I just had to manually close my sunroof 1st time....It opens fine but I tried to close it and it stopped after about 6 inches and just makes a loud noise like gears missing ....
Anyone know what this could be? This is an '85 300D-T
Thanks;

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'87 924S
'81 280SEL

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81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

could be that the gears are missing -- as in the gear assembly for the sunroof motor is stripped. I'm not real familiar with the 123 chassis, but in the 201 and 124 the sun roof motor is in the trunk on the drivers side. I'd listen to that while someone else opens/closes the sunroof a bit. Then you'll be able to tell if its the culprit. It could be that you just need to lube the cable a bit if the gears aren't stripped too badly.

I'll check, it sounded like it was coming from the roof,... Did you ever change this yourself?????

__________________
'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

I have never changed the motor assembly but I have taken the headliner off the sunroof and lubed the cable in my 86 190e. Taking the motor out shouldn't be too daunting of a task, I thought I was going to have to do it and found the motor in the trunk. I think that it was only secured by about 3 - 5 bolts and had one electrical plug on it. Again, I'm not sure how similar it is to the 123 but the motor should be relatively easy to find once you remove any trunk plastic/lining on the drivers side.

Did you close it manually using a wrench on the motor in the trunk? If so, the gears must be good enough to close the roof. I had a similar issue with my 300E and it ended up due to the cable binding in the guide tube near the attachment to the roof.

Thats a good point^^ You should first remove the headliner of the sunroof, remove the cable and then lube it up good to make sure that this isn't the problem. To remove the headliner (again on the 190e but likely similar on your car) you open it about 1/2 way and then use a flat head screw driver to pry off the headliner from the front. On the 190 there were 3(?) clips about 3 inches from the front of the sunroof that had to be pried loose. Once you've done this you can remove the headliner out the top of the car (you may have to open the sunroof a bit more). Then, after closing the roof, you should see where the cable attachs in the back of the roof. There is a clip with 2x8mm bolts (10mm maybe?). Unfasten this clip and then you'll see the cable. You should be able to use the motor to feed the cable out of the motor and then pull it the rest of the way out of the tube. PPL have different opinions on which grease to use, of course MB makes "Sunroof Cable Grease" buts its pretty spendy and you have to buy a lot (i want to say like 5 gallons but I'm not sure). I used wheel bearing grease librally (something about the viscocity of vasoline) to lube my cable.

I've noticed that ************** sells a sunroof repair "kit" on eBay that includes instructions, grease, etc:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MERCEDES-123-240D-300D-PWR-SUNROOF-REPAIR_W0QQitemZ7989598878QQcategoryZ6763QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I have never tried this, but I was also wondering if anyone has (mine is also getting a little slow in cool temps).

I used the manual crank, but it was difficult to move...1st time i had to....
2 I had the cable lubed 5-6 months ago by mb mechanic, any other ideas????

__________________
'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

When my sunroof stuck I could not move it all manually with the crank. I find it hard to beleive a mechanic lubed the cable unless you know for sure the sunroof inerior panel was removed and serviced as described by skiier3 9. The source of the problem in my case was the cable. I performed the repair myself, it took the good part of a day but I saved a ton of money. The local MB dealer estimated $1500 to $2000.