Nope, it's to late. The car is boarding the boat and sailing tomorrow. I shall keep the faith that Mini will find a fix of this problem. I shall see to it, I can tell you that much. I plan on having my car sit outside in the 95+ degree temps in the Texas sun in July while I do the paper work ect and will test it before I drive off the lot!

 

I just took my Mini in for it's first yearly check up and mentioned this problem. They said they cleaned the rails and lubed it. Problem not solved...

 

OK, it's not the seals...

Princeton Mini wrote on my service report, "CURRENTLY UNDER INVESTIGATION BY BMW NA"

who luckily are located in NJ in a brand new building with no tree coverage, so I'm guessing they have reproduced it and just don't know how or why to fix. I would expect to have a TSB as soon as they figure this out...

 

I took mine there also and they told me it was a problem that they'd seen with one other person and had tried all sorts of things only to have it not go away. They mentioned it was under investigation to me too. That being said, they adjusted my rear sunroof glass and lubed up the track and so forth. While it didn't solve the problem, it did cause a new rattle from that area. They also broke a tab in the rear sunroof frame.

 

Just experienced this problem today (car is parked in a garage during the week at work, and it was a nice and sunny Sunday). If in fact it's a problem with the motor overheating, I don't see how just replacing it with another motor is going to help. Won't it just overheat as well? Sounds to me like they need to find a way to insulate the motor; the fact that others have parked their MINIs in full sun w/the roof cracked open, then had no problems, would suggest that venting some of the heat would be another option. I'm going to report the issue to my dealer but think I'll wait to see what the "investigation" by BMW reveals.

 

I've had issues with the sunroof on really hot days, but if I fiddle with it enough it opens. I'm still glad I got it, as a happy medium between the solid roof and the convertible.

 

I don't think an overheated motor is the problem. Something is expanding too much in sunlight and trapping the sunroof.

 

I'd have to agree. I'm just going on what others have posted It doesn't make much sense to me.

 

While it is not likely that someone without this problem would be reading this thread, I'd be interested if anyone with a 2nd Gen. sunroof does NOT have this problem.

My (educated) guess is that it is a design problem, most likely with mechanical tolerances (affected by dissimilar thermal expansions of mechanical linkage parts). I would be leary of taking this problem into the run-of-the-mill Mini mechanic because adjustments they make, may very well exacerbate the problem. Until Mini comes up with a solution, I am going to do nothing other than apply an occasional shot of a silicon spray lubricant to the visible moving linkage parts...and let my dealer know.

 

I've been wondering that myself...I don't think it affects everyone. My dealership said that I was only the second person to show up with it.

 

Mine just did this for the first time. It was around 90 or so. It has opened before when it was hotter say 100. My car has around 33k on it with a bunch of other issues!!

 

Yeah, that makes me feel better.

 

I have a 3 month old Clubman S that just started doing this about 2 weeks ago. I have a dealership appointment on Thursday and I will let them know but I don't think I'm going to let them doing anything until BMW solves the problem (as stated above). Really annoying, I have to tap the switch to vent it a little (I can't hold it) and when it gets up a little I can hold it to open.

 

dude. don't worry. ollie has 17k miles on him and a few minor, minor quirks.

 

Hey, I've driven VWs for most of the last 20+ years. I know quirks!

 

Actually found out the other day that mine does it both ways, if it's open it won't close, if it's closed, it won't open. Only when it's hot out, but not all the time.

 

Yeah, I had mine do this as well for the first time the other day in terms of leaving the vent open and then trying to close it on a hot day. After the third attempt it finally closed and would open again. So, I would have to agree that it is sounding like something is expanding due to the heat and it is causing a fit issue.

 

But clearly not a seal, as some had suspected. Very interesting. Also explains why there's no simple fix, as it must be an intrinsic problem in the design of the mechanism.

 

Somebody who gets a replacement mechanism, see if the dealer is brave and could get a glass shop to work the panes down by a fraction, re-install them, and see if it works.

 

I wonder how long it will take to fix it if it is an inherent design problem????

 

I took my car in to the dealer 2 weeks ago about this problem. First the service adviser had never heard of this problem. So they took it to the back and the tech said it failed one time for him. He did some sort of re boot/ re learn to the system. Anyways it still had the same problem sitting in the dealers parking lot when I picked up the car. The tech pulled it back in and lubricated everything and it worked fine then. I told them it only does it sitting in a parking lot when it is hot out. They shrugged their shoulders and said try it and see how it does. Still has the same problem the next day at work. The dealer calls me a week after to ask if what they did fixed my roof. I said no and the service adviser was surprised. I ask why and he said they have had a rash of this problem since I left and they are trying to figure the problem out. So my dealer has had a number of them and sounds like Mini is trying to figure it out. At lest I hope so.

P.S. the tech showed me how to override the sunroof system to open the roof when I this happens. You press the sunroof switch forward for about 30 sec to a min the roof will open.

 

Not sure I like that "workaround."

Here's hoping that as a previous poster said: "Production trumps repair."

 

i mentioned the sunroof issue in conversation when i went in to get my bonnet scoop replaced... he denied the problem ever existing when i know for a fact someone else in my club has been in there for the same issue and they ended up replacing his entire sunroof.

there's only one mini service dude.. so uh... who knows. i'm just going to hold tight til there's a guaranteed fix i think because it's a bit sketch...

 

I never encountered this problem last summer, but last weekend, after a day at Hurricane Harbor in New Jersey, my sunroof was stuck. I wanted to air out the car so I pushed up on the sunroof glass while pressing the switch and it opened, but then it wouldn't close until I drove around for a while.

 

I have been reading this thread...I do not have the Sticking Sun Roof issues. Molly is an 08 MC OB/W and we have not experienced this problem at all. She is garaged at home and my husband who takes her to work after he drops me off at work also parks her in a garage. Though on our weekend outings she is not garaged, we have only just hit our HOT part of the year so we will have to see and I will report back if/when this issue occurs with Molly.