Howdy folks! Thank you Pacfanweb for all your killer posts across this forum and Youtube. I found your video of how to drop the sunroof motor and will be attempting that for the sunshade motor first, so that I can get the shade fully open (or at least halfway). So that I can then begin the full repair I need to do on the sunroof lift arms. I've already bought the new lift arms from Sunroofdoctor (here) and am actually looking forward to doing the repair myself, thanks to the many amazing DIY videos on Youtube and discussions on this forum.

However, in order to begin those repairs, I need to get the sunshade open. It's currently open about 5%, 95% closed. It was 100% closed, but when I picked it up from the dealer yesterday this is how it was and I was too stressed / annoyed to notice & bring it up to them since I had just paid them $190 diagnostics fee to then tell me it would cost $6k to fix, or $4k just to put my moonroof in a permanently closed, but non-operational position. The final estimate and planned fix acc to the service guy was to include new tracks, which require new motors to fit... totaling about $2200 in parts, but $3800+ for labor.

If I can get the sunshade open, I'm fairly confident I'll be able to replace the lift arms, clean out the tracks, lube them up, and have things running smoothly once again.

I'm looking forward to posting back here with progress updates.

 

$4k just to shut and disable it? And 6,000 to replace it?

That's ridiculous. Even if they charged you 10 hours to replace the track, at $200 an hour that should still only be 4,000 or so.
Why didn't they just say they didn't want to work on it?
Geez.

I could get it closed and disabled in about 10 minutes.

I will say, once you get it shut, while you have the glass out look at what broken pieces you have in there. Make sure one of them is not part of the lower cable guide. If it is then you really kind of need a track. What I'm seeing these days is some of the older trucks that have waited this long for the arms to fail, when they finally do fail they are breaking the lower part as well.

 

Right? Just say Nah thanks we don’t wanna work on this! Haha

yes sir - I’ll review the guides as well. Tonight I’m just focusing on getting the sunshade fully open first.

 

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OK I’ve got progress;

- 30 minutes: to disengage the sunshade motor so that I can manually push the shade back (thanks to your video linked below on how to lower the headliner and loosen the motor to drop down and disengage)
- 3 minutes: to remove the 3 screws on each side and push up the glass (thanks to your other video)
- 10 minutes: unscrew the 3 small Phillips and remove the broken lift arms

My problem now is that I can’t access the 3rd screw on the driver side because the lift arm is back much further - like 6” further. This side was lower (basically laying flush with the back glass) and the passenger side was partially vented up (aka my sunroof was sent properly shutting flush).

Any ideas on how to get the driver side arm moved back so I can pop things out like the other side?

I've attached 2 videos of my current issue
1. Showing how the lift arm on the driver side being lower down makes it difficult, or impossible as I can see, to push it out and disengage the tab from the sliding mechanism
2. Showing the sound the sunroof makes when I try to open it up. For context, when "closed" it's not actually closed properly - so passenger side is proper up about 0.5 inches and the driver side is almost flush but sitting maybe 0.5 cm below the back glass


Driver side is back 4-6”…. Glass was in flat position with the roofline



Passenger side… glass was in mid-vent or popped up about 0.5”

Amazing Youtube videos from @Pacfanweb ;
1. Disengage the motors for the sunroof glass and the shade
2. Remove the glass & swap out the broken lift arms

 

Yep. With the motor loose, move that lower guide forward until it's lined up even with the other one. It has to be in the "vent" position to do the arms.

What has happened is, one of the lower guides got jammed, likely by the broken arm piece, and it couldn't move, but the cable slipped and the other one DID move some, so they're now out of 'sync'.

If you want a 100% foolproof way of making sure they're absolutely perfect, do this: Eyeball it to get them close. Do the arm. Then, also with the motor loose, jam them both as far forward as they'll go. That'd be in the 'max tilt' position, then lock the motor back down. And they're in sync again.

While you're at it, take some pics of the broken pieces and post them. I want to see if they're just from the arms and not the lower cable guides. (the metal lower piece that has the round part on it)

 

Ahhh yes... I only have the shade motor lowered... I'll lower the glass motor next and then line them up like you mentioned. Now I remember watching you do that in one of the videos. So far I've only found 2 broken pieces. I'll post those in the morning. THANKS!

 

Thanks again for the awesome insight and tips, @Pacfanweb I've now lowered the motor for the glass, and can easily move the lift arms on the passenger side forward and backward. However, I can't move the lift arms / guide on the driver side. I've been using a large flathead screwdriver like you have in your videos - even some firm tapping with a rubber mallet too. Nothing moves. As you mention, the lift arms need to be in the vent position to do the swap. Here's some pics of where I'm at;

• Pics of the driver side lift arms/guide stuck in the lowered position: https://imgur.com/a/8ZwHyOa
• Pics of the broken pieces: https://imgur.com/a/kja6e1b
• Video of the current status: https://imgur.com/a/PxamJgp

 

something is still in there if it won't move. Look beneath the guides, the lower guides.
run a wire tie or something beneath them and make sure there's not something in there

 

Well, I finally got the driver side lift arm to go backwards to the “full tilt” position so the main circular peg was aligned in the hole… popped it out… took about 2 hours of reviewing every inch I could see, dropping the rear glass and sliding it forward to see if I could find anything in the rear sections of the channel… cleaning everything in sight… and after all that, I tied a shoelace to the lift arm and just started tugging. Got it to move forward which allowed the arm to get into the vented position that was needed.

After that, I wanted to test out the movement of the piece that rides the rails and connects to the lift arm. On the passenger side it glides relatively easily… on the driver side it won’t budge. Absolutely not a centimeter. See the video here of my attempt to move it. My intention is to push them both all the way forward with the new lift arms installed, like you show in your how-to videos. However, with a non-operational track, or lower guide, I don't think the motor is going to be able to move that side either.

I figured it’s better for me to figure this part out before I put the new lift arms on and button everything back up, since I’m guessing it won’t work with the motor if I can’t get it to move at all as-is. Any thoughts on what could be wrong now?

Video of stuck piece in the lower guides: https://imgur.com/a/gavGktp

Does this mean I've gotta drop the entire headliner and replace the whole track / guides? Please say it ain't so... 🙏🏼