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The drive unit springs/cables on my sunroof are a bit messed up. Manually cranking the sunroof does nothing. I am trying to unstick the rails and have my sunroof operating again but how am i going to unstick anything when the sunroof is closed shut?
The sunroof assembly is out of the car and right now it seems like the only option is to get a junk yard one as no one seems to be selling one.
Is there anyway to take apart and repair the sunroof with it being closed shut? I tried disassembling it but it seems like you cant unless its opened atleast a little bit.
Any help or information regarding repairing this would help a crap ton. I understand that there a writeup about this but that doesnt explain how to repair or remove the top panel and repair when the sunroof IS CLOSED SHUT. I cant even get the interior panel off to get to the 6 bolts to remove the external panel. I could try hacking away at the interior panel and try to get to those bolts but I dont want to destroy my mint condition interior.
The problem you have is the individual sliders/spring cables on each side of the sunroof panel are out of synch with one another, and as long as the motor unit gear is still meshing with the spring cables and the sunroof panel is installed, it's not going anywhere.
With it jammed in the closed position like that, it's going to be very hard to get it apart without buggering up your headliner trim. Probably the least destructive approach would be to see if you can pull down the headliner at the rear edge of the sunroof by the motor just enough so you can access the motor's mounting bolts (3 botls, IIRC) then loosen the bolts & drop the motor unit down some. What you're trying to do is get the gear disengaged from the cables/springs to get it unstuck. If it "pops" when you do this, it's a good sign because that's the sound of tension being released in those cables. Then reinstall the motor so the gear meshes again with the springs and try to manually crank the roof open with the handle or Allen wrench. From that point on, you should be able to follow the FSM to take the sunroof panel off and disassemble/restore the unit. I'm pretty sure there's a good write up on restoring the sunroof mechanisms on this site somewhere. Good luck!
Hey pete thanks for the quick reply man. So the motor has already been removed and the entire assembly is out of the car. it seems the springs are grinded down a bit. I tried to take the gear off the motor and turn it with a flathead that would fit in the center of the gear as a way to manually see if i could get anything moving. I pryed the spings snug to the gear on each end then tried turning manually with the flathead so I could see if anything moves or whats happeneing... Nothing moves of course...
DO you think one of the drive springs moved too much while the other didnt and its out of sync like you are saying ?
Or do these often rust to have no movement whatsoever?
I just really cant wrap my headaround the engineering around this. It seems so flimsy and like such a bad long term mechanical solution to make a sunroof open. Why did they make this like this lol . Asking for a friend lol.
I obviously don't have the panel in place in that first picture, but if those covers at the rear are accessible, you can remove them, get the guide tubes free, and manually pull the cables to pop up and slide the panel back to access removing the headliner portion. From there, you can perform a more thorough disassembly and inspection.
Thank you Jerry Those detailed pictures help tremendously. the guide cables are the spring looking cables that touch the motor gear right? Just wanna make sure we talking bout same thing.
if So the guide cables just pull out ?? And I see in the picture where u have all the parts layed out for reassembly. Did u buy new guide cables?? FB03-69-842A and FB03-69-843A??
300 bucks for both sheesh .
and thats the covers ur talking bout yeah?
sorry for the questions. but if this is my answer to fixing this I will name my children after you. Thanks again
Hey pete thanks for the quick reply man. So the motor has already been removed and the entire assembly is out of the car. it seems the springs are grinded down a bit. I tried to take the gear off the motor and turn it with a flathead that would fit in the center of the gear as a way to manually see if i could get anything moving. I pryed the spings snug to the gear on each end then tried turning manually with the flathead so I could see if anything moves or whats happeneing... Nothing moves of course...
DO you think one of the drive springs moved too much while the other didnt and its out of sync like you are saying ?
Or do these often rust to have no movement whatsoever?
I just really cant wrap my headaround the engineering around this. It seems so flimsy and like such a bad long term mechanical solution to make a sunroof open. Why did they make this like this lol . Asking for a friend lol.
Ok, I misunderstood you - thought the sunroof was still in the car. Anyway, rust/corrosion can lock these mechanisms up, as can stretched/broken springs.
Thank you Jerry Those detailed pictures help tremendously. the guide cables are the spring looking cables that touch the motor gear right? Just wanna make sure we talking bout same thing.
if So the guide cables just pull out ?? And I see in the picture where u have all the parts layed out for reassembly. Did u buy new guide cables?? FB03-69-842A and FB03-69-843A??
300 bucks for both sheesh .
and thats the covers ur talking bout yeah?
sorry for the questions. but if this is my answer to fixing this I will name my children after you. Thanks again
Yes, that's the cover I was referring to. And also yes, the guide cables are the spring looking cables that the motor turns.
Alternatively, you may be able to remove the other tubes (the tube the cable retracts into as the sunroof opens, copper color in my pictures) that aren't going into that cover. If you slide those off, you may have enough cable to grip onto and get the sunroof panel to pop up and slide back a little. That's really what you're after here, as you can't do a full disassembly unless you can get the panel up and back a few inches. Once you have everything apart, you can do a thorough inspection and see if you need new cables and clean everything. In my case, I did buy new cables for both sides, as some of the pieces that attach to the cables were broken.
Thank you Jerry I will give it a try ! Also thats funny you posted a wanted to buy for a turbo split air pipe. i found one and linked on your post before I made this post. If youre still looking for that I have the link there on your post !
I actually did see that, but I never got around to installing a catalytic converter and may stick with the presilencer. Unfortunately that link was for the part that connects to the ACV, I needed the part that connects to the cat. I think I'll just rig something up whenever I install a new catalytic converter (getting tired of the smell).
Update: I took those covers off and tried to pull the cables best i could and they were stuck on there pretty good. BUT I was able to get the interior cloth piece off with the panel closed all the way!!!!
From the front of the frame I took a large flat head screwdriver and stuck it under the interior cloth panel. I went back and forth and pried the clips free.
Then I was able to squeeze the interior panel through the hole of the frame and out of the frame! I was then able to remove the 6 10 mm bolts that attach the exterior panel and remove it . I can now disassemble and clean it. I will be ordering the new cables as well.
The interior piece was not damaged either. wish i didnt have to squeeze it through like that but I can finally make this thing work as it should. Thanks guys !
Also do you know what part number FB0369832C and FB0369833C is. The diagrams on the mazda websites have "guide rail" and "rear guide " . Which part is the cables??
whats the difference between number 6 and 7 on the diagram
I zoomed in on some of my original photos and you want FB03-69-842A and FB03-69-843A. They are listed as "Guide" and these are the cables with some new hard parts as well.
When I went to order these years ago, I only thought one side of my sunroof was broken and ordered that cable. Years later, once I discovered both sides were broken, I had to wait on the cable for the other side to arrive from Japan. If these aren't in the US, you'll need a dealer/parts supplier with a commitment to enthusiasts.
05-15-20, 02:50 AM
