Sunroof lift arm mechanism installation HELP!!!
 

Ok, for the life of me a cannot seem to figure out how to SAFELY reinstall the sliding/lift mechanism back in the rails... I do not want to force anything lest I break my new to me slide/lift mechanism(thanks hanno)...

I managed to install one side after fiddling with it for a good half hour... it just miraculously "fell" in there... I cannot see how... and I can't replicate it with the other side... any tricks to this?

Have you searched on this site yet? There's a good, detailed installation guide prepared by member gsxr that should be helpful to you. Good descriptions. Lots of photos.

Yup. I've perused his photos and found his guide here, but I couldn't get the dang things to fall into place as described. I found out why earlier... turned out my 2nd hand mechanisms weren't all "true"... a few tabs were bent ever so slightly... i had to gently force them into the channels...

now my problem is alignment... even before my mechanism broke my switch was "funky"... pushing or pulling on the switch will ALWAYS retract the sunroof... while pressing UP on the switch will CLOSE the sunroof... once closed, it will POP UP when I press UP on the switch again. I learned to live with it no problem...

But now, having replaced the sliding/tilt mechanism, the sunroof is having a hard time CLOSING and POPPING UP... it looks like it's trailing edge is catching the rear corners of the sunroof seal.

I do not have the tools GSXR mentioned... I guess the vice grip thing is needed to make sure the sunroof is really jammed forward as much as possible... anyway... what are the main guidelines regarding alignment?

What are the "key" positions of the sliding/tilt mechanism? When is it at the "CLOSED" position? How can I tell for sure, coz i'm just eyeballing it... and when does the POP UP start?

Thanks, I hope i'm making sense.

Sunroof needs to open halfway, unclip inner liner and slide out towards front of car, put sunroof in popped up position, unscrew roof from lift bridges , removed 4 bolts , removed 2 more at deflector guides at front
and lift sunroof panel off, unscrew 4 philips screws from stainless steel
strips,lift strips out of the way, unscrew 2 bolts from cable end, unscrew 6 screws from bridge lift bridge out of way, take lift bridge and carefully lift forward arm up out of guide
and you will see a notch in , where the water channel clips into , do both sides then remove water channel ( the black plastic part that goes from left to right lift), now you can slide lift mechanism forward and out of guides, dont force it , the bridges need some care to reinstall, use plenty of lube when your finished installing, note if your sunroof wont open or slide back you will have to force inner panel off, then all of the above still applies, note mark everthing with a scribe before taking apart, its easier to reassemble.

Thanks... but i'm beyond that as I have already replaced the mechanisms... I'm at the alignment stage... the sunroof is having a hard time getting past the rear seals... it seems the actual sunroof sheetmetal needs to be "forward" a little bit more with respect to where it mounts on the mechanism... i think that's what the "pliers" are for...

Is it all together including fabric panel under sunroof panel?that should be installed last, go forward and try initial adjustment, try to level roof after losseneing bolts, are you sure metal bracket that connects left and right bridges is on correctly it can go on 180 i think, also check to make sure no debri from old broken parts are jamming tracks, can you take picture of problem area?

I don't know if this will help but....last weekend I removed my sunroof (95 E420) to clean and regrease everything. When it came time to reinstall the panel I aligned the part that bolts on to the sunroof using the nuts with the large washers using hex wrenches, a 6 mm fits. As far as the "pre-loading" which is what the pliers are for I had my wife push down on the front and it went into place.

The alignment is easy once you see how the holes line up. The pin on the rail side of the lift arm needs to be in the vertical channel.

Did you try syncing the motor using the white knob? That is not as easy as some describe but if you sunroof is moving correctly but not to the right spots you may want to try that.

ok sounds like the knob at the sunroof motor needs to be adjusted, there is atool that aligns the groove with a hole but you can also keep adjusting it in small increments untill its right ,you pull out and turn like a quarter turn at a time and watch untill it closes, then the switch can be checked for propor function, ill get you the instructions tomorrow

Ey thanks guys... right now i'm not gonna move the sunroof until It's clear what I have to do.. i don't wanna mess up my new used parts... :)

You rock guys!!!


yeah, i think I may have to mess with the white knob... but right now i'm pretty sure I need to re-adjust the sunroof with respect to the lift arms... the rear corners really are catching the sunroof seal such that the corners of the seal sometimes dislodges

Were your old part numbers the same as your new used parts?

yes they're the same, its the first thing I checked... though the new numbers are "smaller"... but they do coincide.

here's my theory: my actual sunroof isn't mounted FORWARD enough with respect to the lift arm mounting point... so when the lift arms reach the point where they start to lift, the sunroof being ever so slightly out of position, catches the rear corners of the seals... but why just the corners? that's my second theory... maybe my seals have shrunk enough so the corners are being caught...

anyway, i will re-check the mounting and will try to get it just right...

I found more info on the adjustment at the motor that synchronizes switch , but thats not relevent to your problem, did you take off the
guide arms at the front of the sunroof panel that pushes on the deflector?, they have a tab that locks into sunroof panel, but i think they can be reversed causing a problem, the ramp that causes roof to pop up should be lubed, it can cause binding, the small bolts that attach the roof to l shaped brackets are usually all thats needed to adjust or center roof ,roof should be 1mm lower that roof, i have seen those sunroof perimeter seals shrink and catch sunroof so that may be your only problem, what was your original problem causing you to replace parts? and last if you do replace perimeter seal its going to be tight when roof
raises up so you will have to be certain to center roof in closed position, try to do all your adjustments with inner fabric panel off.when synchronizing at motor one turn =40mm , clockwise forward? counter clockwise backwards?never pull out white adjustment knob and run motor only pull out turn or adjust and push back into lock position

ey thanks for the tips!!! will get right on it! :)

wait... so once the white knob is pulled out its a bad idea to run the motor? I was about to do that coz that's what most of the tips say to do... what's the reason behind not running the motor? stripped threads?

I did not notice any guide arms that pushes on the deflector... will check it out.

What did you mean by "1mm lower than the roof"?... when the sunroof is closed it should not be "as high" or "flush" with the roof?
I have not attached the headliner yet so everything is accessible.

thanks

Correct per factory manual dont operate motor with white knob pulled out , you can pull out white knob , then turn 1/2 turn or full turn, then push knob , back, there are guides that push on deflector ramps,and guide
s are supposed to go one way,if yoy didnt mess with those disregard, and yes manual says 1mm lower than roof