sunroof alignment problems..long

[Guest Anonymous]

got my tii back from accident repair- rolled on the rhs and aside from other repairs the roof had to be straightened. everything looked ok until i test fitted the sunroof transport mechanism (everything except the sliding roof and crank mechanism). there was a lot of resistance moving the sliders by hand- i believe they should move freely without the crank mechanism installed? (new cables and cable channels cleaned and lubed).

i'm going to check all the alloy pieces (items 1,2,3,4 in http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=2232&mospid=47131&btnr=54_0217&hg=54&fg=05) and the body surfaces where they mount in the sunroof cavity for possible accident damage, checking to make sure they are straight and level and there's no buckling in the body sheet metal.

question: am i right to assume that the long fore-aft alloy pieces (item 4 in the realoem diagram) should be dead flat and so should the body surfaces where they sit on in the sunroof cavity? not sure if i've described this well enough. would really appreciate your comments, experience. everything's off the car including the roof lining and i just want to make sure the sunroof works properly before putting everything back on.

tia

74tii

[Mike Self]

slides on should be flat, as should the surfaces they mount to. You'll also need to make sure the opening itself (and thus the roof) isn't twisted so that all the mounting surfaces (front and sides) are parallel to each other.

The factory manual has instructions for adjusting the sunroof panel vertically so that it clears the fixed roof as it's being opened yet doesn't sit higher than the fixed roof when closed. These adjusters (the knurled nuts where the sliding mechanism is fastened to the sliding panel) are one to a side, so can be adjusted--to a point--to make up for a sllightly lopsided roof. But you still don't want the mechanism to bind--the plastic tabs on the ends of the opening/closing cables are the weak link and too much force applied when opening/closing will break 'em.

Have you lubricated the cables and crank mechanism? Factory manual not withstanding, they should be (sparingly) lubed periodically.

Hope that roof and sunroof mounting rails are straight, or you're gonna have problems with that sunroof from now on...

mike

[Guest Anonymous]

roof and sunroof mounting rails are straight! got distracted with xmas etc. i'll be getting back to it over the break.

merry xmas.