Sunroof (searched high and low)
 

Hi everyone. My sunroof works fine, but with one little problem: when it hits fully open/fully closed, the motor doesn't stop, feels like it keeps going and grinds. So basically, I have to be really careful to release the button upon reaching the full open/closed position to avoid that.
Any suggestions on what the problem is? I could not find anything.
Thanks.

253 Views and no replies???
Come on boys, no ideas whatsoever?

Seems normal to me, mine makes a "grinding" like noise but it's not violent or anything. I think they have gears that allow slip after a certain amount of resistance is met.

OK, if that is the case, then I am going to leave it alone. It's always been like that, but I bought the car when it was 13 years old, so at the time I thought it might have been something not right in the system.

I'd like to hear from other sunroof FDs owners about how theirs work and sound...

And of course, thank you.

never had that problem on my 95. hit the button, it opens and motor stops. hit the button, it closes and motor stops. works like any other "normal" car.

Mine makes the same "grinding" noise you've described.
While obviously not "normal" for most cars, it seems to be common on a lot of japanese cars I've owned over the years.
I've had my FD for right at 10 years now (wow, time flies!) and that little sunroof gear hasn't broken or anything but worked flawlessly in that time.
I guess I just learned to ignore the sound after all that time. If you do take it apart to fix it, let us know how it goes!

Mine doesn't want to open without me pushing it a little. I even put grease on there

Thanks for all the input guys.
So, it seems (although the sample is pretty small) that it's supposed to stop, however, it is common for it to grind when it hits full-open or full-closed.

I'm not too keen on pulling the headliner to get to the system, not at least without knowing what to do to fix it. I'll keep investigating hoping to find an answer. If I do and go ahead and fix it, I'll post it.
Thanks.

pull the headliner and tons of other stuff will break...

That is another fear of mine...
Honestly, I'll be doing a paint job in the next couple of years and I am seriously thinking about having the shop weld the fucker shut. I hate sunroofs anyway...

I don't have a lot of experience with the FD sunroof (I have an R2 :)) but there should be a limit switch that it hits at the end of the travel to stop the motor running. You'd probably have to pull the whole deal out to work on that which would suck.

I'd read up on it in the shop manual, it should outline the system and the limit switches and everything.

Or, just remember to stop hitting the button when it's open. Or just never open it :).

Dale

Thanks Dale, I wish I had an R1 myself, but this was in such good condition and for the right price, and in Canada they don't come by easily, so I jumped on it.

I opened up the shop manual and looked at it briefly, but it doesn't talk about a limit switch.
All I can find there is the following:

"1. Measure the operation time of the slide panel from fully open to fully closed or vice versa.

Specified time 4-7 seconds
2. If not as specified, adjust it by turning the locknut on the sunroof motor.

(1) Remove the housing cover attaching screw and the E-ring. Remove the housing cover from the motor.
(2) Unfold the pole washers indicated by the arrows.
(3) Hold the motor shaft with the emergency handle (supplied in vehicle) and turn the locknut to adjust the torque.
(4) Fold the pole washer against the locknut.
NOTE
*Be sure to fold the pole washers"

Prior to that, there is a picture where it shows the sunroof motor (in the assembly note) and it says:

1. Remove the motor cover. Position the mark on the timing gear as shown in the figure by using the emergency handle (supplied in vehicle).

It has a picture where it shows marks on the two lower gears, but they're not too clear because of the fact that this is a PDF copy of the original.

If I am reading and understanding this right, the marks should correspond to fully closed (based on the following steps).

My guess would be that the marks are out of alignment? Of course, the only way to know would be to actually take it apart and I'm not so sure I want to do that right now. IIRC, to pull the headliner down, it is necessary to remove the pillar trim and also the two huge pieces of trim on the sides behind the seats... It's a lot of work for one damn adjustment...

Besides, that would imply somebody in the past messed around with it and there are really no indication of that in the car. But it was 13 years old when I purchased it, so who knows.

What I normally do is what you were saying, I slow down and blip the button until I hear it stop. But it is a pain in the ass to do that while driving and bouncing off potholes, LOL.

Sounds like the stopper in the motor is broken. They're pretty easy to take apart. https://www.rx7club.com/interior-ext...emoval-972550/

Thanks for the info.

I looked at the sunroof assembly (mine is a metal, not glass), however, there is nothing on the frame that looks like it is missing. I checked the movement and it all seems to be getting to fully open, hitting the limit, but the motor doesn't turn off.
Same thing when closing.

there are stops there and the slider hits both of the closed and open stops, but the motor doesn't stop.

The thing works perfectly other than the fact that the motor doesn't stop when it's supposed to either way. You can tell that it winds past the point it's supposed to stop at because when you open it and let it grind for a second, then you try to close it, there is a very brief moment when the motor is running and the sunroof is not moving (barely noticeable), so the motor winds up more than it has to and I guess the cable has to go back to where it's supposed to stop before it actually start closing it.

There is no positive stop for the sunroof in the fd. What you are describing is normal. Grease the track and the weather strip with silicone spray to keep them free.

Here is the service highlights description of opening the sunroof:

https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...1&d=1499964935

https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...1&d=1499965103

The limit switch only changes state when it goes from fully closed to popped open, or popped open to fully closed.

Thanks, the sunroof is operating perfectly, it has no issues whatsoever. I will lube the tracks as a maintenance step, however, the speed of operation is perfectly within specs.

My only question was related to the grinding at fully open and fully closed if one keeps the button pressed.

OK, thank you; so, I'm not much of an electrical guy, but if I understand this right, the motor does not stop once it gets to fully open to fully closed or from popped to fully open, correct?
Which implies that this is supposed to work this way.
Thanks.