Sunroof not closing...

[Impressive]

Okay, so last night my roommate was driving my car and I was smoking in the back (out the sunroof) coming home from the bar last night. Once I finished my smoke, I tried to close the sunroof and it will only go about a few inches before it starts making a weird noise and stops...I think the motor is probably fried, but maybe anyone has some experience with an issue like this before? Any help would be appreciated, as my car is currently exposed to nature and I need to close the sunroof so my interior does not get destroyed.:bang


Thanks!

[n00bMeiSter]

Grab some painters tape and a plastic bag or something large enough to cover the hole and tape it up tight until you can get it closed. It's supposed to rain again today.
Then I'd say try opening and closing it again. Have you checked for debris?

[peterm15]

Did you try to push the sunroof closed while hitting the close button. It sounds like a gear or motor problem but sometimes giving it a hand will allow you to close it.

[cwp_sedan]

DO NOT FORCE IT CLOSED!!

You will break it more if you try. Take it to a mechanic or someone who knows what they are doing.

[Impressive]

Grab some painters tape and a plastic bag or something large enough to cover the hole and tape it up tight until you can get it closed. It's supposed to rain again today.
Then I'd say try opening and closing it again. Have you checked for debris?

No debris anywhere in or around the area of the sunroof as I cleaned all that I could out of it today. I took it in to get it checked out and it looks like I'll have to wait with her until Monday as it's likely the regulator or something going crazy.

I wish Mazda had the manual override function on thier sunroofs as in Volvos and VW's, where you can close them with an allen key if necessary...Hopefully the damage isn't too costly to fix.

[peterm15]

DO NOT FORCE IT CLOSED!!

You will break it more if you try. Take it to a mechanic or someone who knows what they are doing.

Sorry I wasnt meaning force it.
Just gently guide it while hitting the close button. If a gear is gone or the motor a gentle push while hitting close should get it to shut until it can be repaired

[cwp_sedan]

Sorry I wasnt meaning force it.
Just gently guide it while hitting the close button. If a gear is gone or the motor a gentle push while hitting close should get it to shut until it can be repaired

No, no, I know what you meant but I just thought I would make the point about not forcing it important.

I used to have a car that had bad window motors. I had to let's say "help" the window closed by pressing up on the glass while hitting the switch because the motor was dying and couldn't do all of the work by itself. This is probably the same but the motor shouldn't go this soon.

Or it's out of alignment enough to prevent it from closing.

[Impressive]

No, no, I know what you meant but I just thought I would make the point about not forcing it important.

I used to have a car that had bad window motors. I had to let's say "help" the window closed by pressing up on the glass while hitting the switch because the motor was dying and couldn't do all of the work by itself. This is probably the same but the motor shouldn't go this soon.

Or it's out of alignment enough to prevent it from closing.

I had a similar window issue in my Jetta, except my windows were not power and as I tried to use force to drop the window just a half inch so I could just a coat hanger to unlock my door I ended up dropped the window right into the door panel (luckily the window stayed in one piece). Was a bitch to fix let me tell you.

As I said before, hopefully I'll have some answers as to what caused this problem for everyone come Monday afternoon.

[Kiyomi]

my sunroof got pushed in somehow. not the same problem, but what i did was elbow the shit out of it from inside till it popped bak into place. fixed :D

[Donshaw]

Is it a grinding sound?

If so i had this isssue and what had happend is the screw that is holding the sunroof motor in place had lossened of and the gears would not fully grab to close it. I had to pull off my headliner and tighten it which was a PITA but way better than the 350$ i got quoted to fix it.

[Impressive]

Is it a grinding sound?

If so i had this isssue and what had happend is the screw that is holding the sunroof motor in place had lossened of and the gears would not fully grab to close it. I had to pull off my headliner and tighten it which was a PITA but way better than the 350$ i got quoted to fix it.

Yeah the noise does sound like it's grinding. Hopefully it'll just be the same thing for me then...

[Impressive]

Well they were unable to get around to fixing it today so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to figure out what was causing this issue.

[cwp_sedan]

Well they were unable to get around to fixing it today so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to figure out what was causing this issue.

Damn! Hope they actually get to it tomorrow and fix it.

[Impressive]

So after leaving the car with them overnight, they called up this afternoon telling me that they had it closed and sealed ($200) and told me that a screw came lose causing the gear to miss and break everything else involved in the process. Parts for this stuff would not be easy to come by, and the labour and other costs involved would definitely be expensive as well (buddy suggested potentially even having to get an entire new sunroof:bang). Unfortunately, being a university student with no current legitimate source of decent income I told them that I'd leave it closed and disabled for now and maybe once I'm not financially stable pursue fixing it properly come spring/summertime.

It really sucks because I loved using my sunroof and I'm going to miss it, even during the winter :( but I can't justify fixing it as it's holiday season again and soon I'll be expected to buy loved ones gifts so I'd rather just keep the money for that.

Thanks to everyone for their input - maybe once I fix it I'll set up a How-To thread with photos :P