waveterrorist

I mean seriously stuck. It is almost closed but not completely. I can get the panel off but even after looking at all the diagrams I just don't get how it is supposed to move, and why mine does not want to. My motor is fine all it will do is just grunt and creak...

Rudeney

So does it move at all in any direction? If so, and it just doesn't clove all the way, try resyncing it - pull downward on the switch and hold it for about 20 second until it moves. It should close, then pop open. If it's not moving, then you may have trash in the rails, or even a broken cable. Try closing it manually with the tool (check the owner's manual for instructions). If that doesn't work, then you have such bad impacted trash in the rails that it won't close, or a broken cable.

elijah

The only thing missing in my car, a sunroof!

waveterrorist

I think jammed rails at a minimum, not understanding how the cables work I can't say. Cranking produces the same creaky non-results as the motor itself.

So the question is how to proceed and whether or not I am looking at a whole new assembly or if repair is possible....

Rudeney

You may have to pull the headliner and remove the entire assembly to fix it. In fact, you might have to replace the entire roof rail/drive system.

waveterrorist

pop out of the rails?
if not then i would think the only option is to replace...

i don't want to tear it apart if i can't put it back together enough....

waveterrorist

the cables were mangled in the tracks but they are out now and new ones are ordered.

pretty amazing just how fubar they were

Griffin44

Any idea what caused them to get so mangled?

waveterrorist

My theory is that it started with crap in the rails, which forced me to manually move the roof, which pushed/pulled the cables out of position further jamming the slide action...

Granted the car is 8 years old, but maintenance would probably have saved me the time, money and aggravation involved, not to mention the mess it made on my headliner....

New cables have not yet arrived so it ain't fixed yet.

waveterrorist

If I understood how they functioned I probably would not have gotten into the mess I am in.

But anyway I got the new cables but I can't figure out how they lay out. Instructions say to simply slide them in.

Can someone enlighten me? I suspect it is brain dead easy but even with the pics and WIS I am getting nowhere...

Rudeney

From the way I read the WIS documentation, when you slacken the bolts on the drive motor (part #1 in the diagram), that loosens a retainer that holds the ends of the cable. So, if you still have those bolts loose from where you remove the cable, you should be able to slide the new cable in and push it forward through the channel until it ends up in the drive motor. Once both cables are in place, you tighten the bolts and that mates the cables to the motor.

waveterrorist

so the cables just lay in the channels?
does the end that connects to the sliders fit into the side channels that the white plastic guys move back and forth in?

what do the cable guides do?

Rudeney

It's hard to tell from the B&W WIS drawings. It does sit in a channel. I'll see if I have time this weekend to take the glass off the C240 and see if I can get some better photos.

Rudeney

OK, I got out today and took the C240's sunroof off and snapped a photo. Here is where the cable should be:

waveterrorist

i am still somewhat confused
i did not see a separate 'conduit' for the cable

do the end piece that get screwed into also fit into the horizontal slide channel?

certainly appreciate your efforts!

Rudeney

So what does your cable look like? Is it just a bare metal wire, or is it a wire inside plastic sheath? I didn't try to remove my cables, but in looking at the tab on the end where the tilt/slide mechanism screws onto, it goes onto that black plastic sheath in the photo. If you don't have that sheath, maybe that's the problem.

Here's the parts list and the diagram, maybe it will help some:

http://benzbits.com/w209/SunroofParts.pdf

http://benzbits.com/w209/SunroofPartsDiagram.pdf

waveterrorist

The replacement cables are black springlike things. I can shoot a pic if that will help.

It looks to me like the two screw holes above in your picture are from the cable guide. So are you saying the cable is actually behind it?

Is your cable actually visible in the picture?

Rudeney

Yes, a photo of the part would be good! If you look at the parts diagram I posted, it's #160. From the drawing, it appears to have a "spring like" sheathing near the motor, but a smooth sheathing toward the back where it attaches to the tilt/slide mechanism. I think this is the black part my arrows point to in my giant (sorry about that!) photo. Those two screw holes are where I removed the cover (part #110 in the PDF diagram). This has to be removed to get the cable out of its channel. The actual cable end is not visible in the photo - it's flat, behind the tilt/slide mechanism there below the left arrow. It has a screw hole in it that the tilt/slide attaches to. From what I can tell, it sits off to the side of the actual cable, which is inside that black plastic tube.

waveterrorist

i think what you are saying and what i thought should be is that there is some kind of conduit through which these fuzzy springy things traverse.

i could not tell when taking my old ones out as they were so twisted it was a struggle
but i looked and looked and did not see where they should hide as they are clearly not visible in your photo

Rudeney

Yep, that goes inside the plastic tubes that my arrows point to. By the way, did you follow the WIS instructions?

http://benzbits.com/w203/SunroofCable.pdf

Pushing the tilt/slide mechanism back about 4 inches from the "closed" position should reveal where the cable lies - it's right where that bracket (parts #4 in WIS) was removed leaving the two bolt holes (bolts are part #3 in WIS).

If you look at where they show the cable (part #7) pulled up, it's going into the plastic tube right below those #3 bolt holes. Also, you can orient yourself with the flat bolt in the aluminum track. If you can't see an opening in the plastic tube, make sure it hasn't been pulled back - try pushing to forward.

waveterrorist

I did manage to get the cables inserted. For the life of me I could not figure out the proper 'index' for them and while I did get the top to flip up and close if I tried to make it open the cables just want to flex and fold causing hang ups.

The manual says something about aligning the level with a tip and I don't see it.

Rudeney

OK, this is what it needs to look like:

waveterrorist

i'm guessing this is the top closed position for the sliders?
tilting bracket essentially flat?

Rudeney

Yes, correct - closed. Be careful operating the sunroof with the glass detached - the slides can pop out of the tracks, jam and break. Just use the first position on the switch so it doesn't go into auto mode, and make sure they slides stay on track.