Sunroof Stuck - HELP

beachbrum · Post by **beachbrum** » Sat Apr 04, 2009 5:34 pm

The stock sunroof on my 2001 RT is stuck all the way open. I slid it open all the way this morning and then heard a crunching sound. I tried to close it and it slightly moved forward and thats it. Now I can click it one way or the other and nothing happens and I don't here antything except the click of the switch.

Anyone know what gives here and what needs to be done? I'd like to fix this before it rains again.

Also, does the neon have a bypass crank where I can close the sunroof in an emergency using a screwdriver or socket wrench?

I am not finding anything else in the forums in regards to this.

Thanks in advance

beachbrum · Post by **beachbrum** » Sat Apr 04, 2009 7:20 pm

So I pulled off the visors, a pillars, and hand holds on the ceiling and dropped the headliner.

It appears that the motor makes an audible click as I filp the switch but nothing happens. After I release it sometimes, moments later when I am not touching the switch it makes little clicking noises inside.

So it looks like it is part #B-1142082759. Assuming that this is what I need to replace, would this be something that is simply disconnected and reconnected? Or is it not that simple?

Thanks

gilly02le · Post by **gilly02le** » Sat Apr 04, 2009 7:36 pm

check that you don't have a rock jammed in the sunroof window tract, seen this happen many times and it makes the sunroof stick fully open.

beachbrum · Post by **beachbrum** » Sat Apr 04, 2009 7:43 pm

gilly02le wrote:check that you don't have a rock jammed in the sunroof window tract, seen this happen many times and it makes the sunroof stick fully open.

Thanks for the response, I went out there and checked and could not spot any rocks in the tracks.

Passt · Post by **Passt** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 8:50 am

I've heard of this happening when one of the screws that holds the mechanism up there together becomes loose. Hopefully more people see this post and respond to you. I know we've discussed this before. Good luck.

04_NeonSxt · Post by **04_NeonSxt** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 10:03 am

Same thing happened to me on my 2004 Neon. All it took to fix it was a good cleaning, and some white lithium grease. My motor made the same clicking sounds but then once I cleaned the tracks it seemed to work just fine.

beachbrum · Post by **beachbrum** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 10:20 am

04_NeonSxt wrote:Same thing happened to me on my 2004 Neon. All it took to fix it was a good cleaning, and some white lithium grease. My motor made the same clicking sounds but then once I cleaned the tracks it seemed to work just fine.

Would you be able to elaborate a little more? Did you simply grease the tracks real good when you sunroof was stuck open?

Thanks

Midnight_Rider · Post by **Midnight_Rider** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 5:24 pm

TSB # 23-049-04 REV. A
Subject: Sunroof Vents But Will Not Open/Close

Perhaps this is the problem? Happened to mine.

beachbrum · Post by **beachbrum** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 7:54 pm

04_NeonSxt wrote:Same thing happened to me on my 2004 Neon. All it took to fix it was a good cleaning, and some white lithium grease. My motor made the same clicking sounds but then once I cleaned the tracks it seemed to work just fine.

So I went ahead and cleaned up the tracks a bit and then sprayed some white lithium grease on both sides. After it sat for a couple of hours, I tried it again and it moved about half an inch and then stopped. So I cleaned it up again and sprayed a little more in there.

So am I on the right track here?

beachbrum · Post by **beachbrum** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 8:17 pm

The lithium grease worked, I got the sunroof to close. I cycled the sunroof to open and close several times to work the grease through the tracks.

The interesting thing now is when the sunroof is first vented and/or completely closed the motor mount makes a bit of crunching sound and shifts slightly in one direction when closing and to the other when opening. Is this simply a loose motor mount or a bigger issue?

I also notice it open effortlessly and quieter than I could ever remember but as it closes it is not smooth. It is still quite but kind of jerks its way forward as if it is sticking on its way to closing. FYI, I did all of this while parked indoors.

Is this an issue I should worry about? Or should I just leave good enough alone and never open the sunroof again?

Thanks to all

04_NeonSxt · Post by **04_NeonSxt** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 10:35 pm

Im glad the white lithium grease worked. I didnt have any strange sounds, or alignment issues with mine afterwards so I really dont know if you should worry or not.

Midnight_Rider · Post by **Midnight_Rider** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 3:15 am

Sounds like you might have the beginnings of the alignment problem outlined in the TSB that I posted above. Hope not.

Swordfish2Cowboy · Post by **Swordfish2Cowboy** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 1:37 pm

Midnight_Rider wrote:Sounds like you might have the beginnings of the alignment problem outlined in the TSB that I posted above. Hope not.

Probably. They all break. I'm thinking about working on a setup that'll replace the stock parts with ones that don't suck balls. I have pieces parts fall out on me all the time. Mine is working for the most part, but I had to take it out and reset the tracks and the screw thing that motor turns.

If you want to get a new motor, you can, but that only puts a Band-Aid on the faulty design of the entire sunroof. So far I've made up some pins to replace the factory parts, as they had a tendency to walk themselves out and misalign the glass.

Also, after the glass was set back on the brackets, I noticed it wasn't sitting right, so I might have to go and adjust the position of the corkscrew gear.

As for your lithium grease, I'm glad it worked, but I'm not sure why. I really don't understand these things too much, I just banged shit around and bled on everything until I got some semblance of working order out of it.