What is it with Sunroofs!?

[MikeVR6 0]

I've owned 3 Corrado's so far and never had any bother with sunroofs.

 

Lately it seems every second hand Corrado has a sunroof that "tilt's but doesn't slide" what's the deal with this?

Have I just been lucky or is there some kind of crazy fun to be had from a sunroof that leads to it breaking!? :)

 

How many of my fellow Forum posters are suffering from the Tilt no Slide syndrome?

 

What's the fix?

Is it as cheap and easy as the sellers claim?

 

Thanks

a dazed and confused MikeVR6

[Furkz 0]

got a receipt in my history folder where the previous owner spent the best part of £800 on getting the sunroof fixed, was from VW though

[joebloggsVR69 0]

Mines been fine for the year I've had it - until last week. Now it only slides if you repeatedly press the button. Is this a sign the mechs are on their last legs? :(

[andy 0]

I've had a Golf one and a Corrado one that tilts but doesn't slide. I have seen other peoples bills for a thousand pounds plus to sort one out, I think these are mainly from garages that don't want the job. I've swapped two now, can do it in a morning now. Haven't tried repairing one though...

[gradeAfailure 0]

It ain't just the 'rados either - my Passat tilts but no slidey-goodness... :(

 

And I've got twice as much trim to take off to get the headlining down to replace it, so not looking forward to that!

[Yandards 0]

Oddly enough my sunroof both tilts and slides but at full tilt it wont always come back down - can hear the solenoid clicking as I push the button but no joy.

 

I usually find that if I give the roof a wiggle or play with the leccy windows it works fine again.

[Walesy 0]

is your car bordeaux red gradeAfailure?

[gradeAfailure 0]

Close, but no cigar... ;)

 

It's Indian Red Pearl - LC3T - same as on MK3 Golfs and Ventos... Bonnet's badly faded though, soon to be replaced with a black one as soon as I find a scrappy breaking a black Passat...

[MikeVR6 0]

No conclusive answer then on the old "tilt but no slide" poser.

It's putting me off buying cars that are otherwise fine because I think it's an expensive fix.

 

Keep posting guys.

I'd love to be proved wrong!

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Use the search, I've lost count of the amount of times I've gone over this.....

 

The entire sunroof subframe less the panel is £500 from VW, hence the £1000 bills to sort it. The grease monkeys there neither have the knowledge or the inclination to replace components, so just stick a whole new S/F in and don't actually cure the problem :roll:

[MikeVR6 0]

That's all well and good Kev.

But in the real world where parts can be had cheap from E-Bay or breakers.

What is actually required to fix this problem and how much work is involved?

 

Is it just a matter of cannibalising a good sunroof from a wrecked C?

Will the sunroof repair kit from VW sort this problem?

 

Glad someone technical has replied as this thread was in danger of going off topic with all this talk of indian red bonnets and what-not! :)

[Tempest 0]

Just to add to the statistics: My sunroof also only tilts but doesn't slide.

 

There was a good article in the Sprinter some time ago, on how to fix a broken sunroof. To someone like me who's never done it before, it probably would take a few evenings after work. Problem with that is that as my Rado is outside, I'm under pressure by the British weather, not a good idea to have a summer downpour start with the sunroof off :lol:

 

Tempest

[daves16v 1]

Now that I've got door handle and headlight switch repair kits, I'd love to have a go at a sunroof repair kit, now that would be a challenge. Shame my sunroof works perfectly :D

 

or have I spoken too soon :?:

[Kevin Bacon 5]

OK, there are 3 main elements that contribute to this infamous issue....

 

1) The water plate guides - These are the eloborate steel millings that a pin follows to tilt and slide the roof and are also what the roof itself fixes to. They always wear first on the pass side. The pin wears and the milled channel wears. The result is excessive play causing the famous paint gouging and also the roof will rattle when tilted.

 

£25 each from VW, £1 for the two pins.

 

2) Cable blocks - The motor pulls and pushes two alloy blocks along the subframe channels (left and right). Forward to tilt and back to slide. What happens is the cable block usually shears off (cheap metal) on the passenger side....which will give you tilt still (forward) but no slide (backwards) as the block is in two pieces.

 

Cable repair kit - £60 from VW

 

3) The chrome rockers - These have little plastic roller wheels in them that pull the roof down in the slide mode and 'run' it along the channels. There is a little detent in the channel that the rocker wheel slots into. The action and shaping of the cable blocks lifts the rocker out of it's detent as you slide the roof back. Sometimes the rocker jams in the detent because the wheels have worn down and therefore no slide.

 

Try taking the rockers off completely (simple circlips and springs) and see if it will slide then.....

 

£8 each from VW IIRC.

 

You need to drop the subframe out of the car and replace all those parts and it should work. You need loads of grease in there too otherwise the motor will struggle like hell, hence Joe's click- click -click - click action.

 

Roof alignment is critcial too, the rear of the panel must me 1mm lower than the roof line (I'd make it 1.5mm on the pass side) and 0.5mm lower on the leading edge. This will keep wind noise and interior panel rattling to a minimum.

 

I never did get round to that picture guide...... one day.....

[joebloggsVR69 0]

You need loads of grease in there too otherwise the motor will struggle like hell, hence Joe's click- click -click - click action.

 

I put loads of grease in mine about 6 months ago, but its only just started misbehaving

 

So, replacing all of the above should fix any wear & tear problems for a 10 year old sunroof?

I guess I'll have to shell out yet more cash to the $tealers.

[olly elworthy 0]

2) Cable blocks - The motor pulls and pushes two alloy blocks along the subframe channels (left and right). Forward to tilt and back to slide. What happens is the cable block usually shears off (cheap metal) on the passenger side....which will give you tilt still (forward) but no slide (backwards) as the block is in two pieces.

 

Cable repair kit - £60 from VW

 

 

mine is currently suffering from the haywire grade 2 failure :twisted:

since the first week i bought it,, (that was 2 years ago still aint fixed it!!) maybe oneday :lol:

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Joebloggs, It might mate, there's no guarantees.

 

I did all that to mine (three times) and the net result is I can slide manually - because the motor does as yours does - and tilt with the motor. I really can't be arsed to f'ck around with it anymore so I'm happy with that....so long as it slides, I don't care.

 

I guaratee it will slide with the motor if you take the rockers off, and it's what they do on the Vortex, but they're there for a reason.

 

It might also be the motor's tired, not sure..... I wouldn't buy a new one just to test the theory though....

[MikeVR6 0]

Thanks Kev,

 

That's exactly the info I was after.

So essentially we have 3 faults that can lead to this problem.

They don't necessarily appear alone either so someone with the "tilt no slide" fault could have any combination of them.

5 different combinations in total.

 

Maybe, since this is quite a common problem, we should make this a sticky or copy the pertinent info into a new thread and sticky it?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

The most common "tilt but no slide" cause is the rockers not lifting out of their detents.....second is the sheared cable block!

 

One's a 10 min fix, the other an all day job!

[MikeVR6 0]

Thanks Kev,

 

That's exactly the info I was after.

So essentially we have 3 faults that can lead to this problem.

They don't necessarily appear alone either so someone with the "tilt no slide" fault could have any combination of them.

5 different combinations in total.

 

Maybe, since this is quite a common problem, we should make this a sticky or copy the pertinent info into a new thread and sticky it?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Yeah, a repair guide is needed really but I just haven't got the time to write one up.

 

You just need to familiarise yourself with how it works and then you'll soon spot what's not working...

 

It's easy but a royal pain in the butt as the headlining has to come out....which is sh1tty job....

[MikeVR6 0]

Best just buying the entire list of parts then as a "Fix All" solution rather than repairing each bit as it breaks.

[rixy 0]

im having the same problems, mine will tilt up and down okay, but will only go back if i repeatedly press the switch, what parts could this be? or could it still be all of the above?

[Ice White Socks 0]

My sunroof has done just the same thing (currently in the process of trying to bribe a forum sunroof expert into fixing it :wink: )

 

Interesting point on the lubrication- Bently manual says you must use lubricant.... ( cue some big part number)- then says in bold- never use general purpose lubricant... My sunroof worked fine- then six months after I lather it in grease the cables snap... mmmmm

[joebloggsVR69 0]

Hmm.. My etka says the grease is p/n: G000 450 02 might be worth using this when I take mine apart, instead of that white lithium spray