Sunroof Question

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bimbim - 20 May 2005 08:14 GMT

Hi all,
I'm a BMW newbie who got a 95 325i couple of weeks ago. I love it.
I am wondering if the sunroof is supposed to stop at the half point of
window opening(button de-pressed) or do I have some issue on the
mechanism? Any remedy? It does tilt up when I depress the forward
button.

Cheers!

John

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John Burns - 20 May 2005 10:17 GMT

> I'm a BMW newbie who got a 95 325i couple of weeks ago. I love it.
> I am wondering if the sunroof is supposed to stop at the half point of
> window opening(button de-pressed) or do I have some issue on the
> mechanism? Any remedy? It does tilt up when I depress the forward
> button.

It should go all the way back with only about 1" visible when fully
open.

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Jeff Strickland - 20 May 2005 17:54 GMT

It should open fully.

> Hi all,
> I'm a BMW newbie who got a 95 325i couple of weeks ago. I love it.
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
> John

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bimbim - 21 May 2005 07:08 GMT

Thanks for all reply. Another thing weird is that the liner is missing.
So I can see the back half of the panel with paint exposed and the
bolts. Before I'm thinking I'll just buy a replacement, but now perhaps
it was stuck in the cavity? Hard to see from the slot. Will try with
flashlight and mirror tomorrow.

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Jeff Strickland - 23 May 2005 16:58 GMT

The roof panel is easy to remove, especially if the liner is missing. I
suspect your liner is merely pushed back inside the cavity, and if the roof
panel was taken out you would be able to see the liner and pull it forward
where it belongs.

There are three nuts along the rear edge of the roof panel. The center one
is a fixed positioin, but the two outboard nuts are actually a slider
thingie that can be adjusted to raise or lower the rear corners of the roof
panel. Then, there are two small screws at the front corner of the roof
panel that can be removed while sitting inside the car. When these screws
are taken out, the part that the screws thread into have a small pin that
fits into a hole on the roof (visualize there are two pins on this lever
that keep the lever and the roof on a line, then consider that one of the
pins is really a screw). When the screw is removed, press the lever towards
the outside edge of the car, and the roof panel will be released.

USE CAUTION when operating the roof motor while the roof panel is removed.

> Thanks for all reply. Another thing weird is that the liner is missing.
> So I can see the back half of the panel with paint exposed and the
> bolts. Before I'm thinking I'll just buy a replacement, but now perhaps
> it was stuck in the cavity? Hard to see from the slot. Will try with
> flashlight and mirror tomorrow.

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bimbim - 28 May 2005 09:54 GMT

Thanks Jeff. I will attempt this soon as I have the time.

> The roof panel is easy to remove, especially if the liner is missing. I
> suspect your liner is merely pushed back inside the cavity, and if the roof
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
> > it was stuck in the cavity? Hard to see from the slot. Will try with
> > flashlight and mirror tomorrow.

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Jeff Strickland - 01 Jun 2005 02:32 GMT

When the roof panel is out, and you pull the liner forward, you should be
able to find a clippy thingie on the liner that the cable catches on to pull
the liner back and forward when the Tilt feature is used. The clip thingie
is on the left side of the liner in the area between the front and back
seats. You should be able to see a small tab-like thingie on the end of the
cable that slides fore and aft as the mechanism is moving. On my car, the
clip thingie has broken, and I am stuck for life operating the liner by hand
because there is no means for the tab to lock onto the liner to make it
slide when the Tilt is used.

The liner can be pushed off of the clip thingie and get pushed by hand into
the roof cavity. If this were to happen, there is a tab thingie on the cross
member that the three nuts screw onto that fits into a hole (slot really) in
the liner to push the liner around when the roof is being opened and
closed - not Tilting. If the liner gets pushed into the roof cavity, then
this tab will eventually strike the liner and cause the roof to stop moving.
(You should be able to retreive the liner with a coat hanger or other
suitable tool with a hook on the end.)

You can watch all of this stuff work when you have the roof panel off, but
be careful to not overdrive the motor and the roof mechanism. The roof panel
is part of the limiting mechanism, and when the roof panel is removed, there
are no limits and you can bind the mechanism if you are not
careful/observant.

> Thanks Jeff. I will attempt this soon as I have the time.
>
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
> > > it was stuck in the cavity? Hard to see from the slot. Will try with
> > > flashlight and mirror tomorrow.

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bimbim - 24 Jun 2005 08:11 GMT

I finally had the time to do this. After removing the sunroof panel I
can see the liner tucked all the way in. I used a clothes hanger to
pull it out hooking on one of the holes but it is resisting too much. I
can push-pull it about 1 cm and that's it. The next day I removed
everything on the way. The panel, the cross member, even the arms that
lifts it. Still I have no luck pulling it. I ran the motor so I can see
that the small tab on the cable so I know it's not blocking the
railing. I also tried it with the motor removed.

I suppose my next question is if anybody knows what might be stopping
the liner from moving out, perhaps a tab that I should free first.
Should I be OK applying more force in pulling without risk of breaking
something.

I like to give this another shot next week. Any more input is
appreciated.

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