Sunroof disaster (help)

[Factory6speed]

Hello. I just picked up a 2005 at auction. It's a 6 speed manual. Due to some mechanical issues I haven't even got to drive it yet. So while I've been waiting on parts I've been cleaning it.

I noticed that the headliner had some water stains on it on the one side of the sunroof. The seller noted that "sunroof is inoperable". Against my better judgment I decided to press the button and see what happens. Maybe it just works, and then I could clean / lubricate it and clean the drains I guess was my thought. Really I'm all in with this thing so I would like it to work. Well now I regret it.

The shade went back ok. The glass went back but made some nasty popping noises. And then some crunching noises. The back glass tilted up. And the front glass stopped a little early.

Trying to close it, the back glass refused to go down. The front glass will side a little bit forward but stops, lots of crunching noises.

I was trying to figure out what was going on and I noticed the front glass was not sitting evenly, it was tilted up on one side and it's missing the rubber accordion boot on the one side. So someone's been messing with this thing before. I was just able to lift the glass up to the passenger side, a small plastic piece broke, but it was already broken, and the whole glass came right off.

So the front glass is currently off the car and there's a big hole in the roof. I didn't have to unscrew anything I just lifted it off and some stuff broke.

I was then able to take the screwdriver and tap the rear glass down per a video and it's sitting flush. So that's good.

The track for the front glass moves a little forward and stops. If I crank it manually with the tool it feels really bad like there's some big junk in there. It's stuck pretty far back.

So my current plan is to carefully remove the rear glass and try and clean what I can in there and lubricate it. Maybe I can get the front track to move freely, but it's broken in various ways.

My question is is can I just plop the front glass on there, and somehow get it to lock in, and God willing somehow get it to seal? Just for a little bit so I can drive it until I can do the repair. How does the front glass even go on?

There's some little broken plastic pieces, and these two metal rail-like pieces I have in hand with the glass. If I can get it clean and get the track to side forward can I just place the glass down? I think though I'm looking at having to do the repair kit. Fantastic. Any advice or help is appreciated. I would love to drive this thing today I finished putting the front axles in it. Oh well. Now I probably have to pull the damn headliner and watch that video another 400 times to figure out how to do all those little parts.

All in all the things in pretty good shape, it needs some paint work, front axles (done), various cleaning, and it appears to be leaking from the rear main seal. And it's missing a part of the roof now .. then it should be good,

[getty150]

Wow!
Welcome to my world...
My X3 06 has been sitting in the garage for a month now. No roof!
I have all the pieces. But the tracks is all messed up.
Best thing we can do...
Purchase "another" fully functioning roof cassette. De installed the liner and roof cassette.
Problem is (at the parts yard) you can't test the roof.
To install the glass...the arms have to be in the upward position.
In the beginning when the same thing happened to me as you well described with the crunching and glass jam...I got mad and removed it all redid the headliner and shades replaced the guide arms and applied lube....it's going to be sweet once (if) I ever get it back together again. I may just have a permanent convertible to drive in the summer.


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[Factory6speed]

Yeah I've seen you in some of the sunroof threads I'm reading. Too bad we're not on the same continent.

I just can't find out how the front glass actually goes on. There's a couple really nice videos of putting all the various parts into the cassette, which I think I can actually do, maybe. But I've not yet seen how the front glass goes on. I kind of know what you mean by arms are up. I think I have those two little arms that fell out.

I have to look at this a lot more, but it's broken more than once so it's not a good reference. This contraption is so much more trouble than it's worth. I think I'm going to have to actually sit here and figure out how this works and what each thing actually does. What a waste of my life and a portion of my brain.

The headliner doesn't look too bad to drop, I'm motivated to do that today, but it's already getting late. I'll have that out in a few days. Hopefully with minimal breakage, I suspect it may have been out before.

I'm looking around for an entire cassette assembly, with or without glass, but the concern is it's used and I already have a used one. If I could pay for one that has either been properly repaired and conditioned or is otherwise in great condition I'd be okay with it, but I don't want to just buy one online sight unseen, and sure enough it's already broken, very close to broken, or super dirty.

So I think attempting the repair myself is probably going to be the move. Maybe I'll call around to a few shops and maybe there's one where the tech has done it 3 or 4 times and it's no problem. I would happily pay someone that has done this and it's not an issue for them. But just taking it to any random shop seems foolish, as how good would they possibly do at it. I at least can take a few days to figure out what's going on.

I also don't yet understand what the repair kits actually contain and do not contain. Do they contain everything that I might need given what is actually broken. Should I just buy the front repair kit? I probably would just do the rear repair kit. Is there a separate kit for the headliner shade? Are the seals hard to do? I'd like to do them, if I can without screwing that up. I don't know if they're leaking or not.

I'm probably going to have to sit and look at the parts diagrams sometime this week. Great. It could be worse though.

[Effduration]

I think your goal should be to install the sunroof glass so it sits flush, has a good sunroof seal for wind noise, and drains rainwater properly which means removing the A-pillar trim and straightening out and securing the front sunroof drain hoses.

Then pull fuse 58 and don’t plan on using it.

The E53 pano sunroof is, in my opinion, a horrible design with way too much plastic and too many pieces. It’s far too complex and does not age well.
Sure you can fix it and get it to work, but it will likely break again. The early non-pano sunroofs, likely borrowed from the E39, are much better.

I love my E39 sunroof and wish my E53 had the same unit.

[workingonit]

Originally Posted by Effduration

I think your goal should be to install the sunroof glass so it sits flush, has a good sunroof seal for wind noise, and drains rainwater properly which means removing the A-pillar trim and straightening out and securing the front sunroof drain hoses.

Then pull fuse 58 and don’t plan on using it.

... The early non-pano sunroofs, likely borrowed from the E39, are much better.

I love my E39 sunroof and wish my E53 had the same unit.

I'm sure glad I had the early, single panel sunroof, and not the pano-style. Mine leaked badly five months after I swapped cars for it, and I decided never to have that happen again.https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/x5-e53-forum/113771-wet-carpet-drivers-side-floor.html I've never liked sunroofs, would've never ordered one, if bought new, and I had no problem doing away with mine (I would've welded a cover over it, if I could've).

What I did to mine:

• 1) I dried out the floor,
• 2) straightened the kinked drain tube,
• 3) blew out all the tubes (front and rear),
• 4) tested the drainage of all tubes afterwards,
• 5) cleaned, lubricated, and tested the operation of the sunroof (tested good),
• 6) closed it and pulled fuse 58,
• 7) sealed it with paint protection film (I'll replace the film every 3-4 years;I have an HHR Panel with 15 year-old PPF on the rear fenders, still good)
• 9) sleep peacefully during T-storms, not fearing another sunroof leak.

Also, since I park the X5 under oak trees outside in the back (despite having a full 3-car garage), I made my own roof rack https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...roof-rack.html with closely-spaced, gridded, wire shelving, that will protect the sunroof glass from falling tree debris, acorns, and the frequently large hailstones that happen here in my area.

I had built it a month before the leak, after the X5 got hit by a falling branch that hit the sunroof and glanced off, but dented the hood a bit. With the rack now protecting the sunroof glass, and the sunroof being disabled and sealed, I feel much better about having a sunroof, now. And, it should still be operable if I ever sell the X5 (not likely, in my lifetime).

Side story: My wife bought a low-mileage 2014 Lexus a couple of months back, and sure enough, it has a sunroof, too. Since she knew what troubles I went through with the X5 sunroof, the first thing she wanted me to do was to protect her sunroof, but not to seal it.

What I did, part two:

• 1) checked it for leaks, and operating condition (none and good),
• 2) used my best tarp to cover it overnight, since a major T-storm was approaching,
• 3) helped her clear and throw away enough of her "antiques/keepsakes/junk" she was storing in the garage (just enough for her Lexus to park in), and
• 4) tried and failed to persuade her to seal and disable her sunroof (she always had wanted a sunroof or convertible)

[Factory6speed]

Yeah I don't plan to ever use it. It'd be nice to fix it up factory fresh and keep it clean. maybe use it like once a year on a camping trip. And then clean and grease it. Good call on the cover thing. I wish I could go back to it just being closed. But I'm a dumbass and I had to see what would happen. I agree it's a whole thing that shouldn't exist .

I didn't get to the headliner today,. But I did a great job on the front axles. The thread chaser tap and die kit has been really nice, all the bolts have cleaned up really nice. Only the one lower wishbone is bad so I'll replace that but otherwise it looks pretty good. Just missing some of the roof and potentially a big or medium problem oil leak.

I have to figure out how I'm going to clean that aluminum skid plate it's a real mess. 18 years of oil leaks and axle grease on it, and there's some rubber mat that just looks like a fire hazard. So I spent a good bit of the day just looking at that

[EODguy]

Originally Posted by Factory6speed

Yeah I don't plan to ever use it. It'd be nice to fix it up factory fresh and keep it clean. maybe use it like once a year on a camping trip. And then clean and grease it. Good call on the cover thing. I wish I could go back to it just being closed. But I'm a dumbass and I had to see what would happen. I agree it's a whole thing that shouldn't exist .



I didn't get to the headliner today,. But I did a great job on the front axles. The thread chaser tap and die kit has been really nice, all the bolts have cleaned up really nice. Only the one lower wishbone is bad so I'll replace that but otherwise it looks pretty good. Just missing some of the roof and potentially a big or medium problem oil leak.



I have to figure out how I'm going to clean that aluminum skid plate it's a real mess. 18 years of oil leaks and axle grease on it, and there's some rubber mat that just looks like a fire hazard. So I spent a good bit of the day just looking at that

Go to Costco and buy the full strength "Oil Eater" not the diluted one and it will take that grease and oil off. I think the price is around 25 USD a gallon stateside (here it's 115 USD)

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[getty150]

I'm not opposed to the sunroof. When fully functional and retracted, it's a convertible. I like convertibles especially on the hwy.
Anyways, I did have to replace a portion of the roof seal I used that adhesive silicone...I feel confident about it. Roof wasn't leaking water but I didn't like the wind noise.
Maybe, (temps permitting) I'll address the roof over the next days off. Got to remove the liner.
I didn't understand the concern about the glass.. I'll re-read.

[workingonit]

Originally Posted by getty150

...
I didn't understand the concern about the glass.. I'll re-read.

In my case, my concern for the sunroof glass was that I feared having another 20-30 lb. branch fall directly onto it, and shatter it. The one that had fallen was from only 10 feet above...other branches that could've fallen might be larger and heavier. That's the reason I built the roof rack (in this case, it's a protective shield).

I think the branch that fell hit one of the roof rails first, and deflected the blow from the sunroof, then the greater force hit the hood, denting it.

Over the years, I've had three vehicles dented by falling branches in my rear driveway/parking area (lots of oak trees), so it's always a concern. When I drove my brand new (at the time) HHR Panel home from the dealer on the night I bought it, a branch fell on it as I was unlocking the gate. A small dent, almost unnoticeable (didn't bother to repair it), but it could've been worse.

[Factory6speed]

I know for the E36 there's a nice fiberglass delete panel. I think this is too nice of a car to do something like that too, but in a lot of ways it is the right move. I assumed nothing like that would even exist. But I'm not totally opposed to it if it's a low-cost option that could actually be done well and prevent water ingress

Yeah I just googled for sunroof delete and can't really find anything. So I think I'm stuck with two pieces of glass. One of which somehow needs fastened to the car in a secure manner. Welding a roof on from a non sunroof car would be out of the question.

Convertibles are great but I've always said I would never want to own one because of the stupid folding top mechanism, that always breaks and is a disaster to try and figure out how to fix. Now here I am I can't believe it. I am such a dumbass for touching that button