Help!!!! Sun Roof Stuck 88' 124 TE300
 

My sun roof is stuck 1/2 open the passenger side seams have something stuck in it. I tried the hand crank on the motor but it is locked up. and I don't want to brake anything you know $$$$ I can get it to move an inch or so. I found a small 10 mm bolt in the side rail on the driver side I can't see were it came from. Is there some were that tells me how to remove the thing? were do I start does the head liner have to come out and how does it.. Is there one cable or 2 cables help help I'm in Michigan and of course we are getting a lot of rain this week.

how does your work...
 

I don't know if it will help but I fixed one on an 85 190 that was the type of sunroof that pulles straight back and does not tilt. it wasn't too bad. if you search on my user name you should find info that might be useful to you if yours pulls straight back and does not tilt. 10mm nuts held a lot of mine together -including the broken clip that was the main problem with mine. If yours is the pull straight back type I'd be willing to place a bet as to what has happened.

good luck,
CDT

cdp,
i would highly recommend that you just take it to the dealer or a private shop to look at unless u know exactly how to fix it becaue if can get quite costly for repairs if something gets broken. i've had my sunroof stuck on the 300E and i ended up going to the dealer. the car i still in the shop and i'm not sure what they'll quote. but whatever it is, after reading the threads i know it can get quite expensive.
good luck !

try try again
 

um...
I respectfully disagree with the last post. I certainly don't mean to be disrespectful.
If your sunroof is anything like a 190's -and I suspect it is although I don't have the money or time to go and get every manual for cars I don't own...- it's doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. The folks at the shop charge big money for sunroof repairs. Serious money. As long as while you do your looking around you finesse things rather than take the brute force approach you might be better off getting your hands dirty. Couple more suggestions for you though: do not try to hand crank it if it doesn't want to go. Post and let us know if you hear the motor running when you throw the switch briefly, don't sit there running the motor for longer than it takes for you to hear it (like a second)... without knowing that, at the very least, your problem could be a lot of things. could simply be a fuse could be the motor could be the cable, the list goes on. if the motor "appears" to work (ie it makes noise, not saying its actually working), there are fewer things that could be wrong.

Just a thought - maybe something rolled down there and is blocking the mechanism. Take a small diameter piece of tygon tubing and place it in the end of a vacuum cleaner hose, seal it with tape and push the tube down the rail to see if it latches on to anything like an acorn or something. A word of caution, the headliners for E class are very expensive and sometimes cannot be re-used. You have a wagon? Large rear headliner. The little one for my '94 wagon was about $400 and the total repair job was $1200 (ouch). I think I damaged mine openning it in the winter time when it gets 'stuck' a little before it opens. I think I bent a rail or something.

tunk,
i agree with on on the fact that the dealers will get quite expensive. my only concern was that during the phase of trying to repair it on ur own, in the case where it's not the obvious like the fuse etc, the person could potentially cause more harm to the parts within the sunroof while trying to either shut it or open in up for troubleshooting. otherwise if i had it my way i'd never go to the dealer at all. but at times somethings are beyond the DIY scope unless someone's a professional mechanic. once again if it can be done on ur own nothing better ! it'll save a lot of money.

Here's the scoop, did this two years ago, same problem except that mine was stuck shut and nearly ruined the headliner on the sunroof gettting it out.

What has happened is that either you have a loose cable (and it is now sidways, with one bolt out, and stuck) or one of the panel retainer screws has come loose, jamming things up.

Dollar to a doughnut, you also have a broken lift angle bracket, yours are the new ones, I think, but they break too, if they aren't lubricated enough with the correct stuff.

First, I've described all this in detail in older posts, do a search on "sunroof", that way I won't have to type it all in again.....

The headliner on the sunroof is clipped on by four plastic clips an inch or so back from the front edge. Use a (clean) putty knife or similar to unclip them, and you will be able to slide the headliner forward and up out of the roof. It will be tight, and be VERY careful not to bend the side rails, or it all pops apart, big PITA. You must pull it off the cable on the rear portion (the part that is behind the actual panel) -- pull on that, not the front as soon as you can.

Once you have the headliner out, you will able to see what is going on. Most likely you have either something stuck in the side rails, the lift angles are both broken, or only one side is busted and the translation bridge is cocked and stuck.

If you can clear the junk out and get it to slide, you can just leave it closed until you have time to fix it. You may need to tape it shut to keep noise out, but it won't leak anywhere near as much as halfway open...

To repair, you will have to remove th roof panel. I'll give any help you still need after you find the previous posts.

Peter

Peter
 

Thanks Peter, well last night after the rain I went out to try to get it shut, clean the fish and water out, well the dang thing went closed all but a 1/4" from the front better than 1/2 way. I will try and get the headliner off and see what is going on inside there. I will look for your older post on sunroofs. Someone said check the motor the fuse done that and going to the dealer I don't have enough KY jelly. I believe that there are two cables that move the roof and yes it is cocked and I had to pull the passenger side just a bit as it came closed.

Chip

For sure you have a broken lift angle. You MAY be extremely lucky and only have something loose, and a deep need for sunroof paste (use the real stuff ONLY, it's not standard grease, other comments to the contrary), but plan on lift angles.

You can detach the headliner and push it back to see what is going on. You can also take it out from inside but I STRONGLY recommend that you do not to prevent damage.

Pop the headliner loose and take a look at the rails on the sides. Chances are you will find some bits and the crossbar will move on one side while pivoting on the other -- that is the side with the broken lift angle. Usually the lift pivot goes, but when it does the attachment to the translation bridge (cross bar) breaks off. You will probably be able to get it completely closed with the headliner pushed back, and can then leave it there until later if necessary.

You can remove the top panel and disconnect the translation bridge where it sits, so that you can slide the lift angles back independently and detach the cable (there is only one, a TeleFlex). Two screws on a sheetmetal bracket on the translation bridge.

Once you do this, however, the sunroof is a gaping hole.......don't remove the top panel until you are able to use another car or are ready to fix it.

What I suspect you will need is a repair kit -- both lift angles and slides. With the top panel off and the translation bridge removed, the lift angles hook out from underneath the rails once you remove the chrome slides. Easy fix, just not cheap.

Peter

Thomaspin has a very detailed description on a 126 roof . Try this link. http://www.pindelski.com/

Good luck.

I have the same sort of issue but worse and need help!
 

I couldn't find your older posts and need to remove the roof panel on my 86 190 E. I have the motor out so cable is loose. Sunroof won't shut and as you say it's probably jammed on side rails. Is there a way to remove the roof panel to see what's going on without removing the rear windshield? Thanks for any help