Need to manually force open sunroof on '87 420sel
 

I’ve discovered that the reason my sunroof wont open is that the sun roof frame(?) has cracked at both the rear left and right sides of the frame. I can see the sun roof cable and the rear of the sun roof frame retract back into the roof when I try to open the roof and I see two fresh cracks where the aluminum frame has busted. So I want to retract the roof and begin to see what its going to take to fix, but I’m unable to manually force the sun roof down and back to begin to take it apart to repair, even after the cable has been retracted. Any suggestions on how to do this? Also, I did a search on Fastlane and can’t locate the replacement parts for this. One old post I read said that this was a dealer only part at $110 for the left and $110 for the right side of the frame. Any words of wisdom or encouragement on this project would be appreciated. I’ve got the repair manual on CD but this repair job looks to have PITA written all over it. Thanks

did you already use the manual open feature in the trunk?

tom w

Maybe I didnt make my posting clear. The motor to retract the sunroof works fine. The cable is now retracting just a broken off piece of the rear of the sun roof frame, leaving the sun roof in place and closed.

ok, sorry. i didnt follow.

tom w

Is the headlinner out? If not unclip the front. Then maybe carefully using a screw driver pry the sunroof back. Or any other large object that can be used to get it moving. You need to move the sunroof back in order to get the clips that hold the headliner in out, pull forward the headliner should free up. Then you need to move it back forward in order to undo the 4 bolts that hold the metal panal itself in. Look up when the headliner is out you will see a black metal bracket and two gold bolts on either side holding the panal in. With the panal out of the car then you can procede with fixing it.

Thats just the problem. The first task in the MB Manual to fix the sun roof is task 77-050 - Removal and Installation of Headliner. It begins...With sliding roof opened by 3/4, unclip sliding roof headlining at the front....
I can't get the roof open at all to even begin removing the headlining.

Hmm catch 22. Have you tired to pry it open with something? If you are carefull and maybe put a thin strip of wood between what you pry with and the metal you probably won't chip the paint.