Broken Panoramic Sunroof

Hey guys, Tomorrow I'm going to pick up a 2010 TDI sportwagen. It's got a bunch of little issues I'm capable of fixing myself and the price is well below market. The one issue that scares me right now is that the panoramic sunroof is broken. it's currently closed and does not seem to be leaking, but is not aligned correctly. When you turn the knob, the motor strains and creaks but the roof does not move. anyone have any insight on this? I would be fine with getting it properly closed for the time being and never using it if the fix is too pricey.

I had a similar problem the roof frame was out of wack, The price to fix it is not cheap, a new frame and labor was well over $1,000 and that is not a dealership, if it is closed and you do not need/ want it I would leave it alone, search on this board there is plenty of info and IIRC a walk through on everything needed to replace it, good luck

When you get it aligned, you can pull the fuse and leave it.

The pano in my '14 JSW went out right before Thanksgiving. 3 grand later, I have a working sunroof and am damn happy I got the extended warranty. out of pocket? $40 in fuel for the loaner.

The repair is complicated. The roof liner must be removed and all pano gear replaced.

worth buying a working setup from a parts car and replacing myself? or even possible to do so?

anyone know how to get the panoramic sunroof to lay flat?

i opened mine yesterday and when closed it just when it went to tilt down and seal the drivers side went down and the passenger side staid up along with a lot of grinding and clicking... is there a way to manually release the track? i have the extended warranty and i am going to the dealer Monday, but want it closed as it is supposed to rain this weekend...

i tried to "force" it up to open with my hand.. nope

i tried to lift up on the frame.. nope

after an hour of messing with it the best i could get it was the drivers side down and the other side not closed..

2014 jsw

I won't buy a car with a "sunroof". I love them and use them every day. I know a lot of people have no use for them.

Once in a while, especially when temps get to high, i'll twist my knob 2 clicks (my usual setting) and i'll hear a whine and then.... nothing. it won't move.

this can also happen when i do the thumb up on the knob to lift the back of the roof and get a whine then.... nothing.

Till this point I've gotten away with helping it manually (with my hand) and it will pop up with a conspicuous whoump where the seal on the window is broken and then it does what it knows how to do.

It's never left it's track or gotten sideways. It's been happening for over a year now and i'm conveniently at 37K miles (out of warranty), is this a harbinger of bad things to come?

I have never had this happen before I always keep my tracks greased.. It has never show an any signs of premature failure before and had no signs when I opened it.. I just opened it two clicks to let some heat out the went to shut it and it closed normal until the last inch just before the front goes down then all of the noise and grinding happened..

No matter what I do i can get it to go up to reset the track.. I have the “good” extended warranty which covers sunroof motor, tracks, guides, and cables.. I'm going to the dealer monday. Go far my 3k warranty has covered the a.c. compressor a 1k job.. If they cover the sunroof it will pay for itself and be worth the investment.. Of they don't cover it I will have the roof closed and find my own means of replacing the roof..

I have been searching the internet to try to find a way to close it

A Pano roof has got to be the most ridiculous/expensive to repair options ever devised by a manufacturer.

Let's see. I have say $3000 or so in my pocket. What should I spend it on? Oh I know, to repair a prone to failure option on my car that has zero usefulness.

stoner-tdi said:

I have been searching the internet to try to find a way to close it

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There is a way to turn the motor manually. This may or may not be helpful in getting your roof properly into its tracks. First you have to get to the motor. It is basically right above the convenience (map) lights in the overhead console. The rear most cover pops off exposing a couple of torx screws. Remove those screws and more of the plastic cover will come off. After you get everything off you will see an Allen screw which is on the end of the roof motor. You have to push up on this screw while you turn it. This will manually rotate the motor. Try moving it back and forth while trying to get it straight. This might be a 2 person job. This might not help with your problem, but it can't hurt to try.

Have Fun!

Don

Thanks! I had all of the junk off on Friday but had no clue what I was looking for and didn't know about the manual screw.. I put it all back together and parked it in the garage lol.. I'll get it off toast and see if I can get it down..

This might help: http://pics.tdiclub.com/data/500/sunroof.pdf

Have Fun!

Don

Ol'Rattler said:

A Pano roof has got to be the most ridiculous/expensive to repair options ever devised by a manufacturer.

Let's see. I have say $3000 or so in my pocket. What should I spend it on? Oh I know, to repair a prone to failure option on my car that has zero usefulness.

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Just because a handful of people on this forum have had troubles, doesn't mean it is a bad design. Ours has been maintained according to the maintenance schedule. Guess what......it has never failed in 5 years and 120,000 miles. Personally, I do not want a sunroof, but my wife does. She uses it everyday that it is not raining. It sits out in the hot sun everyday while she is at work.

Donald

Thanks tdi09!!

I use mine more than I dont besides now with the temps near 100 deg. I bought my car a year ago so I doubt it was ever maintained.. About a month after I bought it I want to open it and it did the squealing open and I left it open until I got some wd40 (all that was around) then I got some molykot from work and it worked like a dream.. Until I now

dmarsingill said:

Just because a handful of people on this forum have had troubles, doesn't mean it is a bad design. Ours has been maintained according to the maintenance schedule. Guess what......it has never failed in 5 years and 120,000 miles. Personally, I do not want a sunroof, but my wife does. She uses it everyday that it is not raining. It sits out in the hot sun everyday while she is at work.

Donald

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I'm sorry, but I respectfully disagree. It might not be a bad design, but it's a weak design. We had to have the whole thing replaced just just before the end of the warranty. Several friends who have wagen's have also had issues. This is a car that I personally maintained and that included lubricating the sliders on the roof.

I've had sunroofs in almost all of the (many) cars over the years, and this was the 1st one where there was an issue.

yatzee said:

I'm sorry, but I respectfully disagree. It might not be a bad design, but it's a weak design. We had to have the whole thing replaced just just before the end of the warranty. Several friends who have wagen's have also had issues. This is a car that I personally maintained and that included lubricating the sliders on the roof.

I've had sunroofs in almost all of the (many) cars over the years, and this was the 1st one where there was an issue.

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Of course you do........because you are one of the ones with a problem.
I know several people that have them, and I am good friends with the service manager at the local VW.......no problems unless they don't keep them lubed and clean.

Donald

just got the call back from the dealer... getting the sunroof frame replaced... i guess i am lucky i purchased the extended warranty!! he said it was like a $1000... don't know if that includes labor? so far i am estimated 2/3's of the way of the extended warranty being worth the cost (ac compressor and this)

I had mine maintained and greased and even kept it closed when in my driveway and mine still failed, but I love having it, if VW gets my car back I want another car w one, not sure how many have them as a option.

picked up my car yesterday...

$1687.** for frame and labor. my extended warranty required me to only pay $100... That is a win for me..

I thought my sunroof worked fine when I bought my car. Little did I know it must have been on its way out since day one of my owning. the vent operation is sooooo much smoother / faster and the over all operation of the "slide" function seem easier on the motor, it seems to be operating much quieter than before, not that it was very loud before I could hear it more then (if that makes since)...

like seth said I love it and would get another car with one, I use it all the time. It is almost like owning a boat.. you don't use it everyday, they break, they leak, you pay to have it, and even in some given situations there will be boobies hanging out of them (LOL), but regardless to all that you love them and pay to fix them and would not change a thing.

yatzee said:

I'm sorry, but I respectfully disagree. It might not be a bad design, but it's a weak design. We had to have the whole thing replaced just just before the end of the warranty. Several friends who have wagen's have also had issues. This is a car that I personally maintained and that included lubricating the sliders on the roof.
I've had sunroofs in almost all of the (many) cars over the years, and this was the 1st one where there was an issue.

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^^^ +1 for cars built in the last 15-20 years ...but I've never had a pano sunroof car. Perhaps that design is a bit more fragile.

Pano design a bit more fragile? Let me tell ya' friend...

halfast3 said:

^^^ +1 for cars built in the last 15-20 years ...but I've never had a pano sunroof car. Perhaps that design is a bit more fragile.

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Oh yeah, fragile doesn't begin to capture the problems. Much more so than a standard sized sunroof. Similar issues with the panos on BMWs and Mercs too.

Granted, if someone's pano roof has been trouble free, then good for them. But for those of us who have suffered, the glitches started small and came early on; first the dealers would squirt a little silicone on it and call it a lube problem. Then they would replace a switch or a motor for a few hundred bucks.
Then the problems got exponentially worse from that point on. Sunshade stuck; roof wouldn't open; roof wouldn't close. Roof wouldn't close and was cocked up on one side. And Panos don't have an 'emergency' manual closing crank like most normal-sized sunroofs.
Owner's manual solution: Take your vehicle to nearest VW dealership for further assistance. And things would usually come to a head just a few thousand miles after the warranty expired (40,000 miles for mine).

There should have been a voluntary recall or class action for the sunroof alone (there was a lawsuit and settlement for leaky sunroofs on previous generation Jettas). And VW was very stingy with post-warranty fixes. Many folks paid over $2000 to have the whole unit replaced--and this for an option that 'only' coast $1200 when new! Quite the money-maker for dealers.

I think VW's stubborness in paying for sunroof fixes was because at some very high-up level, executives knew they were possibly facing a much bigger price tag for a different 'defect'. Like about $14 Billion worth.

dmarsingill said:

Of course you do........because you are one of the ones with a problem.
I know several people that have them, and I am good friends with the service manager at the local VW.......no problems unless they don't keep them lubed and clean.

Donald

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Your local service manager was being disingenuous at best.

Got lucky!!

Hi all,
Had the creaking sound a few times and SHOULD have paid attention!!
Sunroof opened crooked and would not close.
Got lucky with the help of a friend and my son, i manually worked the mechanism back and forth and we forced the darn thing shut.
Manually with an allen wrench (had to remove bits and switch to access the hole in center of sunroof mechanism.
I like the darn sunroof and used it often.
Ideally i will repairs (time permitting).
Any advice on a reliable parts source or possibly an improved mechanism?
Best all!!

Also, does anyone have any maintenance guidelines to keep the sunroof operational (i.e. lubrication points, areas to keep clean, etc.)

Thanks - Mike

My solution was using duct tape to seal the sunroof of my diesel Sportwagen, which had jammed partly open and twisted.
Left it that way for a year and a half before I sold the car back to VW last May under the diesel settlement program.
Still miss the car, but not the sunroof;and I loved the $16,000 check from VW .
Sorry I can't offer more help.
Good luck!

^and that's why I bought a base model without the pano roof.

mercdude said:

^and that's why I bought a base model without the pano roof.

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Ditto here but the TDI trim is more middle of the road then basic at least in the US

i have read / heard, a number of times, now, that if you take your VW to the dealer for service, you can request that they lube the sunroof rails. i believe this is supposedly a complimentary service as well.

mikerob97 said:

Also, does anyone have any maintenance guidelines to keep the sunroof operational (i.e. lubrication points, areas to keep clean, etc.)

Thanks - Mike

Click to expand...

well i snipped the valves off the end of my drains. whenever im cleaning it i open the glass and let water into the track to flush the drains. after it dries i spray a dry silicone water dispersant lube in the tracks, on the tilt mechanism, and on the hidden cable that you cant see. then i run it open and close with my key while im spraying the cable. i do it a few times a year. i also dump some meguiars hybrid ceramic wax in the drain channels and wash it down the drains. I do NOT want to have issues with it. keep it lubed and open it after a rain to dry up the moisture.

I already had to fix my dads roof that twisted because one side didnt open. only had to remove the assembly and close it manually and leave it disconnected. the slide had jammed and the motor kept pushing the cable. it broke the cable track and bent the cable all up. only way to fix it is to replace the front of the frame, both of the tilt mech, and replace both cables.