Sun roof not moving - But motor runs
dburke8088
05-12-2003, 12:45 PM
I have owned my 1993 G20 since 1994. The power top stopped retracting in 1996. Every service place I have taken it to keeps telling me it's going to cost $450 to fix the problem. I know the motor operates because I can hear it running. I can push the top and it moves a little on it's own. I have tried lubercation and nothing works. On service person said it was a clutch slipping. Has anybody ever opened or worked on the sunroof? I really would like to get an idea as to what I'm getting into before I try to remove the head liner. :flash:
boingo82
05-12-2003, 10:14 PM
I had this problem earlier in the year and someone posted the procedure on how to fix it. I don't remember who gave the instructions, but here there are. It is a lot of work to fix the problem, hope this helps. I kept the instructions, but have not had the time to take on this task.
If you have a Service Manual, the best thing would be to turn it to Body Frame section (around page 64). It will show you the diagram of the sunroof parts and the removal procedure.
NOTE: To fix your sunroof correctly, it will take a *full* day to remove and re-install all the parts, Provided that you ordered the correct part already and have it in hand.
You will need to diagnose which side is getting stuck. Drivers, pax, or both. You should be able to see when you try to open and close it, which side does not move. Most likely, it will be stuck on the drivers side when you try to close the sunroof. Also, it will tip you off which side if only one side properly goes to the "open vent" position.
If you find out that the drivers side is sticking then you will need to get only the drivers side. If its the pax side, then only the pax side part....if you dont know or both are sticking, then it would be safe to order both sides.
Call Infiniti of Scottsdale (800)955-9181 and ask for wholesale parts.
You will need to order the (drivers/pax/both) Cable and guide assembly. It should be around $80ish.
1) Make sure your hands are clean. Keep some simple green and cloths around to wipe your hands off if any dirt or grease gets on your hands as you *will* be taking off the roof.
2) Recline both seats all the way.
3) Unscrew both front sun visors. To do this you need to use a soft flat blade and pop off the cover where the arm is. Unscrew the two phillips screws then pull down...you will see the wire harness and disconnect it. Now pop off the cover to the piece that holds the other end of the visor. Unscrew that phillips screw.
4) Take off the rear-view mirror. Undo the cover on the back and unscrew the three screws holding it in.
5) Pull the sunroof control and light assembly down and unclip the two wire harnesses.
6) There will be a cosmetic strip that goes around the opening of the sunroof....pull that off.
7) Pull the clear cover off the middle lamp, then unscrew the two screws for that. Undo the wire harness. Pop off the little grey tab that holds the roof up there.
8) Undo the all the passenger "oh-shit" handles. To do this you need to pop off the covers at the end and unscrew a phillips on each end. Make sure you keep these parts together becuase it will be an assembly with about 6-8 parts.
9) Remove the black panels that are besides each seat on the B-pillar. You need to pop out to plastic rivets on the back and one screw on the side. Pull those covers off.
10) Pull down the body welts on each door. These are the color-matched trim pieces that have the black weather stripping attached to them...they will just pull right off. No adhesive.
11) Pull off the A pillar covers. These just pop out, you will need to use a little force.
12) Pull off the B pillar covers. The seatblet will be in them, leave it hanging.
13) Pull off the C pillar covers. These probably will not have to be pulled all the way off.
14) The back part of the roof should have 5 snaps that push into the roof, push those down and the roof should now be free. It may be nice to have an extra pair of hands here to help you move it, and turn it sideways, and pull it out the door.
You can look up and see the sunroof assembly rail and all that jazz. Good time to take a break. Also this is a good time to get a carpet cleaner and really scrub all the roof parts and other carpeted parts. Make sure you get the WHOLE roof wet, and the whole piece wet becuase you will get dry marks if you dont. Clean the Oh-shit handles too.
15) Go inside, pull the sunshade open and on each side of the sunroof you should see two black plastic pieces with black plastic screws. Unscrew each one and pull the cover off.
16) Using a 10mm wrench, unbolt the 3 bolts from each side of the glass. After doing this, push on the inside and the glass should come right up. Set it aside so it doesnt get damaged and clean it up.
17) Put the sunroof controls back on (just clip the wire harness in) and move the guides to the full open position. This is a good time to see how they work. Unclip the sunroof control.
18) Close the sunshade. You will see 2 black clips on either side. Push those in and pull the sunshade up and away. NOTE: Clean your hands before you to this, or use a towel.
19) Unscrew the metal bracket around the sunroof.
20) Unbolt the sunroof motor. There will be two short screws in the front and one long one in the back right. There is a little blue spacer that goes around this long screw in the back right. You will notice that on the top there is a little bracket right above the motor in the rail. This is where the those two screws for the motor screw into. *NOTE* to get the motor lose you MAY have to connect the sunroof controls again and move them a tiny bit to loosen the motor.
21) Pull off the drain tubes located on each corner.
22) There will be 2 brackets on each side towards the back, and 2 bolts on either side. Remove them. Remove the 4 bolts along the front of the rail. It may help to leave 1 bolt attached on each side to allow you to drop it down and pull it out the door easier.
Congrats you now have the rail out.
23) On the drivers side rail to the back you should see a little stopper piece. This needs to be unscrewed from the back and from the top. Pull it off. Make sure you do this slowly to know where the pieces go when you re-attach it.
24) Unscrew the bar up top that has a screw on each side of it.
25) Pull the guide back by hand along the rail and catch the little black piece that will pop out at the end. Pull the guide out and the cable out of its track.
At this point you may see that the cable is not attached to the guide. This is where the problem is that the motor was so strong is pulled the cable out of the guide piece. You will have to manually push the cable out from where the motor is. The drivers side cable is the one on the inner hole.
Make sure to save the parts off the guide, especially the plastic covers that go along the runners on the side of the guide.
26) Clean out the track with a cloth and get a thing of lithium grease to lube up the track again and the new guide you are about to install.
On the old guide you should see where there is a rub mark and along the track there should be some witness rub marks as well. I believe this is becuase over time the motor has a lot of torque and basically it bent the back guide becuase that is where the cable is attached to. This bent guide gets caught and "hangs-up."
27) Make sure the new part is in the fully closed postion and slide the first and second guides in along with the cable. You will need to put that black piece on the end of the guide before it goes in...there are two little spring pieces that need to be pressed together to make it go in.
28) Make sure everything slides freely and moves alot better now. You may need to bend the little metal spring piece in the new assembly to make it the "roller" piece go up easier.
You should know how to install it back on after taking it off.
The only tricky part is getting the motor back on the right way. What you need to do is get the sunroof glass back on and move the guides so they are in the correct CLOSED position. This means that the sunroof is lined up top with the roof and stays closed. Then you need to plug the motor in and press the vent button down till it stops running and press the close button till the motor stops running. Now the motor is prepped to go in place.
Also make sure that you put those metal spacers between the guide and the bolts for the sunroof glass.
You may need to just hand tighten everything till you can move the assembly around and the glass around till it all lines up right. Do this right the first time, it make take a little bit.
Now is a good time to clean everything up there and maybe install dynamat on the ceiling if you want to.
Good luck.
If you have a Service Manual, the best thing would be to turn it to Body Frame section (around page 64). It will show you the diagram of the sunroof parts and the removal procedure.
NOTE: To fix your sunroof correctly, it will take a *full* day to remove and re-install all the parts, Provided that you ordered the correct part already and have it in hand.
You will need to diagnose which side is getting stuck. Drivers, pax, or both. You should be able to see when you try to open and close it, which side does not move. Most likely, it will be stuck on the drivers side when you try to close the sunroof. Also, it will tip you off which side if only one side properly goes to the "open vent" position.
If you find out that the drivers side is sticking then you will need to get only the drivers side. If its the pax side, then only the pax side part....if you dont know or both are sticking, then it would be safe to order both sides.
Call Infiniti of Scottsdale (800)955-9181 and ask for wholesale parts.
You will need to order the (drivers/pax/both) Cable and guide assembly. It should be around $80ish.
1) Make sure your hands are clean. Keep some simple green and cloths around to wipe your hands off if any dirt or grease gets on your hands as you *will* be taking off the roof.
2) Recline both seats all the way.
3) Unscrew both front sun visors. To do this you need to use a soft flat blade and pop off the cover where the arm is. Unscrew the two phillips screws then pull down...you will see the wire harness and disconnect it. Now pop off the cover to the piece that holds the other end of the visor. Unscrew that phillips screw.
4) Take off the rear-view mirror. Undo the cover on the back and unscrew the three screws holding it in.
5) Pull the sunroof control and light assembly down and unclip the two wire harnesses.
6) There will be a cosmetic strip that goes around the opening of the sunroof....pull that off.
7) Pull the clear cover off the middle lamp, then unscrew the two screws for that. Undo the wire harness. Pop off the little grey tab that holds the roof up there.
8) Undo the all the passenger "oh-shit" handles. To do this you need to pop off the covers at the end and unscrew a phillips on each end. Make sure you keep these parts together becuase it will be an assembly with about 6-8 parts.
9) Remove the black panels that are besides each seat on the B-pillar. You need to pop out to plastic rivets on the back and one screw on the side. Pull those covers off.
10) Pull down the body welts on each door. These are the color-matched trim pieces that have the black weather stripping attached to them...they will just pull right off. No adhesive.
11) Pull off the A pillar covers. These just pop out, you will need to use a little force.
12) Pull off the B pillar covers. The seatblet will be in them, leave it hanging.
13) Pull off the C pillar covers. These probably will not have to be pulled all the way off.
14) The back part of the roof should have 5 snaps that push into the roof, push those down and the roof should now be free. It may be nice to have an extra pair of hands here to help you move it, and turn it sideways, and pull it out the door.
You can look up and see the sunroof assembly rail and all that jazz. Good time to take a break. Also this is a good time to get a carpet cleaner and really scrub all the roof parts and other carpeted parts. Make sure you get the WHOLE roof wet, and the whole piece wet becuase you will get dry marks if you dont. Clean the Oh-shit handles too.
15) Go inside, pull the sunshade open and on each side of the sunroof you should see two black plastic pieces with black plastic screws. Unscrew each one and pull the cover off.
16) Using a 10mm wrench, unbolt the 3 bolts from each side of the glass. After doing this, push on the inside and the glass should come right up. Set it aside so it doesnt get damaged and clean it up.
17) Put the sunroof controls back on (just clip the wire harness in) and move the guides to the full open position. This is a good time to see how they work. Unclip the sunroof control.
18) Close the sunshade. You will see 2 black clips on either side. Push those in and pull the sunshade up and away. NOTE: Clean your hands before you to this, or use a towel.
19) Unscrew the metal bracket around the sunroof.
20) Unbolt the sunroof motor. There will be two short screws in the front and one long one in the back right. There is a little blue spacer that goes around this long screw in the back right. You will notice that on the top there is a little bracket right above the motor in the rail. This is where the those two screws for the motor screw into. *NOTE* to get the motor lose you MAY have to connect the sunroof controls again and move them a tiny bit to loosen the motor.
21) Pull off the drain tubes located on each corner.
22) There will be 2 brackets on each side towards the back, and 2 bolts on either side. Remove them. Remove the 4 bolts along the front of the rail. It may help to leave 1 bolt attached on each side to allow you to drop it down and pull it out the door easier.
Congrats you now have the rail out.
23) On the drivers side rail to the back you should see a little stopper piece. This needs to be unscrewed from the back and from the top. Pull it off. Make sure you do this slowly to know where the pieces go when you re-attach it.
24) Unscrew the bar up top that has a screw on each side of it.
25) Pull the guide back by hand along the rail and catch the little black piece that will pop out at the end. Pull the guide out and the cable out of its track.
At this point you may see that the cable is not attached to the guide. This is where the problem is that the motor was so strong is pulled the cable out of the guide piece. You will have to manually push the cable out from where the motor is. The drivers side cable is the one on the inner hole.
Make sure to save the parts off the guide, especially the plastic covers that go along the runners on the side of the guide.
26) Clean out the track with a cloth and get a thing of lithium grease to lube up the track again and the new guide you are about to install.
On the old guide you should see where there is a rub mark and along the track there should be some witness rub marks as well. I believe this is becuase over time the motor has a lot of torque and basically it bent the back guide becuase that is where the cable is attached to. This bent guide gets caught and "hangs-up."
27) Make sure the new part is in the fully closed postion and slide the first and second guides in along with the cable. You will need to put that black piece on the end of the guide before it goes in...there are two little spring pieces that need to be pressed together to make it go in.
28) Make sure everything slides freely and moves alot better now. You may need to bend the little metal spring piece in the new assembly to make it the "roller" piece go up easier.
You should know how to install it back on after taking it off.
The only tricky part is getting the motor back on the right way. What you need to do is get the sunroof glass back on and move the guides so they are in the correct CLOSED position. This means that the sunroof is lined up top with the roof and stays closed. Then you need to plug the motor in and press the vent button down till it stops running and press the close button till the motor stops running. Now the motor is prepped to go in place.
Also make sure that you put those metal spacers between the guide and the bolts for the sunroof glass.
You may need to just hand tighten everything till you can move the assembly around and the glass around till it all lines up right. Do this right the first time, it make take a little bit.
Now is a good time to clean everything up there and maybe install dynamat on the ceiling if you want to.
Good luck.
boingo82
05-12-2003, 10:17 PM
Here's another, easier thing to try first. Copied from someone else's post.
I saw your post about the sunroof problem and I dont know if you fixed
yours - I just fixed mine today. It took about ten minutes. Best of all
it was free.
1st - remove the plastic cover that houses the sunroof switches. after
removal you should see a black allen wrench screw on the motor, near
the center. This is whats causing the problem. You have to unscrew the
three phillips head screws, holding the motor. Then wiggle the motor to
the right and fiddle with it and pull on it till you see the top of the
motor - (the motor doest have to be all the way out about 3/4 way out)
on the other side of the allen wrench screw, top of the motor, is a
gold nut. Take a 13mm wrench and snug the nut down about 3/4 of a turn
while holding the other side with the allen wrench so the bolt doesnt
turn. It should work - test it out and put it back together. It made my day
when I fixed it so I thought I would share the info. Good luck
I have a 1993.5 G20
and...
Those instructions sound a hell of a lot more complicated than the ones in my fsm. The instructions I have are these:
1)Fully close or tilt sun roof lid assembly. Fully open sun roof shade assembly. Remove clips and side trim.
2)Close sun roof lid, and remove 6 bolts from the back of the sun roof lid.
3)Lift out sun roof away from roof
4)Pull sun roof shade forward
5)Remove the 4 shade locks located beside sun roof shade
6)Remove sun roof shade
7)Remove sun roof motor assembly
8)Disconnect interior lamp harness
9)Disconnect front and rear drain hoses
10)Remove nuts and bolts securing sun roof rails
11)Remove sun roof rail assembly
I'll post the picture of all this as soon as i get it uploaded. This seems a lot easier than removing the whole interior but I dont know what 6 bolts they are talking about in step 2
I saw your post about the sunroof problem and I dont know if you fixed
yours - I just fixed mine today. It took about ten minutes. Best of all
it was free.
1st - remove the plastic cover that houses the sunroof switches. after
removal you should see a black allen wrench screw on the motor, near
the center. This is whats causing the problem. You have to unscrew the
three phillips head screws, holding the motor. Then wiggle the motor to
the right and fiddle with it and pull on it till you see the top of the
motor - (the motor doest have to be all the way out about 3/4 way out)
on the other side of the allen wrench screw, top of the motor, is a
gold nut. Take a 13mm wrench and snug the nut down about 3/4 of a turn
while holding the other side with the allen wrench so the bolt doesnt
turn. It should work - test it out and put it back together. It made my day
when I fixed it so I thought I would share the info. Good luck
I have a 1993.5 G20
and...
Those instructions sound a hell of a lot more complicated than the ones in my fsm. The instructions I have are these:
1)Fully close or tilt sun roof lid assembly. Fully open sun roof shade assembly. Remove clips and side trim.
2)Close sun roof lid, and remove 6 bolts from the back of the sun roof lid.
3)Lift out sun roof away from roof
4)Pull sun roof shade forward
5)Remove the 4 shade locks located beside sun roof shade
6)Remove sun roof shade
7)Remove sun roof motor assembly
8)Disconnect interior lamp harness
9)Disconnect front and rear drain hoses
10)Remove nuts and bolts securing sun roof rails
11)Remove sun roof rail assembly
I'll post the picture of all this as soon as i get it uploaded. This seems a lot easier than removing the whole interior but I dont know what 6 bolts they are talking about in step 2
dburke8088
05-13-2003, 09:39 AM
Thanks for the information. I'll have to blow a weekend on this one. The G20 is really nice vehicle and has over the 150K miles and still running just as good as the first day I bought it. So far in the 10 years I have replaced the the driver's side power window motor, the antenna motor, the top end of the engine replaced (I procrastinated on changing the oil a little too long) and the both axles replaced. (CV boots were cracked)
boingo82
05-13-2003, 01:51 PM
Originally posted by dburke8088
Thanks for the information. I'll have to blow a weekend on this one. The G20 is really nice vehicle and has over the 150K miles and still running just as good as the first day I bought it. So far in the 10 years I have replaced the the driver's side power window motor, the antenna motor, the top end of the engine replaced (I procrastinated on changing the oil a little too long) and the both axles replaced. (CV boots were cracked)
Good to hear - I have had an alternator, water pump, and my passenger lock is a little :bloated:, and my sunroof doesn't always behave...right now I just need to do belts and axles (CV boots like you said). I have been pleased with the car so far, esp. compared to the Saturn rental I have right now. :(
Thanks for the information. I'll have to blow a weekend on this one. The G20 is really nice vehicle and has over the 150K miles and still running just as good as the first day I bought it. So far in the 10 years I have replaced the the driver's side power window motor, the antenna motor, the top end of the engine replaced (I procrastinated on changing the oil a little too long) and the both axles replaced. (CV boots were cracked)
Good to hear - I have had an alternator, water pump, and my passenger lock is a little :bloated:, and my sunroof doesn't always behave...right now I just need to do belts and axles (CV boots like you said). I have been pleased with the car so far, esp. compared to the Saturn rental I have right now. :(
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