I urgently need help closing a stuck sunroof.

Roof has the back tilted up, but will not come back down. The only time the motor hums is when you choose to pivot the rear up. The other switches get no action at all.

Is there some way to easily close it? The car is traveling hundreds of miles from me with a driver who doesn't have much in the way of DIY skills. It's going to rain in the next 24 hours. Odds of finding a mechanic to work on it before that are very low... I need some way to close it. I don't need it to work, but I do need to close and secure it.

Also, does this sound like a switch issue? If it was a cable issue, wouldn't the motor hum no matter what you tried to do?

Thanks

 

I found some posts that indicate that there's a manual close gear under the dome light cover that takes an 8mm allen wrench.

Questions:

Will this manual crank close a tilted sunroof? Or does it just handle sliding it?

Anyone know what direction the crank needs to be turned?

Is there enough clearance to insert the allen wrench on the short side so that you can use the long side for leverage in closing the roof? Or do you need to insert the long side into the fitting and then have something that will turn the allen wrench? (The person doing this will have limited strength to grip/push the wrench).

 

One way or the other does it all.

It's pretty easy to turn unless something has gotten stuck in the rails... then enjoy your in car swimming pool (Won't happen unless it's a torrential downpour and your drains are clogged and your car is parked at the correct altitude).

 

If your motor is responding two either ways than check the rails for rust or no grease they need grease grease it up when your in the area check the motor out for rust and the rail or rod that does the pulling and sliding. I would next check for an open circuit or a bad relay check voltage and switch conditions like poor connection or bad ground.

 

Thanks guys. After the driver pushed on the close button 27 times in a row, it closed. It will stay closed until it gets back where I can work on it.

If it was a lube related problem, shouldn't the motor at least hum when you push the switch? So that would indicate a switch problem? Seems odd that more than one switch would go bad at one though... although the car was washed yesterday morning so maybe so moisture got in there? Is this a mechanical contact type switch or something with a PC board that might have a circuit issue?

 

I know that I can drive in rain with the sunroof tilted up. If it won't close, it might help to park up a slight hill. Cross winds might still blow water in though.

Your particular problem might be caused by a bad switch.

 

duct tape and a trash bag ... ghetto fashion mangg

 

My first thought was "bad switch"... is there much of a track record for these? Every post I found for sunroof issues was due to cable/track problems.

 

Check for a small rock in the track. As impossible as it sounds, I ended up with a pebble in mine that kept it from closing fully for weeks. I finally got up there and started feeling around and found it. I was so happy.