dascar

My sunroof toggle switch under the dash lip decided it didn't want to play anymore and no longer functions. I thought maybe it was a fuse but it appears a couple other things are tied to that fuse and those are working just fine. I could always open the damn thing with the hand-crank but that's not practical. Any ideas? Wiring? The switch itself? If anyone else solved this mystery on their car and can save me hours of troubleshooting I will be most grateful!

Chuck Harmon

I'd suggest replacing the switch . It is a fairly cheap part and easy to replace.
To troubleshoot the switch... disconnect the wires from the switch, touch them
together with the power on and see if the sunroof moves. If it moves, it's the
switch... if it does not move... something else is the problem, fuse, wiring,
or the sunroof motor itself. I hope this helps... good luck !
Chuck

Dan Cobb

Don't forget the disticnt possibility that the cables have snapped. This of course would still mean that the motor works and you would hear it running, but ...BTDT and when I repaired my sunroof, I updated to the 964 rails & cables only for one to break again within 6 months.
I now drive a 'non-opening-sunroof-coupe'.
I think it might have cost me about $85 for every time I opened the thing.
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emac

I'll ask
Not that I need to -- but could someone tell me how to open the sunroof with a handcrank?

Thanks in advance

Ernie 81SC

emac

Dascar
Believe it or not I opened my never had problems sunroof the other day when we had some pretty hot weather and when I went to close it no go. I was half in the bag so I started to "tap" the motor with my hand and it closed. I unzipped the headliner and found the motor to be quite hot to the touch. I don't know if it could have been the sun which heated the motor or something else. Anyway my first thought was the switch, checked it with a meter and all was fine. The roof has been working since.

Ernie 81 SC

Dan Cobb

I would suggest that the tracks are probably gummed up with some type of grease or goop that a previous owner thought would help keep it functional.
Saadly, the majority of grease that people use will either melt and stain the headliner when the sun bakes it for a few days, or it dries up and gets all caked on the cables.

There is very little you can do aside from removing the cables and cleaning them or replacing them with new ones to renew their slick nature. They are basically made like a pipe cleaner; the 'hairs' are supposed to keep the cable centered in the track and brush out any debris as the cable moves back and forth.

To crank it by hand, you need to unzip the headliner and remove the straight-slot screw that is in the center of the gearbox. Then you use the funky handle gizmo that is in your toolkit to turn it by hand.
If your screw is as stubborn as mine, then you'll have to drop the cover off the gearbox and slide the panel to the desired position by hand instead.
Once the panel is opened, you can kind of see what needs to come apart to clean or replace the cables.
Remember, the vinyl covered panel pops down in the front of the sunroof panel, out of about 4-5 square holes and then slides back into the roof far enough to acess the cable brackets, etc.

TIP:
IF you remove the sunroof from the car:
Don't forget to install the headliner piece BEFORE you insert the sunroof panel and attach the cable brackets, otherwise it will NOT fit back into place.
(ask me how I know this)
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emac

Dan
Thanks for some really great information.

Stevie 77 930

In my '77 Turbo, like so many older sunroof cars, the sunroof became inoperapable recently. Dismantling the entire sunroof, cables, track and tranmission was what i needed to do. Without buying a single new part and diligently cleaning the tracks, cables and transmission, the sunroof slides better than ever. Get Waynes book 101 projects for assistance, use lots of laquer thinner, solvent or brake cleaner on all the gunked up parts. Take your time in the r and r processes and you will be surprised how well it will work when all the parts are clean from unwanted grease and dirt. The transmissions tend to get sticky in time and cause most of the problems. The hardest part of this job is probably aligning the sunroof height . Plan on at least 2-3 hours (or longer) to do the job right.

Good Luck

Edgy01

...and once you do get it working again USE it. That's the biggest issue with these things,--lack of use results in gummed up and hardened lubricants.

Exercise it!

Dan