Sliding Roof

RandyM · Post by **RandyM** » Thu Mar 31, 2016 10:10 am

My roof mechanism has failed. Tries but wont lift unless I push from the inside while pushing switch. Tries to slide back, don't want to push because I'm scared to get it stuck. motor/electrics are ok, pretty sure its the little fork shaped (plastic?) part and associated bits that the #15 is pointing to that does the lifting, but #15 is listed as the Drive Cable-Pair. There is no part number in any of the other diagrams for this little bit and the cables are $$ and I imagine it's a big PITA to replace. It looks like it is a separate part and easily replaced, don't want to move the lid until I have parts in hand. Can anyone tell me for sure? Or maybe knows what fails/needs replaced. Thanks
<img src="http://www.realoem.com/bmw/images/diag_5sk.png" width="640" height="452">

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showpar ... Id=54_0068

Mike W. · Post by **Mike W.** » Thu Mar 31, 2016 12:13 pm

It's been a while since I was in a sunroof mech and I can't remember which part does exactly what, but I will offer this. E's 12, 21, 23, 24, 28 all used pretty much the same sunroof parts, although several different sized roofs themselves, so if you have a DIY junkyard nearby you can troubleshoot or even harvest the parts off one of them. E30 looks similar in Realoem, but I don't know what does and doesn't interchange on them.

RonDwyer · Post by **RonDwyer** » Thu Mar 31, 2016 4:09 pm

Having worked on plenty of these over the years the only fix on a 30+ year old car that has not been apart since the day it left the factory is to resign yourself to a complete tear down, inspection, cleaning, lubrication and reassembly with new parts as needed. Zeroing in on a specific part overlooks the fact that everything has dried out lubricants, sucked in tons of dust, gallons of water and likely has some corrosion growing in bad places.

It really isn't that big of a job once you get the inner liner pulled down and slid back. Take pictures, dont panic and work slowly, put pieces in plastic bags by area and mark them as you take it apart. I did my first one without a diagram.

Push it back a bit to help the motor, get the cover out of the way and you will see how it is bolted in to remove the panel. The rest is just the cables and tilt mechanism.