PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - is sunroof teleflex cable easy to replace?

psfred · #5 09-23-2002, 11:11 PM

Ok, here goes (from memory, alas, please forgive oversights and errors...):

To remove sunroof panel: Remove headliner by opening roof and unclipping from front edge (four "christmas tree" clips). Use a putty knife or similar thin tool. Remove the two chome rails -- don't remove the front screw (different that the others, I think slotted) -- it is the height adjustment. Fairly obvious.

Pull headliner out from under lid and up through hole. You will need to guide the teleflex tube off the plastic guide on the headliner. Have a care, the side rails on the liner are very easily bent. It will also "unclip" and fall apart. There is a section the lifts up with the roof, don't snag the little wire springs on anything, or get grease on it.

Once the liner is out, run sunroof closed. If you suspect damage, or the translation bridge is crooked, use the manual nut, not the switch to keep it from getting stuck. Mine was well and truly stuck, had to run the cable back quite a bit to get it to move, and had to wriggle it to get it forward enough for the next step.

With lid closed, or nearly so, undo the four bolts on the sides, and loosen the four at the front. Push the front guide in toward the center as far as you can, the remove the side bolts and lift panel out.

You should now be able to see the lifting angles and translation bridge. The bridge is held on by three or four screws on each side at the rear portion of the lifting angles. Remove screws from angles and cable bracket and remove translation bridge.

Slide the lifting angles back from the stop just a bit, the unhook them from the slides by tilting them up at inner side. If the roof has been dragging badly, expect at least one to have fractured -- the older the car, the more likely this is, the original was pretty flimsy. Usually the roof will work slowly with one broken, then stick completely when the other one goes.

The lifting angle is a pretty large, floppy thing when out. Comes as a complete assembly (except for pads). Cost me about $98 each last year, if one is bad, replace both.

Clean all the crud of the slides, and if the lift angles are OK, clean them too and lube with sliding sunroof paste. Don't use anything else, you will only end up where you are now. 1 lb can is $50, but we can all share, eh? You can usually talk a shop out of enough to do the roof several times for a buck or two.

New lift anges hook back in under the rails. Pay attention to how they came out, I could get them out but not back in, my brother just slipped them right in. You must have them near the stop.

Once the new angles are in, reinstall the translation bridge. Push the angles out against the sides of the rails firmly as you tighten the screws or the assembly will rattle. Reattack the teleflex cable.

Clean the slides and pads on the panel, and lube with sunroof paste.

Run roof closed, either with switch or by hand. Lift angles must be at the stop, not lifted any, but not back (more on this in a bit). Place panel on car, install side screws, and then clamp panel up against the front of the seal with a clamp. The factory method is to remove the rear view mirror and use the special clamp (vise grips with special jaws). If you can improvise, do so. Use firm pressure. Tighten side screws. You will need to loosen them later, so mark position.

Since you don't have the tool, there are two shortcuts. Mark the position of the panel when you take it out, so that if the lift angles are good you can get it back exactly. This will also take care of the rear height adjustment. If the angles are bad, this won't help any. What I did was to move the translation bridge back about 1/16" or a litttle more, then pull the panel toward the front seal by hand. May take more than one try, but I think you can "cheat" it into place fairly easily.

Open roof, install chrome rails, and set height. The front should be OK, but the rear will be off. With roof closed and not lifted, loosen side screws and adjust panel to get a little less than 1 mm projection of panel above roof level. Front should be within 1 mm of the roof level, but below, not above. Adjust front height with the slotted screws under the chrome rails -- if you need to adjust, you have to loosen all the crosshead screws first, then re-tirghten.

Operate roof a couple times to check adjustment.

If the roof doesn't stop in the correct position, you will need to adjust the motor in the trunk.

You will need a 3 mm allen key (or other 3mm wire). Close roof. Pull white knob out and try to fit wire through the hole next to it (about 8 o'clock, I think). Turn knob until wire fits, then check on the roof rails (headliner out) to see that the index mark on the lifting angles is between the two marks on the rail. If not, remove allen key, set the mark on the angle between the marks on the rail (they may be opposite), then turn knob to allow you to insert the allen key in the hole. Push knob all the way back in.

This should set motor to run the roof closed using the switch back and forth -- full open is an overrunning clutch, full closed is a microswitch in the motor (that you just set). Full open lift is an overruuning clutch.

Operate roof through open, close, tilt, close cycle several times. If you don't have the panel far enough forward, it will bind on the rear edge on closing/tilting. When you get it working correctly, check fit, adjust as necessary.

Not too bad a repair. Mine doesn't work quite right yet, but I've had a sunroof since 1979 and only opened it once or twice -- hate getting sunburns on the top of my (bald) head!

Peter