I have a 86 300e and the sun roof will not open. I know for a fact that the bracket that the actuator cable connects to is broken. So the roof should slide if I can get into the proper position. I can get the roof to push up at the rear but I am not able to get it to slide backwards.

Short of removing the interior of the car, is there a way I can get it to slide backwards by pushing on it in some way. Once it is back I can get at everything and fix the problem.

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The sunroof is still connected to the cable you should be able to manually retract the sunroof using a wrench at the sunroof motor in the trunk. Please clarify how you know it is broken.

The sunroof is connected to a long bracket that is connected to the cable. The cable is still connected to the bracket but the bracket is no longer connected to the sunroof. The motor and the cable operate as they should, and it is moving the bracket as it should. Its just the sunroof is no longer connected to the bracket. I know this bracket has failed since several years earlier it was cracking at the point where the cable connects to it. I re-inforced it but it did not last more that 2 years.

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If the sunroof is fully closed and you can push down on the rear portion the sunroof may be pushed back enough to get the headliner off the sunroof. The sunroof needs to be about 75% open to unclip the headliner. Since the connection is broken to the cable I am wondering if it is blocking the roof from going back. If you hit the sunroof switch do you hear the sunroof motor running? Try running the cable back as if you were opening it to see if you can get it out of the way so you can manually push the sunroof back.