Panoramic sunroof

AR_X5 · #1 08-18-2021, 12:24 AM

Hi, I have a 2006 X5 3.0i and I was wondering if it would be a good idea to close the panoramic sunroof and never open it judging by the problems they have. Also how much is a complete panoramic sunroof rebuild?

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Effduration · #2 08-18-2021, 07:45 AM

A. Yes.
B. A lot if you pay someone to do it.

I have two X5's with pano roofs. I have not unplugged them, but have asked the family not to use them. I do crack them open now and then to clean drains. I also need to replace the sunroof seal (BMW Part# ?) to reduce road noise and remove sunshades to re-cover missing fabric.

I actually pulled a headliner and pano roof cassette out of a junkyard with the plan of figuring one out, and preparing to rebuild it. It is a disaster with a lot of plastic. No way..

workingonit · #3 08-18-2021, 09:16 AM

Though I've only owned my X5 for 4 months, I've seen how brittle plastic parts get on this car (or any European sourced plastics can get). The sunroof mechanism looks to be a collection of failure-prone pieces of plastic to me. Worst I've ever worked on was a SAAB where everything plastic had to be replaced, inside-outside-underhood. So, I've removed the fuse for the sunroof (F58 on mine), to keep my wife from ever trying to operate the sunroof.

I personally prefer closed vehicles, having many bad experiences with convertible, sun-roof, moon-roof, T-top equipped cars; in Texas, a sealed car with A/C is a better choice. My roof is sealed, with no leaks or air whistling thru, and that's the way it'll remain.

Overboost · #4 08-18-2021, 09:40 AM

The pano is the one and only thing that is inoperable on my X5. It stuck open down in Key West and I hand cranked the thing shut and never tried to resolve it and moved on. That was over 8 years ago.

X5chemist · #5 08-18-2021, 10:46 AM

I like to use the vent mode on mine to get hot air out. I don't use it. The wifey does. I've lubed the heck out of it. I know someday I'll get a call saying it won't close. It's okay. I have a full X5 cover to throw over it that day. Once it breaks, I'll close it permanently.

Moments · #6 08-19-2021, 05:12 AM

I rebuilt my panorama roof in 2017, it cost £330 for two mechanism repair kits; I posted what I learned in this forum.

It would take a workshop approximately 4 hours if they know what they are doing and are careful. It needs a lot of space to manage the frame once that comes out, and run off areas for the cables during re-assembly. The job is very straightforward, there's just lots of activities to complete; ideally it needs two people to remove headliner and frame (but I replaced both single-handed).

The plastic components of the mechanisms are going to degrade if the car is kept outdoors, as mine was, in my opinion. The mechanism gets very hot in the sun, and I suspect that this is why parts get brittle. I've taken to using white lithium on the moving parts as it's less sticky than the factory grease.

I open the roof regularly, and take time to clean and treat the rubber parts. Letting it gum up - if you live near big trees - is not something I would advise.

miloh · #7 08-19-2021, 09:37 AM

I saw a plastic roof replacement for the sunroof on an old 3 series one time. Does anyone think one exists for the x5? It was a plastic filler panel or maybe carbon fiber

Overboost · #8 08-22-2021, 02:36 PM

Well this thread got me into a bad news/good news story. I hit the sunroof button for some reason after 8 years and I heard some motion. WTH? It never made a sound or did anything after manually cranking it closed back in 2013. I got out and looked and low and behold, both panels were up.

The bad news. Now the rear left of the rear panel is stuck and now the sunroof wont close from vent mode. No way to get the sunshade back electrically so off to the back of the car, lower rear of the headliner down and hand crank the rear sunroof motor to get the sunshade all the way back.

The good news. I removed the 2 torx screws holding the pivot for the rear vent panel and opened and closed the vent from the button and front panel works fine, rear panel stays down. I thought let me give the sunroof it's adaptation routine and everything is working again (less the rear panel vent option). That seems to be the failure on almost sunroof failures so with that disabled, I have a working sunroof again after 8 years!

grounch · #9 08-23-2021, 04:58 PM

Mine is working fine since forever, at least it's what i like to think.
The "vent mode" only lifts the back of the big window section, i never saw the small one moving anywhere.
Greased the rails as far as i can reach them, but i feel like going to try and repair the small section vent will only bring more issues..

Is there any maintenance to do on the surrounding joints? They look a bit aged.

Overboost · #10 08-23-2021, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grounch

Mine is working fine since forever, at least it's what i like to think.
The "vent mode" only lifts the back of the big window section, i never saw the small one moving anywhere.
Greased the rails as far as i can reach them, but i feel like going to try and repair the small section vent will only bring more issues..

Is there any maintenance to do on the surrounding joints? They look a bit aged.

I just greased everything. Cables, tracks, pivots, etc, it operates so smoothly now. So nice to have a working sunroof again!

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