Sunroof motor

[Roger Blassberg 0]

I need a replacement sunroof motor. The failed Rockwell unit is part no 535 959 731. I have offers of 2 alternatives;

a) 1H0 959 731

b) 3A0 959 731 B

 

They all look to be the same Rockwell unit (comparing the actual old unit to photos of the replacements). The question is, are they ACTUALLY all interchangeable? Please does anyone understand the intricacies of the part numbering system.

 

All advice gratefully received.

 

Best wishes

 

RB

[Andy-H 0]

I can't really help you with the part numbers Mate but I have a rockwell motor in the shed that I bought recently in error as I mis-diagnosed my sunroof problem :(. I'll have a look tomorrow night see if the number is the same.

 

***edit*** Just checked and it is the same number as your original.

 

Edited April 12, 2011 by Andy-H

[mr.ots 10]

I need a replacement sunroof motor. The failed Rockwell unit is part no 535 959 731. I have offers of 2 alternatives;

a) 1H0 959 731

b) 3A0 959 731 B

 

They all look to be the same Rockwell unit (comparing the actual old unit to photos of the replacements). The question is, are they ACTUALLY all interchangeable? Please does anyone understand the intricacies of the part numbering system.

 

All advice gratefully received.

 

Best wishes

 

RB

 

You can use either of the motors you have listed, the first is the original motor fitted which was dropped on the 30/11/95. The second part no. is for the direct replacement.

[Roger Blassberg 0]

Thanks to Andy and Mr. Ots.

 

Best wishes

 

RB

[Roger Blassberg 0]

I have now obtained and fitted the replacement motor. Somehow or other, during the procedure, the headlining (inner) section of the sunroof has become detached from the steel (outer) section so that it can be manually slid independently right back along the guide rails. But I can't work out how to re-attach it to the rest of the system as it won't slide right forward to close the aperture when the outer part is closed.

 

The sunroof outer section operates perfectly well on both slide and tilt, opening and closing as expected, but does not take the inner section with it.

 

Two questions; How do I reconnect the inner (headlining ) section to the rest of the mechanism?

And,

 

Does this mean that the sunroof is now not weatherproof as there is a (small) gap all around the outer section where it meets the main roof; The inner section, which I assume incorporates the water-catching tray, will not slide fully forward.

 

Best wishes

 

RB

[Roger Blassberg 0]

OK, I have sorted it out.

 

For information and to help others, the procedure is;

 

Tilt sunroof fully using either motor or allen key

Push up back edge of the inside part of the sunroof inner lining so that it is parallel with the tilted outer steel part, and at the same time slide the whole of the inner lining forwards until the two sections engage each other.

Er, that's it !! (Unless of course you know that I have done it wrong.)

 

Let's hope it doesn't leak or jam.

 

Best wishes

 

RB

[fla 9]

useful tips Roger!

[krishen 2]

How much did you get the sunroof motor for? And where from?

[Roger Blassberg 0]

The sunroof motor came from a seller on ebay, the part number is as further back in this thread.

 

It would appear that Andy-H has one surplus to requirements, so I won't confuse your negotiations with him over price............

 

Best wishes

 

RB

[Roger Blassberg 0]

More news on this.

I was playing around with the sunroof again and it failed in the partly open slide position. So had to wind it closed on the key, and then remove the motor to see what was going on. The motor was clicking when switched but not turning and I thought I had broken it. Again.

 

With nothing to lose, I decided to open up the drive unit. If you take out five screws, (see them in the picture further back) the various gears are exposed including the worm drive on the motor spindle. I took out the idler gear which takes the drive to the cable pinion and also to the regulating mechanism, and then plugged the unit back into the electrical connector for the sunroof; "hey-presto", the motor still turns, so that is not at fault. I then replaced the idler gear and ran the unit through 2 open/close phases for each of slide and tilt, but NOT connected to the sunroof itself. This ensured that both the motor and the sunroof were coordinated with each other.

 

Finally, it was all re-assembled, and it works perfectly.

 

 

Somehow the motor controller was out of synchronisation with the position of the sunroof.

The moral of the story is that if your sunroof drive unit fails, it may respond to the treatment I have just described.

 

Best wishes

 

RB

[fla 9]

Roger - my sunroof now only moves in increments (in 'slide'). Would you suggest this is the same problem as you lst post or is the motor goosed?

[Alex_G60_Fanatic 0]

More news on this.

I was playing around with the sunroof again and it failed in the partly open slide position. So had to wind it closed on the key, and then remove the motor to see what was going on. The motor was clicking when switched but not turning and I thought I had broken it. Again.

 

With nothing to lose, I decided to open up the drive unit. If you take out five screws, (see them in the picture further back) the various gears are exposed including the worm drive on the motor spindle. I took out the idler gear which takes the drive to the cable pinion and also to the regulating mechanism, and then plugged the unit back into the electrical connector for the sunroof; "hey-presto", the motor still turns, so that is not at fault. I then replaced the idler gear and ran the unit through 2 open/close phases for each of slide and tilt, but NOT connected to the sunroof itself. This ensured that both the motor and the sunroof were coordinated with each other.

 

Finally, it was all re-assembled, and it works perfectly.

 

 

Somehow the motor controller was out of synchronisation with the position of the sunroof.

The moral of the story is that if your sunroof drive unit fails, it may respond to the treatment I have just described.

 

Best wishes

 

RB

 

Ooooo! good find! never heard of this before!

[Roger Blassberg 0]

Hasan,

diagnosis at a distance is rather difficult, but it's worth a go. If it slides but only in increments, I must say that it sounds as though the panel and/or cables are binding somewhere; I assume that the motor drive unit has some sort of cut-out to prevent overloading the unit if the roof itself gets too stiff to slide easily. I beleive that there is a thread on here somewhere that tells you how to lubricate the sliders and cables.

 

Best wishes

 

RB

[Alex_G60_Fanatic 0]

I beleive that there is a thread on here somewhere that tells you how to lubricate the sliders and cables.

 

RB

be sure if your lubing them up to only use the VW specific lubricant. Other stuff gunks up to quick and causes excess friction

G 000 450 02 - Sunroof lubricant is the stuff you need. Ask you local dealer (about £5 a tube)

[daves16v 1]

Roger - my sunroof now only moves in increments (in 'slide'). Would you suggest this is the same problem as you lst post or is the motor goosed?

 

Had this with mine just recently, swapped it for another and it was fine. I know there was nothing binding as I tested it with a hand crank from a manually operated sunroof.

[Stonejag 10]

Had this with mine just recently, swapped it for another and it was fine. I know there was nothing binding as I tested it with a hand crank from a manually operated sunroof.

Similar problem on mine - tilts fine, opens 90% of the way in one go (then inches back in 3-4 goes) but only gets about 1/3 closed before it gets stuck. It will close but it takes a lot of inching! I swapped it out for a different motor (same part number, marked '94 instead of '95) and it is a bit better in that it opened and closed a few times without trouble, but it makes a hell of a loud noise compared to the original one...on a couple of tries it also managed to slide back so far that the entire panel disappeared into the roof and got stuck, I had to get the hand crank out :bonk: After zipping backwards and forwards a couple of times it got stuck in the same places as my original motor so I guess that has the all-clear.

 

I figure the rails need greasing to give the motor a bit of an easier time, but can you grease the inside of the motor unit too? If I could quiet down my replacement then the extra power would definitely help...

 

Stone