Hi All

I have a sunroof which tilts up when the 'slide' switch is pressed, and will not slide. The 'tilt' switch only trips the motor for a second, in some positions only. I suspect I have a bad switch and / or relay.

Long version:

Prior to this issue my sunroof worked perfectly - tilt and slide - and I have never previously had any issue with it.

My 3rd Gen was parked outside for almost 2 years unused (thanks to Covid) in a damp climate, and upon my return the sunroof was both leaking and inoperative.

The leak was the common detached (and blocked) drain hose - this has been tackled.

I removed the head lining and then the sunroof mechanism and found it to be seized. Both drive cables were stuck fast in the carrier tubes. This is also fairly common it seems - the braided steel core of the drive cable rusts, expanding the surrounding rubber / plastic and jamming the drive cable in the copper coloured (but actually steel) drive cable tubes. If I tried the motor I got a tiny bit of drive (just the slack in the gears) but zero movement.

After a lot of lubing, flushing and tapping, I got both cables free and stripped the whole sunroof down. I have ordered new drive cables and a cable carrier sub-assembly, but I need the vehicle to work immediately so I have scraped the rubber off the drive cables, greased them with ordinary lithium grease (it's a temporary fix and I didn't have white lithium grease on hand). Everything moves freely and feels pretty good. I have aligned the marks as per the FSM on the drive cable brackets (which affix to the glass panel) and reinstalled the sunroof assembly. It sits nicely in the closed-flush position.

I aligned the arrow on the motor drive gear as per the FSM, installed the motor, but it is not working correctly. I can get the sunroof to tilt - but with the 'slide' button rather than tilt. The tilt button seems to just drive the motor for a moment and then cut out. I removed the motor, checked it with no load and have the same behaviour.

Additionally:

-If I open the motor assembly and remove the limit switches, the motor will run freely and smoothly.

-The limit switches feel fine and I can see that they work when the cam wheel activates them.

I therefore do not suspect there is a problem with the motor.

- I opened the grey relay box to check the circuit board and it looks perfect - no hint of corrosion, failed solder or burned components. Of course there could be invisible damage...

The only other thing I suspect is the switch.

Has anyone ever had a similar issue? I initially thought I must have mis-aligned the motor, but the erratic behaviour when running the motor whilst disconnected from the drive cables shows that this is not (only) an alignment issue. I guess this can only be the switch or the relay...

I would really appreciate any input from someone who has had a switch or relay go bad, and fixed their sunroof by replacing them.

EO

Update: I just dismantled the rocker switches and tested them - they are fine.

So, it must be either

-the relay unit (but it looks fine)
-the motor (but it runs fine and the limit switches work)
-wrong position (but the motor does not run correctly when tested disconnected from the sunroof drive cable assembly).

I guess a replacement relay unit is the next test.

Is there a circuit diagram for the relay?

Thanks

EO