sunroof problem

[skunk2]

anybody take apart the sunroof on an 05 3 sedan here?

last sat night i tried to tilt the sunroof open and it made this noise like it was skipping teeth on gears.

now the tilt function barely tilts, the one touch open does not work it just brings the glass down a little then i have to press tilt to fully open it.

closing it is a different story, press the close button, the glass slides to the front but does not go up to seal......i have to press tilt to bring it up.

the roof was not frozen when i tried to tilt open...the car has been running for about an hour with the heat on.

is the motor that opens and closes the sunroof located towards the front of the car or back? does the whole headliner need to come down to gain access?

i haven't tried anything yet, been too cold out. to top it off i got a cel the next day.
not a happy camper.

TIA

[aris]

And this is why i never touch my sun roof during the winter months!

[Iceman_F1]

And this is why i never touch my sun roof during the winter months!

I don't think it would just be because it's winter that would be the problem. But more so the weather before you open/close it. If it had just rained and is cold, might not be a good idea. If it's sunny and just cold, it shouldn't matter.

Not sure how the thing works but hopefully it's a simple fix and not something major.

[Ogata]

hmmm I better check mine then as I have been opening it in the winter though i haven't had any issues yet with mine.

[Hives]

Bring it to the dealer, and have them look at it. If you have warranty left, it should cover it. The manual does not say u cannot use the sunroof during winter, so there is no way they can bullshit you on this one and say they cannot cover it.

[skunk2]

warranty ran out last year. i don't see the sunroof/moonroof as a seasonal accessory. unless the car is all iced up i won't use it, common sense I guess.

i may have time to take it a part this weekend so we'll see how that goes.

[Aitch]

I haven't taken apart a sunroof on the Mazda3, but I would bet its similar in design to the one on the Protege which I did take apart because it broke. The design uses a motor at the front of the roof, with a gear which interlaces with teeth on two cables running out to the side of the roof and attaching to the sunroof sliding mechanism. Pulling and pushing on the cables is then what moves the glass or tilts it.

Mine just stopped moving one day when it was tilted up. The problem was that the very ends of the cables pass through a loop of metal on the sliding mechanism, and then the cables had a crimp on the end to stop them from being pulled out through the loop. The crimp came off and therefore the cable was no longer attached to the mechanism.

Unfortunately its a pain to deal with no matter what the problem, because you have to take out all the upper pillars, then the headliner, and then drop the sunroof mechanism out and see what is wrong. Be prepared to get creative in the repair, or wait until the parts you need are ordered in once you figure out what's wrong. For my repair, I found the crimp which had fallen off and managed to reuse it, and then used the sunroof sparingly afterwards because I was worried it would happen again. However it was fine from then on.

[skunk2]

thanks aitch...that was the kind of post i was looking for.
we'll on the weekend what its like.

[notoriousb]

OMG EXACT SAME PROBLEM

mine started out barely opening.. then opening stupidly on one side.. and it took ages to get it closed up again.. and i finally did... once it was closed ... it stopped opening when u presss the button.. it just sorta made a noise like the motor was working but it has come off the tracks... tell me how it goes -- i might open it myself but would rather a mechanic do it all since im so lazy nowadays

[kcmazda]

I've come accross this before and I just replaced the guides and cables and depending on how long this been going on it may need a motor because the gear teeth on the motor wear out...by the way the do this job you have to remove the hole sunroof assembly out of the car....

[skunk2]

i haven't touched mine lol.......it sounds like it skipped a gear or some of the teeth is gone.
my one touch open does not work. i can press tilt up (actually goes down) then slide it back to open. to close it, i slide it forward but in the end it goes down a bit so i just need to press tilt up (it actually goes up this time) until it levels with the roof line. i haven't used it since my original post.

[mazdathree]

dealer is the best option just to get it diagnosed IMO or any other car workshop that knows what they are doing....sunroof problems can be pain in the a** especially when you open it and then it stops working!!

[notoriousb]

yah dealer wants to open it up to see whats up....

YAH RIGHT -- im gonna pay them 300 dollars to have them open it up to tell me some 10000 $ part needs replacing and they'll do it for another low low price of 100 dollars extra .. yah thats what im gonna do.

[skunk2]

exactly my thoughts.


yah dealer wants to open it up to see whats up....

YAH RIGHT -- im gonna pay them 300 dollars to have them open it up to tell me some 10000 $ part needs replacing and they'll do it for another low low price of 100 dollars extra .. yah thats what im gonna do.

[Noisy Crow]

yah dealer wants to open it up to see whats up....

YAH RIGHT -- im gonna pay them 300 dollars to have them open it up to tell me some 10000 $ part needs replacing and they'll do it for another low low price of 100 dollars extra .. yah thats what im gonna do.

You seem to have a low opinon of mechanics being paid for their time.

In any case, the simple solution is to get prices for motor, gear assembly, etc. plus the cost to R&R them. Then you have a rough idea of what the maximum will be and you can decide whether or not you want to pay to have it pulled apart.

[notoriousb]

I don't think I want to go anywhere near their "maximum" of replacing "the motor, gear assembly etc", I'd rather open it myself, and see if I can fix it for free. Maybe I'll donate the money I saved to the beer store and make myself happy.

In any case, I've been down this road before -- my windows stopped going up -- A Mitsubishi dealership charged me $80 to look at them (which literally took 15 minutes) to tell me the cost of the window regulator and motor is $500 each and both sides would have to be replaced. I still got charged the $80 , and I found the regulators from a junk yard for $100, and the motors were fine.

A ford dealership once wanted to charge me 2 hours of labour and a rad hose that cost $150. I went to Canadian tire to find the same part for $20, and did the fix myself in under an hour.

Yeah I do have a low opinion of what mechanics get paid for their "time" ... actually I don't even think the mechanic gets paid most of it -- most of it goes to the shop itself.

[kcmazda]

I don't think I want to go anywhere near their "maximum" of replacing "the motor, gear assembly etc", I'd rather open it myself, and see if I can fix it for free. Maybe I'll donate the money I saved to the beer store and make myself happy.

In any case, I've been down this road before -- my windows stopped going up -- A Mitsubishi dealership charged me $80 to look at them (which literally took 15 minutes) to tell me the cost of the window regulator and motor is $500 each and both sides would have to be replaced. I still got charged the $80 , and I found the regulators from a junk yard for $100, and the motors were fine.

A ford dealership once wanted to charge me 2 hours of labour and a rad hose that cost $150. I went to Canadian tire to find the same part for $20, and did the fix myself in under an hour.

Yeah I do have a low opinion of what mechanics get paid for their "time" ... actually I don't even think the mechanic gets paid most of it -- most of it goes to the shop itself.



Good luck, if you are plaining to take it a part....You'll need about a good 4+ hour of time and like I said before its a dumb set up because to change anything you have to remove everything as a unit....its not hard just takes time...I hear you about what mechanics charge but every job has a book time and if the mechanic can do it faster thats how they make there money...but if he can do it in the time its his lost...that the flat rate system...and about 70% of the rate goes to the shops.... Good luck again

[McGuyver_3]

try pushing and holding the sunroof button tilt position. If its anything like the cars i work on at work it will relearn the motor stops meaning it will go through all the open and close positions. Maybe just maybe it will help

[skunk2]

mcguyver - i'll try that....unless you wanna take a crack at it and open it up :)

[McGuyver_3]

What do you mean by opening it up? like actually removing the headliner and taking a closer look at it? lol

[notoriousb]

OMG cuz im so smart I fixed it!!!

Heres what happens -- the motor is a separate unit that attaches to the dome light switch/ sun roof switches and a little hole that has the cables in there.

I thought you would have to take off the entire headliner -- which is NOT the case!

All you have to do, is open your sun roof "cover/shade". You will see a cloth type ring going around the edge of the sunroof. Take this off, it should come off just like the rubber gasket thingy fits around your windows and doors. Then, there willl be metal tabs keeping the headliner on, jus puull them back and you can push down the headliner far enough to see the motor. (the motor is attached like 2 inches away from the switches).

True enough, the motor came loose from the roof. It was just sitting on the headliner and the 3 screws to hold it up were rolling around on the headliner. Now since the motor gear came off the cables, it won't know what position the sunroof is in... So what you do is you press "slide" to close the sun roof (dont put the gear in the hole yet)... then close the sun roof totally... Just slide it your self. This way the motor and the sunroof are in the close position.

Then you push the motor gear back into it's hole. And screw the damn thing -- use an orbital screwdriver or a z screwdriver thingy that lets you screw on a 90 degree angle. Test it out, and your sun roof shoould work ... except if your gears have worn off from all the previous attempts to close/open the roof.

It literally took 30 mins.

[skunk2]

notorious thanks for posting that up.
i didn't want to start getting into it coz i thought you'd have to pull the headliner down.
i'll give it a try tomorrow since im off anyway.

[notoriousb]

no problem .. hope it was the same thing for you -- I was getting depressed at not having a sun roof really anymore --- and happy that I didn't go to a mechanic who would of taken the whole headliner off!

[sunkist4338]

Bring it to the dealer, and have them look at it. If you have warranty left, it should cover it. The manual does not say u cannot use the sunroof during winter, so there is no way they can bullshit you on this one and say they cannot cover it.

:chuckle

[Aitch]

Nice work!!

[skunk2]

tried to work on this a few minutes ago.....found 1 screw sitting on the headliner....put that back in and still the same :(.

what do you mean by - "Then you push the motor gear back into it's hole."?

the motor on mine did not completely come off. when you are looking at the motor the only screw that came off is the one on the right. where are the other screws? i tried tightening/ loosening that torx bit on the right side....i tightened it all the way in and the motor stopped working.....loosened it and it worked again but did not fix my problem. mine just does not know where the stops are for open/close and tilt up/down.....frustrating.

[notoriousb]

Take off the motor. The other screw is visible if you look from the switch's side. Once the motor is off, press slide (while the motor is in your hand or something) and close the sun roof your self. Then stick it back into the hole with your hand and try pressing the buttons, if the sun roof moves properly again then you can screw it all back in. The only problem is if your motor has worn out, you might need a new motor.

[skunk2]

Got what u r saying now. Will give it a try again some time this week.

Thanks for ur help.