Sunroof won't close completely, expensive fix?

underdog45 · Sep 26, 2010

Hi, i'm new to these forums, and I've been searching through them but haven't quite seen my exact problem. I'm looking to buy an 03 525i from this dealership. The car's in great condition outside of one problem, the sunroof, while it will open, close and tilt, when it closes, it won't completely close. Like it leaves an inch or so open. Is this an easy fix? Or a dealbreaker? I just wanted some advice because I really like this car and this is basically the only problem. Thanks in advance for any help. I've attached a picture too.

bmw_n00b13 · Sep 26, 2010

Does it "bounce" or does it just not close? Check for dirt or crud in the tracks, or something blocking the roof from closing. If it opens (back) and tilts (up) it probably needs to be re-taught where the "closed" position is. Have a pre-purchase inspection carried out by a qualified BMW independent repair shop or a local stealer who is not the seller. It could be expensive...good negotiating point!

underdog45 · Sep 26, 2010

When I tried it at the dealership, it didn't bounce, I don't think. I couldn't even tell that it wasn't completely closed until I saw it from the outside. But I saw a forum post on that, I plan on getting it inspected by the closest BMW dealership. And then having any repairs that may be needed getting taken out of the bottom line price. Thanks for the advice!

MatWiz · Sep 26, 2010

It's probably too much gap, but try to 'reset' it. Press the button and hold for 10-20 seconds (I forget how long exactly), until you hear an adjusting sound. Do it a few times. See it the gap closes.

mw

underdog45 · Sep 26, 2010

MatWiz said:
It's probably too much gap, but try to 'reset' it. Press the button and hold for 10-20 seconds (I forget how long exactly), until you hear an adjusting sound. Do it a few times. See it the gap closes.

mw

Thank you! I had read that it was possible to reset the sunroof, but I couldn't find any instructions! Thank you, I will try that when I go look at it again tomorrow!

Ryan M · Sep 27, 2010

To add to what Matwiz is saying, you hold the button in the tilt position. The sunroof will tilt, come back down, open completely, and then close completely. After it's closed you can release the button.

DAPPA · Sep 27, 2010

The problem I had was it wouldn't close all the way because it was hitting on the lid that folds down right before it closes. The rail, which has the wheels on a track to bring the lid down prior to glass completely closing, looked a little worn so I just added a clip to it. Works fine now!

underdog45 · Sep 28, 2010

That turned out to be exactly the problem! I pushed the lid down right before it finished closing and it closed perfectly! I may try your solution to see if I can get it completely fixed. Thanks!

antsbimmer said:
I had same problem happen to me last week or so with my 540. The problem I have is that the track that the roof runs on is getting warn so I put some semi-heavy grease ontop of tracks and inside and held flap down and closed sun roof and then reset. Havent had a problem sence. Some of those rails are metal and some plastic. I believe the only real fix is to replace the rails. Hope this helps.

Hmm... that sounds like it might work. I finally got t the roof to close so I'll try resetting it and then adding some grease. Thanks for the advice.

Ryan M said:
To add to what Matwiz is saying, you hold the button in the tilt position. The sunroof will tilt, come back down, open completely, and then close completely. After it's closed you can release the button.

Cool, thanks for the instructions.

antsbimmer · Sep 27, 2010

I had same problem happen to me last week or so with my 540. The problem I have is that the track that the roof runs on is getting warn so I put some semi-heavy grease ontop of tracks and inside and held flap down and closed sun roof and then reset. Havent had a problem sence. Some of those rails are metal and some plastic. I believe the only real fix is to replace the rails. Hope this helps.

Alexbenz · Feb 12, 2011

anyone know if the sunroof need's or can be reprogrammed? it works, nothing seems to be blocking it but it still won't close fully or just tilts or if i press the button nothing happens and then 20 secs later it open up the tilt by itself...

bluebee · Feb 12, 2011

Alexbenz said:
anyone know if the sunroof need's or can be reprogrammed?

It's in the VERY best of E39 Links.

bluebee · Feb 12, 2011

BTW, I gave the same answer to the same question you posted here.

It's so clear in the best links that I don't feel like cutting and pasting it here for you as I don't really think you even took the five seconds to look for it.

Alexbenz · Feb 12, 2011

if i'm posting a comment it clearly means i haven't found my answer yet......

first540i · Feb 12, 2011

had the same problem. i superclued a plastic strip onto the rail and now it works perfect

bdavid13 · Feb 12, 2011

I had the same issue. I basically lubed the hinges the part the pushes down before closing, no issues after that. I guess they get stiff and tight through the years.

98540iA · Feb 12, 2011

my sunroof "bounces" back when it gets to the closed position. I "help" it by pushing up a little as it gets to the "bounce" point and it then closes fine. It's been doing this for years and I assumed the rail was worn or bent just enough to cause it to bounce back. I don't mind "helping" it close and have been doing this for years....

I would not consider this a deal breaker OP!!!

Alexbenz · Feb 12, 2011

98540iA said:
my sunroof "bounces" back when it gets to the closed position. I "help" it by pushing up a little as it gets to the "bounce" point and it then closes fine. It's been doing this for years and I assumed the rail was worn or bent just enough to cause it to bounce back. I don't mind "helping" it close and have been doing this for years....

I would not consider this a deal breaker OP!!!

i did that just now, it works the first time but not after that......it just doesn't do what i want........it goes all the way back one touch and sometimes when closing it goes all the way and then tilts up, sometimes tilts up but not fully tilted...

indyzhp · Aug 24, 2012

Sorry to stir up an old thread, but I just wanted to throw in my $0.02 and help someone else down the line.

My sunroof was having the issue where having it open in the sun (as you would) it would then attempt to close, then bounce back and stay open approx 3". Later after being in the garage and cooling down, it would close just fine.

I believe it was hitting on the wind deflector, since there were witness marks indicating so. I tried resetting with the button, but it didn't fix the problem.

I did however take a look at the adjustment and sure enough, the front of the glass was not level with the roofline (low by about 1/8"). Just simply adjusting the front of the glass (via the torx bolts) to sit level with the roof was the correct fix. It could have been hitting something else besides the wind deflector, but regardless, proper adjustment fixed the issue.

bluebee · Apr 10, 2013

This as asked today, so I bring it here so that the information is better cross referenced to one location ...

yungphillie said:
Hello Guys I am a owner of a 1999 BMW 540i. I am having trouble with my sunroof. It seems not to close all the way... Ive held the tilt button to reset, it makes a sound and does not move... Can anyone help me with this issue?

Joker13 said:
I bet its catching on the wind reflector push it down with your finger while your closing it becareful so you wont smash your finger

QSilver7 said:
If it is catching on the wind deflector like Joker13 mentioned above, take the time to clean & lubricate the mechanisms on each side of the deflector that allows it to articulate up & down. All it takes is a little bit of dust/dirt/grit to slow down the articulation of the deflector and it will not duck down far enough before the sunroof panel hits it...causing it to stop moving forward.

Again, lubrication can usually fix this (if this is the problem)....the "slipstream deflector" is #14 in the diagram below...and try lubricating #15 (on each side) until the deflector can move up/down freely:

BhamDave said:
I find that pushing up on the leading edge of the sunroof is safer than puling down on the wind deflector. Less chance to pinch a finger.

Cleaning and lubricating did nothing for me.

Someone once mentioned adding some thickness of tape on the "ramp" on the defector assembly that the sunroof slides on that causes to deflector to retract. This would work, I just haven looked around for something to use.

I also read a thread somewhere (can't find it now) that mentioned a way to raise the height of the sunroof to correct the problem. I've been to lazy to go look for a way to do this.

bluebee said:
I never had sunroof problems but I can type /sunroof F3 in the bestlinks, which nets the following (among others) that may be useful to the OP:
- How to repair & reset the sunroof or moonroof (1) (2) (3) & how to fix sun roof rattles (1) & how to test & fix sun/moon roof leaks (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) causing water on the front passenger carpet & how to remove the headliner (1) & how to free up a stuck open sunroof or moonroof (1) (2) & how to replace broken moonroof/sunroof glass (1)

Punisher9113 · Apr 23, 2013

I have this same issue with my car only that when it gets to an inch from closed whether manual close or automatic. It stops and starts to open it again.

Sent from my XT907

DHoang · Apr 23, 2013

sounds like the point where it stops and starts again is what the computer is regestering as "home" postion. You may just need to "reboot" the switching.

What I might suggest is to find that "home position", then proceed to manually crank the moonroof all the way closed. Then try using the switch to open and close and see if that
brings yoiur mooroof all the way closed.

retiredat44 · Apr 23, 2013

mine is working fie as far as I know but it is hard to stop it at the exact point of where it is closed and does not start going up... is there some special way of pressing the button so it is auto and you don't have to let go at a certain point .. so it doesn't go beyond that point..

retiredat44 · Apr 25, 2013

my sunroof also does not completely close before it starts going up, and will check to see if my toolkit has the hand crank so I can reset it..

2001 530i

retiredat44 · Apr 25, 2013

I found out I wasn't pushiung the button correctly... I tried agin, and found the best way to do it... my fumble fingers were the problem.. :thumbup:

rguanlao540i · May 12, 2013

i have the same problem...when i close the sunroof it stops about an inch. it dosent bounce back, the motor struggles and just stops. i can push the button again to close position and it grinds. also, when i open the sunroof, it does not open fully..needs another quarter to be fully open.
i have attempted to reset the motor in the tilt and close position several times. it has not done anything. im currently trying to remove the sunroof off with the rear portion slightly in the roof....i have no idea how im going to access the 6 screws???
i believe there is something on the tracks preventing full movement of the sunroof. i have clean and sprayed grease on the track...oh and holding the deflector down while closing.

any thoughts from you pros?

i replaced my entire sunroof cartridge last year-i hope not to do it again. thanks!

Teemo Panda · Jul 2, 2013

Quick question. If the car still under CPO, will the CPO cover it? Since its a moving part?

bluebee · May 14, 2014

Another sunroof won't close thread today, for reference:
> E39 (1997 - 2003) > Sunroof not closing and bouncing back fixed

702ron said:
Hello everyone. I had the common sunroof problem where it would almost close and bounce back, apparently hitting the deflector. Sorry if this has already been mentioned but I read several threads about the issue and most suggestions were to oil and lube it and to try and reset the sunroof. I tried all of these and got no results, so I just continued the "pushing the deflector down while it closed" method, which was a pain.

So I later decided to inspect all of the clips etc and realized there was an obvious design flaw. Apparently, over time the arms that pull the deflector down when the roof closes actually had bent the deflector just a tiny bit(less than 1/8") so that the arms no longer pull the deflector down enough. This is what was causing the sunroof to hit the deflector to bounce back.

The fix?? Just bend the ends of the deflector UP just a tiny bit. You can do this with your fingers. No tools required. Just bend it a little at a time until the roof no longer hits it when closing. That's it. 2 minute fix. Hope this helps someone.

bluebee · Jun 21, 2014

Here's another sunroof issue today ...
> E39 (1997 - 2003) > Slide rail to sunroof. How do you get it out of the rail?

SunroofRepairComp.pdf

kristiaa said:
The main slide rail to sunroof on my 2000 528i, how do you get it out of the rail?

I have been trying to get this out with out luck if someone could let me know that would be greatly appreciated.

I tried place the pin in the old slide rail and the plastic broke apart, like all diy videos tell you to do. So now I have to replace the whole deal, which is fine if I knew how to do it?

I have been searching and searching and can not find anyone who is wondering this same problem.

Thanks ahead of time!

Allan

jermiester1 · Aug 8, 2014

I had the same problem as several of you, the roof would hit the wind deflector when closing and stop. After reading this thread, I lubed the tracks and all the pivot points for the wind deflector. I figured the chances that this would solve the problem were slim, but amazingly it fixed it. I have opened and closed the window probably 20 times since and no problem.

EssoS · Jun 7, 2015

Whilst replacing broken plastic slider parts that stopped the sunroof from raising up I also tried this fix for the closing deflector bump.

Cleaned all the crud I could see and applied red lith grease to the tracks. I also followed 702ron suggestion above, leveraging the ends incrementally toward the center. So always bending, flexing the end up while pushing down at different points towards the center. Did for each side.

Fingers xed, working now with plenty of clearance.

AV8R4AA · Jun 8, 2015

I sat and studied the operation of the sunroof.
Like others, mine didn't close all the way.
In the big picture above, look at the ramps on the 90 degree curved piece.
The ramps are what pull down on the deflector to allow the glass to slide
(Just barely) over the top of the deflector.
I tried toothpicks, wood chips, and the like.
I ended up fixing it permanently. I bought some JB weld epoxy.
On the ramp portion I built up with the epoxy the height of the ramp.
As in, I artificially made the ramp thicker.
This in turn caused the deflector to stow just a hair below the sliding glass.
I did it once and it has never worn off, chipped or failed to work.

Take a few operations from the outside to identify the moving parts.
You can also (with a pencil) depress the deflector down a little more and see that
the ramp trick will work.
I said pencil because I tried my finger and it smashed it.

I don't really like to make repairs with epoxy, but it worked so well I wanted to
share my repair.

Ptricksyou · Jul 7, 2017

Ok so i have a 2003 bmw 530i. Bought if from my buddies dad since my friend had just passed away. My sunroof started giving me troubles this morning. I've tried a few of the easy fixes but nothing working.

So my problem is that the sun roof isn't closing all the way like many of y'all had the same issue. however when i try to close it by pushing forward it stops about 6-8in short, but if i push the tilt button it will "close" but im experiencing that 1" gap still. tried resetting by holding the tilt button for 10-20 sec. no improvement. ive tried holding down the wind guard and it makes no difference on it closing anymore. so am i not doing something right?? please help me fix this it seems easier then what its shown to be.

Sunroof won't close completely, expensive fix?

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