John:

The cable is a teleflex (single) cable and it attached at the very rear of the sunroof to a cross piece called the translation bridge.

Usually, when the sunroof sticks, it's becuase one or both of the lift angles are broken and dragging.

You have the headliner out, so take a look at the translation bridge -- it must be square to the roof panel. If not, one of the lift angles is broken. I don't believe the motor will move the sunroof with a broken lift angle, the torque is too high and the motor will slip. You can reef down on the manual nut and move it, but if you crank it far enough for the rear to lift, you may jam it.

Take a look at the mechanism on the sides -- if there are no broken bits (usually obvious), it just needs lubricated. Get some sunroof paste (Rusty at *************** sells a 2 ox tin for $5.00 -- the standard size is a quart can for about &70) and open the roof and lube all the sliding surfaces and pads. This will usually fix a slow or binding sunroof.

Please, please DO NOT use anything else -- the MB paste is essentially a dry lubricant. Anything that stays greasy will collect dirt, and you will be worse off than before.

If one of the lift angles is broken, you will need to remove the top panel and replace BOTH lift angles (about $95 each when I did mine about 2.5 years ago). The originals are rather light, and fracture at the hinge.

Details for repair have been posted before, do a search or respond & I'll type them again.

Peter

__________________
1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!