Not bad yet- but I have a finicky Sunroof!

[spyro235]

All- My sunroof is periodically finicky. about 70% of the time when I tilt it, it wont smoothly go back down with the one touch. I have to essentially tap the close a few times to get it started, and then it will tilt all the way back down. Searching google for sunroof threads, I see tons of really bad issues, and I think mine may have started the "clicking" recently.

Research shows mention of a repair kit, and further looking mentioned that the plastic tracks are the issues, since they break. I've got a 02/2010 production pre-lci car. How should I proceed? Can I clean/examine the tracks without removing the whole cassette?

[Nanniepoo]

Following because I have the same issue. No issues opening. Occasionally, more often than I feel comfortable with, it attempts to close and reopens.

[spyro235]

Originally Posted by Nanniepoo

Following because I have the same issue. No issues opening. Occasionally, more often than I feel comfortable with, it attempts to close and reopens.

My sliding motion will also do the "close partially and then reopen," but that only occurs rarely. Maybe 3 time in the 4 months (and 11k miles) that I've owned the car. The tilt definitely qualifies as "more than I'm comfortable with," as you've put it.

[Nanniepoo]

Originally Posted by spyro235

My sliding motion will also do the "close partially and then reopen," but that only occurs rarely. Maybe 3 time in the 4 months (and 11k miles) that I've owned the car. The tilt definitely qualifies as "more than I'm comfortable with," as you've put it.

Oh oops I should've clarified more, sliding open and close we've had no issues. Just trying to close it from the vent position. Which sucks because we're about to get into the weather where venting in some fresh air is really nice, but still a little cold to actually open the sunroof.

[Baby Unicorn Taco]

Have you tried the reset/recalibrate procedure for the sunroof?

[spyro235]

Originally Posted by Unicorn

Have you tried the reset/recalibrate procedure for the sunroof?

I have not, but I'm going to shortly.

In further research I've uncovered that is seems to be the rear panel venting that causes the issues. I've also uncovered a tutorial to dremel off a section of the assembly that catches the rear sunroof, to pull it open, which effectively disables the rear sunroof vent. Truthfully, I believe the rear vent makes a lot of unnecessary noise, and was never sure why it worked that way in the first place. I think I'm going to take a peak at that part of the assembly, and see if I can clean it up/ relube it with some silicone grease. Maybe it'll smooth out before any permanent modification need to be made.

Another thing I've uncovered, the e53 X5's and the e61's have a SWEET vent setup. The rear glass slide back a bit, and uncovers a mesh opening under the front glass's tilt up location. Boy, I wish I had that instead of the e70's front crack for venting. Stupid sun lines up with the front crack every single day on my commute home, so I close the sunroof and live without the vent in order for my retina to not get beamed with sunlight.

[FunfDreisig]

In case you hadn't seen this thread...


https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...ning-help.html


it has some good photos/descriptions of the sunroof partially disassembled.


Funf Dreisig

[ard]

One proven way to avoid massive repair costs for the BMW sunroof:


Close it.
Leave it.








Last time I opened the sunroof on the X5 has been 2+ years.

[spyro235]

I recalibrated, and haven't had the issue since. I still seem to have a bit of a clicking on the upwards tilt, but it goes down smoothly. I tried it at least 15 times, with no issue.
Still going to open it and examine for dirt/ relube whatever I can see that looks like it'll benefit from it, just need a spare moment with my shop empty, which is hard to find now that the drift season is upon me.