Well, it’s taken almost 35 years of BMW ownership, but I had my first sunroof failure today. I’ve been chasing rear pax floor leaks and spent some time today (after replacing both horns) troubleshooting.

I was pretty confident I had leaky vapor barriers in the back doors, but also couldn’t get water out of the rear drain holes. I think it’s just because the water runs forward, given the stance of the car and my driveway has a slight slope, but when I went to confirm this with more water, I opened the top, it went back an inch or two and froze.

Fuse 58 is good, and I hear a slight click when I touch the switch (relay?) but no movement at all. Not even an attempt to move. Fortunately I was able to close it with an allen wrench, so my question is how best to troubleshoot the thing? I suspect the motor gave out, but those aren’t cheap and I’d like to be sure before I buy one. Do I need to pull it out to test it?

Also, the guide rails are pretty inexpensive, so are these worth changing out? Do the old ones start binding? I felt like I was on top of lubricating it, so I suspect 24 year old plastic did me in again.

Thanks all.

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Current
Original owner 2002 E53 X5 4.4i to 4.6i swap
2026 G80 M3 6 spd
2025 G06 X5 50e
Former
1972 Audi Fox
1986 Saab 900S
1996 BMW Z3
1998 BMW E36 M3 Sedan
2004 BMW E46 M3
2006 Audi A3 Quatro
1993 Mopar 318 Jeep Grand Cherokee
2015 V6 Jeep Grand Cherokee