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Grinding Moonroof Sound

P

Pre98

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Dec 31, 2003
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Bildoland
Ripped the moonroof motor cover off thinking the gear warped itself in the known heat issues that it has. But then it dawned on me - could something be caught in the track, preventing it from opening/closing?

- I can't put the moonroof up
- It will open a few inches then stop

In your experiences, is this a dead motor or a bad gear? I want to guess a bad gear because it sounds like the teeth aren't catching, but then again it could be the motor in that it doesn't have the ability to operate fully anymore.

What's the verdict? Edit: nevermind, I see the gear assembly. What's weird is the gear moves smoothly and then stops abruptly. I'm going to snag a replacement at the junk yard, I'd still like to know though if it's the gear or the motor. TIA :)
 
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The gears appear to look fine. I went around the block, bought a torx set and went to town. I'll just grab another unit at the boneyard, I just like to know exactly whats wrong before I go replacing things.

FWIW the torx bolts require a size 120 torx driver or key set. No idea if that's in a FAQ anywhere but it would have been handy earlier before I bought the set. :)
 
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Im just gonna treat it that way I was just really hoping to find a warped set of gears but it just wasn't the case.

The good thing about patching up an older car is junked parts are EVERYWHERE.. so I'm glad I can still keep the majority of it kickin. From Ford it would cost $300 (total charges from previous owners documents). I will have the same part for $15-$20 from the boneyard, free labor. :)
 
Pre98 said:
Im just gonna treat it that way I was just really hoping to find a warped set of gears but it just wasn't the case.

The good thing about patching up an older car is junked parts are EVERYWHERE.. so I'm glad I can still keep the majority of it kickin. From Ford it would cost $300 (total charges from previous owners documents). I will have the same part for $15-$20 from the boneyard, free labor. :)
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Good luck finding one. I've looked for one in every junkyard i have ever been to and never found one. FYI, the aftermarket gears arn't really that great either. My motor+gearset has stripped 2 factory gears and one gear from each aftermarket company.
 
Well Im hoping all the contours Ive run across were untouched. The overhead light assembly has usually been there. :shrug: We'll see though.
 
The Digital Slacker said:
Good luck finding one. I've looked for one in every junkyard i have ever been to and never found one. FYI, the aftermarket gears arn't really that great either. My motor+gearset has stripped 2 factory gears and one gear from each aftermarket company.
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I broke my gear from sunroofgear.com in 2 days and they sent me another one and I installed it with the wedge between the motor and frame(what the guy from the company told me to do) and it did the same thing again in two weeks so I just ended up going to my boneyard and getting a hand full of OEM gears and I just replace them as needed. PITA any way you look at it.
 
pierceME311 said:
I broke my gear from sunroofgear.com in 2 days and they sent me another one and I installed it with the wedge between the motor and frame(what the guy from the company told me to do) and it did the same thing again in two weeks so I just ended up going to my boneyard and getting a hand full of OEM gears and I just replace them as needed. PITA any way you look at it.
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Lucky,
By chance do you have any OEM gears left? My sunroof is currently broken and I would love to have it work again. PM me if you can help me out.
 
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