cward2

99 ML 430 with 102,000 miles (just out of factory extended warranty I purchased when new, of course). Skyroof was replaced in 2001. Lubed religously ever since but became a third vehicle in our house after I picked up a 2003 E55 and the ML wasn't driven much for the last 12 months or so.

Opened the roof on a fine crisp day. Seat heaters on. Flaming Lips and the new Shins playing. Ah perfect. Still loved this roof (for the next 15 minutes at least). Pull up at a mall. Close the roof (not so fast there spunky). That's an odd sound. Must be a little gunk up there. I'll just reopen and reclose. Yeah right.

Drive home. Search the web. Normal skyroof moaning on the boards (lots of $, don't buy one with skyroof or pull out the fuse, you know the normal). No evidence of repair even being attempted.

It's not closing manually at all from the back. Well cr@p. Haven't pulled a headliner since my Audi 5000T. Can't be any worse than a 911 engine. Out it comes. I have the headliner and the roof out now. I'll post some pics as I go through this. Ought to provide some real humor.

Chuck

ML430
E55
RRS S/C

cward2

pictures from removal

1. Removal cross brace under headliner.

2. View down driver's side from back

3. Driver's a pillar and drain tube

4. OUT WITH THE ROOF (man this thing is heavy)

5. Undone view from the back.

More fun and pics tomorrow.

Chuck

fkong777

Wow.. good job so far. Is that a GT40 in your garage?

cward2

Okay I pulled the roof assembly apart. Unhooked the headliner (a billion clips, more or less). Unscrewed the individual panels from the lifters/sliders. Removed the front and rear wrap around parts on the frames (maybe didn't need to but its a little late now). All the lifter/sliders load from the rear it seems (yeah that's what I wrote). Pull off the stops for the rear lifters and unload each side's row. Each lifter/slider links to the next through a single rotating pin on each piece that also slides on the lifter immed in front. There is a "limiter" lever that keeps the panel from sliding up until the "limiter" hits a notch on the sunroof rails (there are a series of these) that allow the front of the lever to lift. The back of the lever goes down and allows the panel to slide up rather than continue to be pushed back.

Broken lifter/sliders on each side. One of these was clearly was part of the initial failure. More pics attached.

1. Broken parts, the tab on the left is the back cover for the rear lifter and its broken because I'm an idiot and didn't see a screw hidden under a lifter bracket (hope that's not a $250 part). The little obelisk parts are both the front and reat tabs on the "limiter" lever I refer to above.

2. Two part slider/lifters. Too bad they're supposed to be one part. On the front right piece, you can see the "limiter" lifter. This one has a broken rear tab but a good front one. Also there is a guide piece missing that guides the panel in front up. The piece on the back right has good tabs but both are missing their grey nylon/graphite glider cover. They both broke where the rotating pin is at its forward most position (you can see the channel on the pieces on the left).

3. Underside of the rails where there is a sealant that seals the rear wrap around panel where it intersects with each side rail. I used thin safety wire to cut through this sticky stuff as the plastic wrap around panel felt too flimsy to take much stress. The sealant looks kind of like old glue-in windshield sealant that comes in a roll (but is now clearly compressed).

4. Front wrap around piece off. Some of the panels out. This was when I discovered it didn't all come out the front of the assembly. My sons' 996 cab. And a random Christmas ornament. The aluminum tabs are for the extreme back of the headliner.

5. All front panels (excepting frontmost with headliner still attached). Sliders/lifters lines up (or the pieces thereof), Sons Duc 999S. Marks on the roof are from where I used a white rubber mallet to "adjust" some panels out/off. The marks clean right off with a little compound.

Off to the dealer tomorrow to order parts. 4 middle lifters per side. Back lifter on pass side. 10 headliner clips. Hopefully the tab I broke. There is a a stick on foam seal between the perimeter and the steel roof that I'll need (can't see unless uninstalled) and there seems to be more windshield type sealant on top/to the side of that (maybe backup to the felt seel the panels lay on and the foam seal. Cables look good though certainly worn. Two lifter/slider I'll fix by swapping out defective parts and making one good used one.

Chuck

mihir_d

I have 96K miles on my 2000 ML320 with the skyview being replaced once in 2001 under warranty.

My roof is till doing fine (touch wood) and I just enjoy it down here in California...



Let us know how it goes, and if you can post a complete write up on how to go around disassembling it and reassembling it, that would be great!

cward2

Well the parts arrived. One day turnaround from the depot. 4 slider/lifters for each side. The back slider/lifter for the passenger side. The piece I broke being an idiot (only $17) and the foam seal. All together with tax....$411. Heck of a lot cheaper than $4,400 (the price for a complete assembly). The sunroof rail assembly is $1,700. I checked because one of the aluminum rails is deformed a little around where one of the notches for the priviously mentioned arms kicks up. I'm going to assemble that sides sliders/etc and get a feel for how much problem this deformation may cause. Once I can see that I can get a feel for how/if to fix the rail part.

One other "solve" at this part are what is the sealant around the foam seal that my car had (parts dept showed no listing and I was looking at the pictures with them). Seems like a windshield sealant but pretty thinly applied and has a thread running through it. I've seen thread through other thin sticky seal material to help keep shape and thickness so I'm going to guess this is a required part and not just something that the guy who replaced my roof decided to add on.

The second solve is whether I can put the assembly back in minus the panels and headliner. It would reduce the raw weight of the reintall by 30+ pounds and help insure a better installation/seal fit. I feel really confident that I can install all the panels and each series of headliner clips after the roof is in. Either way, I think I'm going to get some threaded rod and "suck" the roof up in (kind of like the "hanging stud" provided with spare tires) rather than try an lift something this ungainly into place and thread in bolts. I certainly don't want to pull it out again if it leaks!

I'll post pics of the rail issue tomorrow. Cleaning the old seal off the inside of the roof edge blew. No fun at all. Would be alot easier if it wasn't my car and somebody was going to clean up after me (like for a wrench at the dealer).

Chuck

99ML320

You are my hero! I tried doing this a few years ago only to freak out and reassemple everything. I think I would have more confidence doing this on someone elses car. Knowing I was about to mess with something blindly that I wanted was sitting on my shoulders. At this point this truck has been to hell and back as well as I sealed the front two panels closed (I was so desperate). Please keep us posted to the final outcome. If you need parts let me know I think I can access mine and still keep the roof closed.

Happy Engineering!

cward2

Well I waited two weeks for the dealership to tell me the sealant material used on the foam seal before installing and I never received an answer since the "part #" isn't on the microfiche and MB doesn't help home repair folks it seems since I tried calling customer service direct and they refused to help nor do the @sshats sell a manual).

So I did some similar research and determined that it was more like windshield glue strip rather than dum-dum. So I went the Autozone and picked up two 15 ft 3M windshield install kits (about 40 bucks). I installed the roof frame without the individual panels and headliner to reduce weight by about 50 lbs.

I used 4 long bolts to hold a few inches below the roof, put the seal on. Put the wshield seal on and then sucked up into the roof with the bolts. Trimmed the excess sealant the oozed out (at this point it looked a lot like the sealant I cleaned off when I removed so that was comforting).

I installed the panels from the front to back, leaving loose with the sliders all pushed to the front. I installed the two motors, plugged them in and started the car for maximum voltage. I rolled back a little then all the way forward until the motors recalibrated like after when you manually close. It works perfect. I want to adjust a few panels before I install the panel headliner and then if all is well I'll put the whole headliner back in.

I'll post pictures in a few days but I have to take a break from my elation.

Chuck

sin0822

Ive had this skyroof on my ml430 from 2001 and i even have piece of broken glass in the tracks. (It shattered a glass that was sitting on the roof. THe roof works fine, doesnt leak and i used it today. I love hte roof, but im scared now that it will break, but i gotta think of the thousands others who have the roof and who havent had troubles. Hopefully it was just a few batches that were bad...

cward2

No issues and much cheaper than $4.800 for the parts. woohoo. Now I've got to pull the radiator on the GT40 and have cleaned up by some fancy expert in the UK. Woohoo.

DrX

You ignored our advice about pulling the fuse on the skyview roof, and you learned the hard way. Good for you!

I hope you enjoy opening that mother-of-all-sunroofs every day in sunny Texas. You deserve it!

cward2

Umm I don't think you (singularly or the collective) ever warned me about anything. "Learned the hard way"? I'm sorry to tell you but my parents (god rest their souls) were the only people who could say that to me and have any resonance.

But seriously, thanks for sharing. Of course, I actually shared capability and initiative to deal with a situation others on the list have faced. Pulling the fuse after it was broken in the open position wasn't an option. I then took the time to share with the forum how to go about the repair. Since that time I have guided two other owners through the same repair. The community aspect of the forum is what expands the information value beyond the individuals. I have learned from the forum and simply sought to add some back. If you don't have anything productive to say relative to my Mercedes repair, perhaps no reply is needed (unless you have any knowledge of a GT40 specialist who will restore my radiator for a reasonable fee).

Saprissa

cward2,

I commend you on your perseverance and technical acumen. I wish I was even courageous enough to undertake such a feat ! You are a hero

I'm currently awaiting for my A-Class to be shipped in from Germany, and many of the A210 EVO AMG's only came with this type of skyroof found on your ML. So finding one without it, to avoid all the "problem reports" has been a real task. If it turns out that my only option in bringing in an A210 EVO is with the skyroof, then so be it. I just hope I never have any problems. Seeing that you have tackled a project, that most dealerships will not even touch, I may have to ask if you have a retainer fee, so that I can come driving down to your neighborhood in case my skyroof ever decides to seize working.

Thanks for the pics and the write-up !

Carlos

Saprissa@aol.com

_______________
1979 230 G-Wagen
2003 C320 Sports Coupé
2004 A210 EVO AMG
2004.5 C320 Sports Sedan
2005 ML350 Special Edition

DrX

cward2, I thought you might have read some threads on another Benz forum wherein the dreaded Skyview roof was discussed as something to be avoided, for reasons you are now more qualified than anyone to confirm.

The tongue-in-cheek advice offered was to get it closed and pull the fuse, so as to avoid the ordeal you and other members of this forum have had to go through. Either that or blow about $6k at the dealer for them to fix it.

While I (and no doubt others on this forum) am impressed with your achievement, the implied advice remains the same and is meant to be helpful to other ML owners and potential owners: don't buy an ML with a Skyview roof, and if you already have one, either don't open it or go ahead and use it if you can accept the consequences. Failure of the Skyview is inevitable, it's just a matter of when.

Sorry for any offence caused. It's a huge job and the pics are great.

marinabay402

I sure could use your expertise and knowledge. I just bought a 1999 ML430 and the sky view roof is stuck, open of course with all the rain we have been having. The mechanic tried to get it closed and made it worse. Don't want to spend $4K to get a new roof, nothing wrong with the actual roof just got stuck and now will not move. How about some technical expertise.

Dookadi

Hello all, i'm new member to the forum but have benefited from it many times. I have a 2001 ml320 and decided to take on the task of repairing my skyview roof that seized a couple years ago. I have closely followed cward2's info and have gotten to the point where i've removed everything and ordered all lifters needed (waiting for them to arrive). I have 2 questions.
1. My cable, although not showing signs of stress or kinks of any kind, has what looks like a lot of lint stuck between the coil wrapping. Is this the way it is supposed to be? or is mine extra dirty. i'm contemplating removing all this stuff but before i did, wanted to check it wasn't there on purpose.
2. does anyone have any ideas on how to remove the sticky black glue or sealant from the underside of the roof edge? This stuff is nasty and is challenging me.
Thanks in advance

Dookadi

Also, i want to use MB lube or paste for lubricating my roof. Naturally i don't want to over lubricate, but want to ensure i get in there. Any tips or pointers are appreciated.

vmystikilv

GT40?

xxGenericSNxx

boo vinyl

KingFloyd

Hi Dookadi... I was wondering if you finished repairing the Skyview.... I just removed mine (from a "99 ML320), and, just like everyone else, I had two broken lifters. Around here, parts a lot harder to find, so I decided to weld them using aluminum welding rods "Durafix", who promises to be three times more "durable" then the original material. I also decided to paint the panels "the lamellas", the same color as the car.
My question is: Do you think the paint on the lamellas will interfere with a proper seal in between them when they are closed? And how can we ensure a hermetic seal of the entire assembly PRIOR to re-installation on the vehicle. I don't want to put the whole thing back together only to find out it leaks and have to take it back down.

KingFloyd

After dissasembling the slider/lifter mechanism, I noticed that they are all linked to each other on the track, being pulled by the ones in front of them. Only the first ones are actually attached to the cable...
Is this right, or am I missing something.

E.oakland

King and Dookadi..

How did you guyz make out ?

jcarl

Was there ever a class action taken about the troubles with the sky view roofs?

TheLibrary

Sorry to resurrect this old thread, but I was wondering if someone could tell me what lube to use for the track and or moving parts on the Skyview roof ?
Thanks for any help.