Sunroof failure
 

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.