Sunroof stuck close, manual crank won't budge

[kimokalihi]

When I got the car it had no motor and no battery. Just to see if the sunroof worked I put a battery in it and tried the buttons. I could hear the motor trying to open it but it wouldn't budge. It's stuck somehow. I doubt the motor is bad because I can hear it trying to open the roof.

That was a year ago. I happen to be in the middle of swapping out my auto seatbelts to manual belts and the canadian headliner and trim pieces as well. I have the headliner out now and noticed the sunroof motor so I decided to put that allen wrench in it and see if it would crank open manually. I tried pretty hard and it won't move. You can move the allen wrench maybe 1/4 turn or less each way but the sunroof doesn't move AT ALL.

Does this mean it's corroded shut or something? Or is there something else preventing it from opening? I just read every damn sunroof thread that came up in the search function and they're almost all about leaking and not about being stuck. The ones that were about being stuck were never diagnosed and they were all intermittently working, not stuck permantly like mine.

I want to finish putting my new headliner in and manual seat belts but I want the sunroof working first so I don't have to remove the headliner and especially the trim pieces since half of them broke upon removing them.

[brand]

It's possible that the bearings in the motor are seized and are preventing you from cranking it. I think this is more likely than it being corroded since your car seems to be in decent shape, and if a kid was playing with the buttons or blocking it from closing it wouldn't be hard to stress that motor out pretty quick.

I'm not sure how to open it without the motor, but I imagine you need to pull the motor out. I will check my 91 FSMs and if I find anything helpful I'll scan it for you. You might try soaking the motor in PB blaster or something and seeing if it makes any dffierence.

[kimokalihi]

I have the 91 FSM books and I was going to check them out I just forgot.

I just want to figure this damn thing out so I can get the headliner back in and see how it fits with the trim pieces.

[magicmike]

Check to see if there is silicone or something around the glass that might be adhering it to the body opening. I had chalked the shit out of mine to last 2 winters before I finally broke down and fixed it right. The motor is NOT strong enough to break the seal if there is junk in there.

[asc_up]

Check to see if there is silicone or something around the glass that might be adhering it to the body opening. I had chalked the shit out of mine to last 2 winters before I finally broke down and fixed it right. The motor is NOT strong enough to break the seal if there is junk in there.

+1 to that. I had the same deal.

[kimokalihi]

Interesting. I didn't see anything. Right now there is no battery in my car because my step dad found my Optima Red Top in the garage one day this summer and decided he could use it in his boat. Then he decided towards the end of summer that he needed to sell his boat to pay off debt. I got wind of all this and promptly reminded him that the battery that he "found" in the garage, lol, was mine and was very expensive and meant for my subaru. He told me,"No problem, I'll get it out before it sells." I knew this wouldn't happen because he always procrastinates and forgets. Next thing you know the boats gone and so is my nice optima. Even after sitting for a year it still had a full charge and it's like 4 years old. Poor optima, I miss you.

So he had to fork over the cash and when I told him how much it cost, he was like,"What?!"

Anyways, then I ran into some shortage of funds the other day and dug into my hiding place and got that money I had saved in there to buy a new battery and had to pay bills with it. Bummer.

So I've got no battery to test it out to see if it works.

I've got a question though, if it was going to work with the battery and the buttons, would it crank by hand?

What I mean is, if it's not cranking manually, it's probably not going to work under it's own power, correct?

That will determine whether I get a new battery and check it out or wait on that and take it apart and see what's holding it up.

[mexicanzero]

the point of the hand crank is to be able to close the sun roof incase the motor burns out. so i'd say if the crank wont open it the motor under its own power wont open it. so dont bother with a new battery yet.

pull the sunroof cover open and shine a light up there what do the tracks look like? if they are all rusty and gross looking its possible water and shit got in there and is keeping it shut if not i'd bet on the motor or bearing or something in the linkage being seized i'm not too sure how it all works i've nevr had it apart.

-Alex

[asc_up]

Also, I remember that I had to use a lot of force to crank that thing. So don't be afraid that you're going to break something if it doesn't turn super easily.

[ericem]

Can you tilt the sunroof up atleast? When you hit the open button or if you get someone else to hold the button try pushing down on the sunroof glass. Who knows how long it has been shut.

[kimokalihi]

Well, it's been sitting a long time. Tabs expired 08, 2006.

I'm not sure exactly when it was driven last but I've never driven it.

I'll check the sunroof out again. I looked in my FSM and it says it could be a siezed cable. Other than that the book is useless for troubleshooting it. It's all about checking the relays and motor and stuff but my problem is in the thing not moving with the manual crank so none of those things should be contributing to the problem.

It's either sealed shut or rusted shut either via the tracks or more likely the cable is all dried up inside and possibly rusted.

[mexicanzero]

ohh itsa cable system!? werd
yeah i'd bet on the cable being rusted up n seized
only way to make sure would be to pull everything apart, you are half way there though...

[kimokalihi]

How difficult is it to remove and take apart? How difficult is it to install again?

[asc_up]

If you already have the headliner off, then all you actually need to do next is: unplug the wiring harness to the sunroof, take off the 'oh shit!' handle brackets and then remove the 8 bolts surrounding the sunroof (they're 10mm and 12mm bolts).

It's actually pretty simple. Just have someone help to hold the sunroof up while you undo the last bolt! Oh and you don't have to completely remove the rear bolts, just loosen them and then you can just drop the front first and slide it out of the rear bolts.

It'll all make sense when you see it.

[kimokalihi]

Well, I'm assuming it's just going to be me working on it so is it possible to do by myself? I'm assuming it is as I have figured out 2 man jobs by myself before. There's almost always a way. Just gotta get creative sometimes....or hurt, whichever comes first. Or sometimes you think you're being creative and maybe you are but you're so distracted by being creative that you don't realize you're being careless or stupid and the next thing you know you've nearly buzzed off half your fingers with the router........that one was a close one.

[asc_up]

Hahahaha good story.

But yes, you can do it yourself. That's actually why I recommend to leave the back bolts in (but still very loose). Then you can lower the front onto the headrests of your front seats. After that, you'll just need to slide the whole thing forward a bit to release the back bolts and then you should be golden!