How to fix a stuck sunroof
LOL I'm with you on that one man. I think I'm going to do mine in March sometime when it's a big warmer. The part I'm worried about is re-timing the motor. Anyone had experience doing this?
OK so i finally did it.... in march like i said ;p
So here is the kicker. All the screws were fine. I believe something was on the track (like pine needles or debris) and it was preventing it from going back. I cleaned out all the debris catchers in the back... kind of a lame design that you can't take apart without dropping the whole sunroof. Anyways this seemed to have fixed my sunroof. I cleaned all the tracks with a toothbrush and put some LIGHT grease on them.
These instructions are GREAT. I'm glad I didn't have the dealership do it. Even though it took me like 2.5 hours. I could do it again in about 25 min. The hardest part for me was getting the middle pillar tabs out of the lining... that is a TIGHT squeeze.
For the 3 tabs in the back... i just used a large flathead and slid it underneath and put my thumb on the opposite side and pried down... being careful not the break or bend the clip. This was the easiest part of the whole thing.
To clarify on the bezel for the actual sun roof switch... there was another piece of metal in there that was gray. THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU WANT TO TOUCH
. Just look in there and you will see the 2 gray teeth for the bezel. Make sure you do the REAR one. The one in the front is too hard to get to.
I HAD to take the back pillars out to get my lining out. They weren't that hard to put back in either. I just put down the back seats and the side foam moved enough to get the notches in. When I took out the front pillars one of the metal clips stayed in the frame and when I popped it out.... IT WENT STRAIGHT INTO THE LITTLE HOLE UNDER THE FRONT OF THE DOOR INTO THE FENDER. Like.. a piece the size of a nickel goes into a hole the size of a quarter.. DOH! Anyways it was the middle one and it seems to be fine without it.
Anyways... thanks guys!
So here is the kicker. All the screws were fine. I believe something was on the track (like pine needles or debris) and it was preventing it from going back. I cleaned out all the debris catchers in the back... kind of a lame design that you can't take apart without dropping the whole sunroof. Anyways this seemed to have fixed my sunroof. I cleaned all the tracks with a toothbrush and put some LIGHT grease on them.
These instructions are GREAT. I'm glad I didn't have the dealership do it. Even though it took me like 2.5 hours. I could do it again in about 25 min. The hardest part for me was getting the middle pillar tabs out of the lining... that is a TIGHT squeeze.
For the 3 tabs in the back... i just used a large flathead and slid it underneath and put my thumb on the opposite side and pried down... being careful not the break or bend the clip. This was the easiest part of the whole thing.
To clarify on the bezel for the actual sun roof switch... there was another piece of metal in there that was gray. THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU WANT TO TOUCH
. Just look in there and you will see the 2 gray teeth for the bezel. Make sure you do the REAR one. The one in the front is too hard to get to. I HAD to take the back pillars out to get my lining out. They weren't that hard to put back in either. I just put down the back seats and the side foam moved enough to get the notches in. When I took out the front pillars one of the metal clips stayed in the frame and when I popped it out.... IT WENT STRAIGHT INTO THE LITTLE HOLE UNDER THE FRONT OF THE DOOR INTO THE FENDER. Like.. a piece the size of a nickel goes into a hole the size of a quarter.. DOH! Anyways it was the middle one and it seems to be fine without it.
Anyways... thanks guys!
yeah, my sunroof actually got stuck open because two screws fell out of the motor where it's mounted. I never had any problems prior to this, but once I got it working again, it does that.
Newbie
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 49
Likes: 0
From: Pickerington, OH
I just want to say Thank You to Cajun Power and everyone else who has shared info in this post. Mine got stuck "Open" at my son's soccer practice the other night and I was freaking b/c it was supposed to rain the next day.
I zipped home, did a search on evom, headed to the garage, went into surgery for about 2 hours, and the world is safe once more.
Thanks again team!
I zipped home, did a search on evom, headed to the garage, went into surgery for about 2 hours, and the world is safe once more.
Thanks again team!
I just got another lancer, 03 ralliart, my other lancer is an 04 es, which the old lady drives now, with the sunroof shut and stuck, I guess I'll work on it today and get it done. Hopefully I can post up a successful repair.