1999 ML320 Moon Roof problem

[blueeagle289]

Not having opened my Moon Roof for many months (who does?) I thought I would try out the pop-up and sliding open features the other day (while driving along). The Pop-up worked fine, but when I closed it and initiated the sliding feature, there was a grinding noise and I knew something was not right of course. With the roof open, I reached up on both sides of the rails and found a flat metal part about 6 inches long lying there. I removed it and closed the roof OK. This is not a serious problem, since the roof seems to still open and close fine, but it is a flat piece of steel that does not appear to be broken off , but rather -- seems to have just popped out of place on that side of the roof. It has areas on each end which are shaped to fit some kind of recess on the side of the roof. It looks kind of like a lifting rod for the pop-up feature, in my experience. The problem is that it is very difficult to replace with the room in normal open position. What do I have to do to get this piece back in there?
Thanks, Ben Carter

[mbdoc]

ON the 1999-2000 ML's with sky roof...MB issued a info on repairs on that roof.

W/O replacing almost all of that system most repairs won't last.

They offer a repair kit for the early sky-roof system. $$$$$$

[blueeagle289]

Thanks, Ben Carter

[Gilly]

Are you sure it's got the skyroof, or is it the normal glass sunroof, Ben?
Gilly