Removal and Repair of Sunroof!
 

Hey guys! I ran a search last night and could not for the life of me find a tutorial or anything "in depth" on how to remove, clean, repair the sunroof. So does anyone have this information? This past week my sunroof has been a son-of-a-bitch and doesn't wanna slide back so I wanna rip it apart and clean it all up. Please any information is appreciated.

I was looking for one of those too a week ago, seeing that i couldnt find one i was planning on making one... but I forgot to take pictures of it. I can help you from what i remember though.
-Open sunroof about an inch and pull down at the front of the interior on it till it pops out
-Unbolt sunroof
-Unscrew rear view mirror and remove it
-unscrew and popoff/make loose enough both the a&b-pillars plastic interior, and plastic strips at front and back of headliner
-remove headliner
-unplug drainpipes and any cables hooked to the assembly
-unbolt the 4 gold color? nuts then unbolt the lowering nuts
-remove sunroof easy to get out alone hard to get in alone...
-unscrew & remove motor
-unscrew %remove guide rails w/ lifters
-pull cables out of holder
-clean it all with your chemical of choice (i used mineral sprites cause i had it)
-grease up the cables and guide rail i think with grease of your choice (i used vavoline general purpose grease, heard CRC White Grease is good)
-put it all back together
-stick it back in car
-have a working sunroof

actually i think i did find somesrot of guide on here about it, but it was mainly for just getting it out of the car, didnt really explain what to do after that, i can't remeber though

Here's an abbreviated version of what to do to clean and regrease your sunroof. Consider it a guide more than a complete step-by-step procedure.

Materials:

Lithium or Graphite grease
Brake cleaning fluid
paper towels or rags
Body and Body_Electrical sections of the Factory Service Manual

Tools:
Philips screw driver
Small slotted screwdriver and razor blade (to remove screw caps without breaking them)
10MM socket and rachet with 3" extension

Precautions:
A. Before taking the sunroof assembly itself apart, if you can:
1. open the sunroof
2. remove the wind deflector end links (two philips screws per side)
If you take apart the sunroof assembly, you will break one or both end links.

B. The sunroof assembly is heavy. One person can remove and reinstall the sunroof (I've done it three times by myself without incident), but if you have help, use it.

C. You do not need to remove the rear sail interior panels. Just pull the top edges down enough to get at the retaining clips for the headliner.

1. Following the procedure for removing the sunroof assembly, lay it out on a clean work surface (the ground is fine too).

2. Work on one side at a time so as to keep track of how things go back together. Keep the screws you remove in order so you can put them back in their correct places.

3. Remove both track assemblies and remove the copper tubing.

4. Using brake cleaner, spray brake cleaner through the tubing--taking care to aim the outlets away from you. I used a trash can in this case.

5. Once satisfied that you've gotten as much gunk out as you can, put it aside.

6. Disassemble one track assembly at a time (so you can figure out how to reassemble it later) and clean off all the grease and gunk. Spray the track itself with brake cleaner and get out all the old grease and gunk.

7. Once satifisfied it's as clean as you can make it (including the cables), regrease everything with fresh graphite or lithium grease (not the spray type, the stuff that comes in a tube).

8. Put the regreased track assembly back together and reattach the assembly to the roof panel (cleaning the panel itself obviously).

9. Repeat steps 6-8 for the other track and reassemble.

10. Grease up each cable and guide them back into their copper tubes. Use lots of grease at the point where the drive gear goes.

11. Once everything is back together, reinstall the cleaned and regreased sunroof assembly back in the car. Follow the FSM and reassemble in reverse order.

12. The sunroof should now open and close on its own, or at least it's better than before. Follow the FSM procedure on aligning the motor (for the tilt feature).

13. Follow the procedure in the FSM on aligning the sunroof panel with the roof.

Archive

i second that

archive please

si... I'm gonna need this thread here shortly.

a COUPLE other thing to add:


If you hear a clicking noise when trying to open the sunroof, the motor gear teeth are probably jumping out of the cable's grooves.


Seems only one side wanting to open is a pretty common problem. Easiest first step is to try cleaning and lubing again, but that might not solve your problem.

I found my sunroof motor drive gear to be warn down to the point where the gear teeth were concave. Hence the gear teeth were only making contact with one of the sunroof drive cables, and that is why only one side wanted to open on it's own.



Make sure you follow the shop manual's proceedure for reinstalling a sunroof motor - you have to pop open the sun roof, then line up the gear teeth a certain way. **Pay special attention to the way the gear is lined up when you are reinstalling the sunroof motor.



By the way, I have swapped a series 4 sunroof motor in a series 5 car - they are the same.



.

Hi guys, my sunroof has not been workin since I got the car... Removed the headliner only to find that the motor is non existance.. Hence I can't even open it up manually... It has been leaking water if heavy rain pour. Cleaned the drain hose and connection with some wire but found them to be really clean. Is there anyway I can open the sunroof without the motor? Also, I can't seem to find any replacement motor here in Malaysia and to order brand new from Mazda, it'll cost approx. USD700.... So, if anyone has some usable sunroof motor lying around, PLS PLS PLS PLS sell it to me. As it is monsoon season now and the feeling of droplet of water dripping on ur face while going sideways ain't good at all!

Guys... pls PM me if u could help at all.. maybe sourcing out a second hand unit.... I'll pay for the everything through watever means.. PM me pls. THanks

There is a manual crank method, however that requires the original motor to be present...


Sounds like you need to take a trip to the for sale section ;)

i have the one side wants to open problem. i dont think its as easy as spraying lube in there. i have to take the whole track out and fix it somehow.

I have one that works and is complete. I just removed it this week. PM'd you

LC

Just noticed you're in Malaysia.. that could be a pain to get to you. PM'd you

I hada problem with my sunroof wanting to drive on one side only. The motor was just fine, the cable had rusted clean through!

can i just get a new cable for the side that doesnt work? somone PM me if they have one or know where i can get one that will work.

-Matt

just posting so that i can gind this eaily later cause this is a great thread and ill be doing this sooner or later

Hi,i am a new member here ,i seem to have the same problem my sunroof only grabs on 1 side . busy13b is there anyway to tell if the gear is worn down like u said without removing the entire sunroof. I just picked up my rx7 turbo i have had it for about 2 weeks now.I have a few minor problems with the car,and the sunroof is 1 of them i am trying to fix .thanks for any help.

redturbo, Just pop the cap that covers the manual drive. It's in the center of the celing, between the sunroof opening and the rear hatch. Turn in with an allan wrench. If you can open the sunroof relatively easily, with no binding, the problem is the motor. Otherwise, you need to clean and/or replace your sunroof cables and sliders.

thanks james i will give that a try .

Everyone give this thread a rating so it will be archived.

Yeah ditto on the sunroof thing. I wish I knew which problem it had (rusted cable, or stripped motor gear) so I didnt have to waste so much time on it. Hopefully it just needs some lube.

if anyone knows where to find a cable for the sunroof track pm me. thanx

What about replacing the factory sunroof with a manual one? Not one that manually cranks, one that simply pops up slightly for air flow.

Or if thats not possible, can someone without a sunroof replace the metal plate with the OEM one?

this doesnt get archieved
but incomplete writeups does?
geez