Sunroof cable repair.... $400+ ??

[86cpe]

I use the sunroof in my car a lot. I kept wondering if all of the use would some day cause a failure, after all the car is 15 years old. Well it happened last week. When I press the buttom the sunroof only lowers on the left side.

I told my mechanic about it and he said it sounded like a broken cable. He said something about Porsche changing the design of the service parts and how the job (or was it just the parts!) used to cost around $200 now costs over $400. Does that sound right? How much labor would be require?

[david c.]

Hi,

I just did this on my car, although both cables were in need of replacement. I would recommend doing both at the same time.

Your mechanic is correct. The new cables (964 on) are slightly different in that the end plates are a little different than the old style (NLA).

However, I did this myself for the cost of the cables, some new seals and a lot of screwing around. There is a great tech article on this site on the repair you are describing.

Don't pay the $400 to have it done. The cables are under 80.00, if I recall. New seals are about $50, although if yours are okay there is no need to replace them.

Other than that, all you'd need is to find a dremel or some type of sander to grind down the new style cables to fit your old rails. Not hard.

Good luck and email me any specific questions.

Dave

[island911]

It does sound like a "broken" cable. I ran into this too, went to buy a new cable for my SC, and was told I would have to upgrade to the newer style rails bla bla bla. . . $400+ for parts alone. . .Yikes!
I've had this "break" happen twice on my '81sc; once on each side. The good news is the break is nothing more than the cable pulling out of the crimp on the body of the sr slider. I was able to provide an easy, yet solid fix.
Here's the sr cable, in the slider body, in the sr track:


Here's the "broken" sr cable, out of the slider body;

Note that the cable is not broken, but only pulled out of the body.

This can be fixed.
After cleaning all mating surfaces, I positioned the cable end slightly beyond the body.


Then slide the cable back out to apply the epoxy to the mating surfaces.
Slide the epoxied cable back in to the body.
Then splaying the cable ends out VERY slightly with a small knife or screw driver. . .


. . .You apply epoxy to the cable end.

. . it's not going anywhere for a long time.

The tough part of the whole job is dropping the sr, to get to the cable.

---

'81 Platinum Metalic SC COUPE

[This message has been edited by island911 (edited 07-14-2001).]

[rstoll]

This is a do-it-yourself job. $90.00 or so for the cables and about an hr or two labor. Read the tech Pelican tech article and save $300.00.

------------------
Robert Stoll
83 SC
83 944

[86cpe]

Fantastic replies guys, thanks. I think I'll give this one a try.