I know the sunroof issue has been discussed countless of times here and I have read a handful of post about it but I did not find what I was looking for which is how to know if your motor is weak or about to fail?

Yesterday my sunroof did not want to open by itself so I used my thumb to push up while holding the open switch and it did open (I was inside my garage and it is around 17 degrees C so heat is not an issue). I opened and closed it 2x with the help of my thumb during opening and closing) and on the third attempt it stopped a few inches before it closes and I have to push again the switch to get it going. I went to BMW and bought this grease:

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...t/83192157321/

I cleaned up all the gunk on the tracks and applied it (I used half of it only). It did help and I noticed the sunroof is sliding better than before. The problem right now is when the sunroof is closed it is having a hard time opening like it will move a few millimeters then will stop. Sometimes it will open but you will see that it is having a hard time. So I think it is the motor going out but I am not sure as I do not want to buy the $400 motor and find out it is not the problem. Any help will be great.

 

Pop the sunroof motor out and see if it moves fast. Also I would clean out the rails again, they can have huge build ups. WD40 and a towel will help clean it also.

 

I had the same problem with mine, then one day, it was 60º in the middle of winter, I opened it with a bit of difficulty, and later it would not close.
I took it to the dealer a few days later, hoping they could close it and leave it like that, but they said they couldn't. Most dealers wanted $4,000 to replace the motor and cassette, but one did it for $2,600.
Sadly, our cars are built with cheap parts. BMW should be ashamed to sell such a crappy product. I have owned many cars with an electric sunroof, and never had a problem with one.
It's my second Mini. I owned an R53 before my R56, and I will never buy another one, unless Toyota builds it. Toyotas are simply the most reliable cars on earth.

 

How do you clean the track on the back side if the glass only moves up and down? Do I need to remove both glass then. Also when you say if it moves fast how will I know if fast is fast? I glass itself moves fine when it is done popping up.

 

What is the Cassette? is that the frame itself?

 

Yes, it is.

 

There is a SIM that describes how to adjust the angle of the glass within a few MM. Even the brand new replacement assemblies suffer from this. Lube helps, but they will always get stuck on a hot day unless they Are perfectly clean. Read through the SIM in sticky thread of gen2 forum- simple hand tools is all it takes. Mine hasn't stuck since that was done.

 

Thanks will do.

 

This sunroof lubricant works well -

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...t/83192157321/

 

So I took another take on cleaning the sunroof guide with lots of WD40/rag and used an air compressor to remove some more junk at the hard to reach corners and reapplied the BMW sunroof lubricant again. I think the extra deep cleaning helped as now it is not having a hard time going up and have a silky smooth operation. I am just wondering if the BMW sunroof lubricant and the $140 Mercedes-benz sunroof lubricant (you can buy it only in a big container) are the same or if one is better than the other. I am tempted to use the BMW lubricant to my MB sunroofs but I do not know if it will work well. What do you guys think? The thing I like with the BMW lubricant is that it is on a small pack that I would say 1 pack can lubricate 2 cars whereas the MB tub is all open and you never know if from X amount of years it will be stored at the garage shelf it might degrade and be useless not like the BMW packs I can just run to the BMW dealer and pay $7 each when I need it.

 

You can use the BMW/ MINI stuff its pretty much the same, most of the time they all use webasto tops and cables. The packs are easier to use. The WD40 acts as a good cleaner to clean the old grease out also.

https://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2005-Cooper-R52-S-Convertible-L4_1.6L_W11B16A/Search/SiteSearch/83192157321/

 

Can someone post a link to this information? Can't seem to locate the referenced information....

 

Should be here:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-database.html

Not been on this board in a while.
Art

 

Thanks