't looked at a diagram of the sunroof yet, but the sound seems to be coming from the front of the sunroof, driver's side corner - i'm assuming there is a gear assembly in this spot, but can't tell since i can't get it open to look at the moving parts

any tips on where to proceed from here? would rather not take it to the stealership. I think I saw Astroglide being referenced as a possible solution in a previous sunroof thread....not really sure if that's for the sunroof or for me if I have to take it in....

 

[LCAdvocate]

There are 8 screws (4 phillips, 4 torx) that hold the glass in place. You can remove it to get a better look and possibly get the mechanism down. It sounds like you have cable issues. There are two cables that come out of the motor that in turn operate the roof. They get corroded due to clogged drains, exposure to moisture and require replacement. I just replaced mine. Do a "sunroof" search and there are more things out there. Dealer will require $1300-2000 to fix the problem if it is in fact the cables. I think that is the going rate. Parts can be had for less than $500 and you can do it yourself with the FSM.

 

[highonpottery]

ok, i'll see about removing the glass to get a better look. i'm really hoping it's a simple fix. not looking forward to an all-day repair like you guys were talking about in the other threads.

BTW, i know you said you just replaced the parts, but what was actually the issue/cause?

 

[highonpottery]

Got it closed last night. Basically, since it looked like it was closing all the way before opening back up - I "helped" it close by pushing fairly hard in the front left corner of the plastic molding under the glass to keep it moving/click into place. Tested it a few times in tilt and fully open. Opens/closes flawlessly for the full open, but if I want tilt I have to help/force it by hand in that one corner. Really not sure why this is because everything looks just fine after inspection with the roof open - inspected the sliding parts, the track, the wind flap, pretty much everything and can't really figure out why it won't work on its own. Oh well...looks like it's just one of those things. Thanks for the help LCA

 

[LCAdvocate]

ok, i'll see about removing the glass to get a better look. i'm really hoping it's a simple fix. not looking forward to an all-day repair like you guys were talking about in the other threads.

BTW, i know you said you just replaced the parts, but what was actually the issue/cause?

Water, Ohio water to be exact, sitting in the wells from clogged drain holes, which caused the cables to corrode. Glad you got it worked out, but you could still have a cable issue, possibly just on that one side when attempting the tilt function.