Sunroof Troubles

Chunkerz · Chunkerz's Garage

I replaced the stripped gears for my 1988 944's sunroof, but it still doesn't work. When I push the button it makes a noise, but the roof doesn't open. Where is the sunroof motor located? I'm not sure if the slip clutch is set correctly. Do I use a torque wrench to set the torque for the clutch, or do I just kind of guess and hope I don't strip anymore gears (I bought an extra set just in case).

Thanks,
Jeff

Icey1174 · 03-31-2012, 07:09 PM

Clark's Garage Home Page

Go to the "Garage Shop Manual" and click on "S" for sunroof. There is a wealth of info there for your sunroof. Should answer most questions.

Chunkerz · Chunkerz's Garage

Thanks! I managed to answer 2 of my questions right after I posted. I looked in the trunk and found that the cable that turns the plastic gears had come out and was coiled up in the corner. I managed to feed the cable back up to the gearboxes, but now I can't get the gears/arms set up so they open all the way. They only open about 1/4 of the way before it stops. It also seems that the cable that turns the gears is too short. If I hold the button down long enough to get drivers side arm all the way up the cable "runs out" and stops turning the passenger side gear.

FrenchToast · 03-31-2012, 09:14 PM

So was the cable completely out of the casing, resting in the left rear quarter? And you fed it all the way back through the casing? Or did you take the casing out, feed the 'worm' cable back in, then feed the casing back through the roof?

If you say it seems to short, it may not be fed in properly or all the way. It really is a huge PITA with that cable going through the dark caverns of the unibody, then miraculously appearing in the roof

Is it engaging on the driver's side arm but not on the passenger side arm?

Since its a 'worm' gear, it shouldn't 'run out'. Is it perhaps slipping inside its casing, falling back into the quarter?

Be safe, have a good evening!

Cheers

Chunkerz · Chunkerz's Garage

Yeah, it was all the way out of its casing and coiled up in the left rear quarter panel (it came out from the previous owner holding down the switch until it eventually just pulled the cable out, not from being damaged). I took a closer look at the motor and managed to feed it in a little more so that both gears are turning, but the roof only goes up half way. If I operate it manually it goes all the way up just fine. I set the slip clutch to let go at a very low amount of torque (I loosened it to the point the arms couldn't lift the roof, then tightened it a little bit at a time until they could lift the roof without the clutch slipping), so hopefully I wont be stripping anymore gears. I'm glad I bought 2 sets of gears. I stripped 2 trying to get this stupid thing to work right

It also seems that the passenger side arm is always off by a tooth. If I take apart the gear box, correct it, then put it all back together and try again, it's still off by one tooth

CHICKS · 04-01-2012, 04:02 AM

See, this is why I did the manual sunroof conversion. By doing so has probably added a few years to my life. Good luck Chunkerz!

Jrboulder · 04-01-2012, 04:27 AM

Quote:

See, this is why I did the manual sunroof conversion. By doing so has probably added a few years to my life. Good luck Chunkerz!

I guess some people don't like simple, light, easy, and reliable...

30 miniutes and 30 bucks got me the best improvement I've ever done to a Porsche.

Chunkerz · Chunkerz's Garage

It's nice to have the convenience of pushing a button to open my roof, but I guess I'll just live with having it open half way. Thanks for the help everyone!

FrenchToast · 04-01-2012, 03:53 PM

You should be able to fix it. But if you want my opinion, I'm siding with Chicks here. I ripped that whole thing out! Taking it out was like the endless ribbon the magician pulls out of his ear or something. I went, "where's the end!?!?!?!?!?"

Chunkerz · Chunkerz's Garage

If I did that I'd have to get out, pop the trunk, peel back the carpet, and turn that nut to open my sunroof. Seems like it'd become a pain after a while?

Ernest63 · 04-01-2012, 06:44 PM

It's nice to have the convenience of pushing a button to open my roof

968 GUY · 968 GUY's Garage

There is a manual conversion where the gears are replaced with a lever of some kind. Never seen one and dont know where to get it.
I have 3 roofs I have had to redo and I did just notice that on 2 of them, it is off by one tooth.
Need to get in there and fix them someday.

Is the screw holding the cable to the motor/actuating lever still on?
You are probably going to have to take the trim back out and set everything up and retime it all.
I had to replace the plastic holders for the gears because on 2 of the cars they were busted up and allowed movement.
It was a pain in the butt to get it all right and as I said, I still need to do an adjustment.

968 GUY · 968 GUY's Garage

You have to get those switches just right.

CHICKS · 04-01-2012, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chunkerz

If I did that I'd have to get out, pop the trunk, peel back the carpet, and turn that nut to open my sunroof. Seems like it'd become a pain after a while?

You don't have to do that to open the roof with the manual conversion. You just need the manual latches. Search "manual sunroof conversion". Heres a pic of what is needed.

CHICKS · 04-01-2012, 08:03 PM

oops, here's the pic.

Chunkerz · Chunkerz's Garage

When these gears strip I think I might look into that manual roof conversion. I'm having a new problem now with the cable binding in between the gear boxes

If I let the arms retract a bit too much when I'm releasing them from the roof, the cable binds the next time I try to move the arms forward again

If I watch closely and let the arms move back just enough to unlock the roof I'm usually fine.

968 GUY · 968 GUY's Garage

Maybe your cable has a kink in it.

Chunkerz · Chunkerz's Garage

I sure hope not. I don't feel like taking it all apart again and pulling that cable out...

I have a totally unrelated question: does anyone know if the twin turbo engine from a Nissan 300zx will fit in the 944 engine bay? When I was looking for another car I was trying to decide between one of those and a 944. The only reason I was thinking about a 300zx was for the twin turbo engine. The main deal breaker for me was it doesn't have any back seats (it's not like anyone can fit in the 944's back seats anyways, but at least it has some).

968 GUY · 968 GUY's Garage

Twin turbo would be nice, but have no idea.
I know you said you were planning on changing to manual, but it did take some trial and error and redoing to get my sunrrofs to where they worked correctly.
Started with a leak on the 6 speed, which turned out the water was wicking under the edge trim and dripping into the rear seat. Had to take it off and clean it up and reglue it.
Then I noticed one side was lifting higher than the other, had to do some figuring on how to fix that as I had no experience working on those, but figured it out.

The Tip had one of the lift arms popping out of the guide which turned out to be broken guides. Had to disassemble all the roof components to replace them. Then I had to retime the gears, still off by one tooth on one side.

968 GUY · 968 GUY's Garage

I checked the 6 speed and the guides were all busted up on that one too....same deal.

When I got the 951, the cable was kinked and would not go completely into the guide, there was some other prob. that I can't remember now.
Had to find a used motor that still had a good cable to fix it. Amazingly, the oldest car did not have busted guides, but, I still had to redo everything. And as I just noticed the other day, one side is lifting before the other.