Robert Coats

My '91 coupe has a minor rattle in the sunroof when closed. When it rattles, I can gently press up on the sunroof and the rattles stops. I've examined the mechanical bits and can see nothing out of place.

Suggestions?

John K

I've got the same problem with both rear corners of the sunroof. I checked with a P-car shop and they said it can be adjusted for about $200 plus any parts. It seems there must be a relatively easy way to fix this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

DaveK

Another "mine does that too" - also in the rear left corner. Was planning to look at it this weekend - although if it's not something obviously loose I doubt I'll have much success.

Cheapest solution I've found so far is to turn the stereo up!

Dave
90 C4

Adrian

The most likely cause of this problem is plain old wear and tear. The sunroof is cable operated as I am sure you know. There is a motor and it drives two cables one on either side via a gearbox. I would hazard a guess that the drive mechanisms (Cables) are worn. You can try and lubricate the cable with a light graphite grease. None of the sunroof mechanics is that easy to get at.
Beware replacement cables. The 993 part numbers now offered are just not quite correct and additional messing around is required,
Ciao,
Adrian
911C4

911-TOUR

For what it's worth, my 993 just developed this rattle on the RIGHT rear corner on Monday. I'm going going to be disassembling it this weekend to try and correct the issue...I'll let you know what I find.

cheers,

sean

911-TOUR

Alright guys... I finally managed to get into it this weekend. This one was about 8 hours labor, but you can probably avoid some of the mess that I made. Grin.

In my case, the rattle was coming from a broken clip in the drive mechanism on the passengers side. To have a look:

1) Retract the sunroof 1/2 to 2/3 way.
2) Remove the sunroof air deflector (4 phillips screws).
3) Remove the track stops on the L/R hand side (2 phillips each)
4) With the roof retracted, sit in the driver's seat and gently pull down on the sunroof liner. (There are 6 clips holding it to the actual roof - they are all on the leading edge)
5) gently slide the headliner out, and make sure not to loose the plastic track guides on either side. (Trust me )
6) Now you should have just the bare sunroof exposed, and you should be able to check the mechanism for broken bits.

At the suggestion of my friendly service advisor at Mommentum Porsche of Houston (Terry), I placed some thin foam striping under the sunroof tracks to further isolate them from the body frame. This further reduces the play in the sunroof.

Re-assembly is the pain (5 of 8 hours), particularly getting the liner (and its guides) back in the track. I found that the best way to do this was to lift the track slightly and close the roof completely untill it too ran off the tracks (and out of the car) I then could run the liner and the tracks in and close the roof as needed. From this point repeat steps 4, 3, 2, 1 in that order.

This DIY is not for the faint of heart. It's very easy to scratch the sunroof, or damage the roof clutch or motor. But if your careful its not difficult technically. I shudder to think what this might cost at a service center.

Happy DIY'ing !!

sean

DaveK

Hi,
I was also put off the official fix by the amount of time that it takes, but the rattle has been annoying me enough that I've fixed it with an unofficial fix (bodge would be a good description).

I've taped three small pieces of foam above the lip at the back of the sunroof opening (one at each end and one in the middle). Since it's foam, it is compressed easily when the sunroof opens / closes and doesn't seem to affect operation at all. But once the sunroof is closed it expands enough to put very light pressure on the back of the sunroof (pushing it very slightly up). Seems to work - I now have a rattle free car and you can't see the fix (unless you choose to look where the sunroof disappears into the roof with a torch).

Dave
90 C4

speedster 94

hallo
here is the right way to go :
open the sunroof half. Then pull down the Vinylpiece,just in front.
You can now slide the Vinyl back into the roof .
Now close the sunroof and the vinyl stays in the back ,so you have a clear look into the sunroof itself. You will see 4 Holders , 2on each side.
You just loose the screws and you can set the randeled nuts on the Sunroof to adjust the Height. If you are done open the sunroof half (make sure the Vinyl is not getting all the way into the roof ) Now you pull the Vinyl forward and push the clips in the holes . Done.
Harald

Roland Kunz

Hello

A tip is don´t remove the headliner by pulling it out. Just slide it back to have acces to the parts and after done slight it forward and hang it on again.
I only remove the headliner when the lid is allrerady out of the way. Say lying on the workbench and the rails removed as well.

Grüsse