Sliding Sunroof W126

[gidpor]

Hi there,

I'm looking to replace the sunroof Seal on my 1987 300 SE.
I've gone through the CD set as well as searching all the threads on this forum- I was not able to find any refrence to replacing the Seal itself.
The seal is coming apart of old age and has come loose( of the roof )towards the back. It is sagging (when open ) and putting extra weight the plastic guardrail that lies beneath it and seems to be sagging as well . This is preventing the Sunroof from operating properly.
The new Seal does not seem to have a groove in it for the plastic guardrail . How does one attach these parts to one another - and then to the roof itself?

thanks a bunch

Seal

[psfred]

gidpor:

The seal fits between the top of the car and a set of rails inside. The front and side rails unscrew, the back rail is riveted to the sunroof frame.

Just pull the old one out, making sure you remove all the flange part, and lubricate the new one with armorall or some other silicone spray lube and shove it in. Ribbed side of flange goes up. The seal is in two parts. You may only need to replace the rear part. If the flange is torn off (as I suspect it is) you will need to take a small screwdriver or icepick or such to dig out the part in the slot. Make sure you remove all of it.

Procedure is 77-130 in the MB factory manual for W124 chassis.

You can unscrew the clamping rails it you need to, but you will need to set them to 3mm from the roof somehow when you put them back in. You may need to remove the wind deflector to do this (MB Procedure 77-250).

The rain gutter (the plastic part at the rear of the roof) is separate and you may need a separate seal for that.

I think this is the easiest part of sunroof repair!

Peter

[gidpor]

Hi peter,

I couldn't contain my curiousity , so I looked into that sunroof again last night - found a couple loose rivets swimming around the back. The sagging rear clamping rail(no rivets left on it) is Definitly what is jamming the sunroof movement. The seal itself came out in one piece no problem.
Is riveting that clamping rail a DIY job ? If so I imagine the whole roof panel needs to come out,is there a specific rivet to use ?
thanks again.

[psfred]

gidpor:

I have no idea! I shall have to look. If you can reach the rail with a pop-rivet tool, it should be possible to replace the rivets with short pop-rivets.

I do know that the remove them by drilling you have to remove the frame -- big job, the headliner has to be completely removed.

I'll take a look-see on my way out to mow grass!

Peter

[psfred]

gidpor:

I think short poprivets will work. You will need to take an old rivet with you and find a poprivet at the hardware store that is the same size and length.

You can easily reach the rail if you remove the rain gutter (which means you may need to remove tha panel), or you can have a good shop do the repair for you. I haven't gotten my roof panel back in quite properly yet, but I didn't try too hard -- I have to take it back off later to paint the edge and replace some more parts, too. It isn't taped to the top of the car anymore, which is what I was really after.

Peter

[gidpor]

Hi Again.

I did stop at the shop yesterday on my way home and they seem to feel - as I did that the panel has to come out . They did confirm the rivets, adding they had a special tool(rivet gun) for it - one that allowes them to position the guard rail at the exact distance needed from the roof - ( for a correct fit for the seal) and yet narrow and long enough for the tight fit between top of car and upholstry . So I guess it will go there, rather that a DIY. these guys do know their business.
thanks again for your help and guidance

[psfred]

gidpor:

You are quite welcome!

The MB manual says to remove the sunroof frame to remove or replace the rivets in that panel, so you probably are best off to do so.

Won't be cheap, though -- not much in the way of parts unless some other stuff is bad, but will take some time, unless they have found a slick way to re-rivet the rail without removing the entire sunroof frame :>)! All the other seal retainers are held in by screws, and don't need to be removed to replace the seal -- I did mine last night!

Peter