Lately I've been listening to nothing but the music I listened to circa 2006-2007, and I guess my car thought it would be fun to get in on the nostalgia by making me re-do a repair I did around that time. Not really the blast from the past I wanted, but I like having a working sunroof so ...
Basically I tried to open it one day and just heard a pop and it stopped moving. Stuck shut, could be worse. Nothing was moving with the switch or the manual crank, and I could see through the liner that there was something wrong with the cable (see photo).
Today I managed to pop the liner loose and slide it back, unbolt the sunroof panel and inspect everything (kind of amazing how much of this I remembered as I went along).
Good news is the lift arms look perfect, which is what I had replaced last time. The cable, however was sort of popped out of the end of the tube, and curled up in a loop. Pushing the switch (or using the manual crank) did not do anything to move the cable at all even when I made sure the cable was free to move. I gently pulled on it and it easily slid all the way out by hand. No breaks or anything but it's all kinds of bent at the end.
The tube looks OK, however, the slit at the top seems to be a little wider than it should be right at the end (where the cable came out).
Any ideas what went wrong, and what I should do? I have a second, clean cable from a 1988 300E, as well as the tube. Why wouldn't the gear move the cable? Is it possible it popped out of the gear once it got stuck? Or do I likely have stripped gears in addition to the bent cable?
Should I try to just feed the new cable in and see what happens?

Attached Thumbnails

   

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

Bo you need to watch Kent Bragsna on youtube for the sun roof repair he is videoing .

Any chance you've got a link? Searching that name doesn't pull anything up for me.

Just going to try to see if I can tighten up the gap on the tube and then put the new cable in and see if it will feed into the gears. I wonder if maybe since it popped out of the tube and had no resistance to trip the clutch, it just wound itself all the way out of the gears.

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

Here:

http://youtu.be/zIAkmgg5DsI

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The OM 642/722.9 powered family
Still going strong
2014 ML350 Bluetec (wife's DD)
2013 E350 Bluetec (my DD)

both my kids cars went to junkyard in 2023
2008 ML320 CDI (Older son’s DD) fatal transmission failure, water soaked/fried rear SAM, numerous other issues, just too far gone to save (165k miles)
2008 E320 Bluetec (Younger son's DD) injector failed open and diluted oil with diesel, spun main bearings (240k miles)

1998 E300DT sold to TimFreeh
1987 300TD sold to vstech

************** is the channel. Many on here do not think too favorably of him, IIRC.

*EDIT*
So much so that the forum automatically sensors the name. Heh.

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RenaissanceMan Labs: where the future is being made today.

Garage:

2017 Chevy Colorado Diesel (nanny state emissions)
2005 Volvo S40 T5 AWD, 77k
1987 Mercedes-Benz 300D turbodiesel, 4 sp auto, 156k - 28.7 mpg
1996 Tracker 4x4, 2 door, 16v, 3 sp auto. 113k - 28.6 mpg

WARNING: this post may contain dangerous free thinking.

I think ol Ken (Bergsma) is an acquired taste. He has a unique delivery of his techniques, but when I am researching info on a subject I like as much info as possible.

Can't knock a guy trying to scratch out a living!

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

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1995 E300 (W124)
1999 ML430 (w163)
2011 GL350 (x164)
2016 Sprinter 144" 4X4 lowtop (906)
2004 E500 (W211) 4matic Wagon (Gold)
2004 E500 (W211) 4matic Wagon Avantgarde (silver)

Great, thanks. I had actually seen one of his other sunroof videos, but will look at the others. Will certainly go over the tracks and pads and re-lubricate. Doesn't seem like anything is binding but I'll play with it a bit.

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)