gtschallenge

My sunroof appears to be missing some hardware. The back of it is not attached to the roof, it just lifts right up. It's not an electric sunroof. Does anyone have photos of what is should look like?
Thanks, Mark

87944turbo

Are you positive it's not, the arms do retract all the way into the roof to allow the panel to be removed from the car. Here is a pic of the powered roof, not the best but might help.

gtschallenge

I was wrong...it is an electric roof, but nothing happens when the button is pushed.

redmund

Take off the header panel at the back of the car, behind the sunroof. There are 5 screws, one each side close to the edge of the rear hatch, one in the middle, and 2 at the front edge, obscured slightly by the sunroof.

With that panel out, you should be able to see the two rail guides each side, with 5 screws in each holding on the covers. Remove the covers, check the arms are ok (or even present) and then check the 2 plastic gears. If they're stripped, replace them.

While you're in there, have a look and see if the drive cable is visible behind the gears, inside the tubular section at the back of the rail guide. If not, something funny happened and you'll need to feed it back through from the left cubby in the trunk.

When you've fed that through, head to http://www.clarks-garage.com/ and have a read on how to adjust the sunroof motor slip clutch, so you don't strip your brand new gears (like I did).

Once the clutch is adjusted, the cable fed through, and the new gears are in place, press the sunroof button so the huge plastic cam on the end of the drive cable moves all the way anti-clockwise. Then reinstall the lifting arms so that the little round sections are as close to the rail guide as possible. reinstall the covers, then test the roof.

If it's sweet, put everything back the way you found it.

I might have left something out, but clarke's has plenty of good info, even if it does take a little while to get through it and make sense of it all.

75ohm

If you need the arms I have a set!

gtschallenge

Thanks, thats great info!

gtschallenge

If I need them, I'll be in touch....Thanks

apierce918

86 i think still has the cable style doesnt it? my 85.5 has cables, no gears

redmund

From Clark's "All sunroofs installed since February 1986 have three limit switches which are operated by a plastic cam attached to the sunroof drive cable."

apierce918

so would it be some 86's? because arent 86 model years made in 85?

redmund

I guess some 86s would have the old style mechanism. Anybody have an idea of when the MY changed from 86 to 87?

David Boutelle

yes you do have an electric sunroof ! you are missing the two safety latch assy at the rear . from 1984 to 1991 all 944 sunroofs are the same . the part # you need is 944 477 871 217 there about 70. dolars each . porsche only, no after market . if you could post a photo it would be a big help to be sure.

xsboost90

ok well my 86 turbo has the cable style, my brother in laws 86 n/a has the dual plastic gear style.

NCporsche

Looking under the hood by the fuse box is a plate that shows the manufacture date. My '86 has a build date of October '85.

David Boutelle

you should order parts by the perdiction date and vin #s . lets say you have a p. date of 7 of 86 that car would be an 86 if it said 5 of 86 your car is an 85 . june is the change for years on cars .