Sunroof stuck an inch open

[MBDFahrer]

It appears that its stuck open with an inch gap. I opened it to show my mechanic that it opens fine, but sometimes has trouble closing, he wasn't interested in doing the job yet, just wanted to see what the cause might be. Now it won't close, the motor comes on, and sounds as if its disconnected from the roof itself. How can I go about closing it, or better yet, how do you remove the headliner so that I can take a better look at things.

[Jorn]

Pull (firm) the headliner at the front of the sunroof, I believe there are 6 or 7 clips. Then slide it out.

[MBDFahrer]

Alright, I'll give the nut thing a try. My car already has no headliner (the sunroof "worked" without it until today). Thanks for the quick response.

[bodyart27]

Well there is a good write-up on sunroof repair here:

http://www.pindelski.com/

If it has trouble closing the last inch, is it making contact with the edge of the little wind deflector that pops up? There are two adjustment screws (one on each arm) that are accessible from the top of the sunroof with the roof open.

You might just need a good cleaning and greasing of the rails (the link above goes through the details).

[MBDFahrer]

Alright, first off, i'll just get it closed. Then I'll worry about repairing it later. Where can I get the sunroof grease from? If they come in different sizes, I think a larger jug would be good since I do have 3 cars.

[bodyart27]

**************.com sells a kit - but only enough really for one application.

[psfred]

Rusty at BuyMBParts sells a 2 oz tin, or you can buy the lifetime supply for $50 and lube every MB for miles around.

I'd guess you are either getting stuck on the wind deflector of the rails are REALLY dirty -- the clutch in the motor slips at the full open and full tilt positions, so the motor running without the roof panel moving means its to sticky to slide or is jammed.

Take a look and the lift angles on the sides, too -- if one is broken, chunks can jam the roof.

Peter

[MBDFahrer]

Welll... I don't have any sunroof lube at the moment, So what should I do? Just clean it first, and get it close, and just don't touch it until I get the lube?

[psfred]

Get it closed, it's winter!

Check for a jammed wind deflector, that's just about the right place for it to hang.

Other than that, wait till you get the paste, nothing else really works correctly (its almost a dry lubricant).

Peter

[MBDFahrer]

Got it closed, and got the lifter to work. Reason? The left "lifter" broke, so i lifted it with my arm as the main device in the back that locks the roof in place slid forward, it slid so far, it popped it up. End result? there's probably pieces in the track still. I'll order the grease and the part and repair the sunroof. Its not that hard once you see how the mechanicals of it work.

Does anyone know where I can get a new "lifter" (assuming that's what the part is) its part # 124 782 05 47 I've checked fastlane (and all the other online sites since they use the same master inventory catalog) but they don't have it.

BTW Peter, it might be winter and all, but this is LA, what is this "rain" you speak of

[MBDFahrer]

Here's the part thats broken

[psfred]

Gee, that part looks familiar!

First repair job I did on the 300D was the sunroof, both lift angles busted, roof panel taped down to keep it from blowing away...

Get both sides, the other one is surely bent, and it's a light diecast part. It will break soon if you just do the one side.

Parts will be about $200 for both lift angles.

Procedure isn't too bad, but the manual helps. If you don't have the CD, do a search, I've posted all this before. The worst part is getting the roof panel forward enough when re-installing -- the factory tool is a modified ViseGrip tool that hooks to the front of the panel and the hole where the mirror goes to pull the panel up tight against the seal while you tighten it to the side rails. You can cheat the rails back a bit and just hold it by hand, but it may take a couple tries to get it correct.

Peter