Hey everyone, so still kind of new here but looking for some experienced opinions on an issue I’m having. Last few weeks or so the power sunroof on my ‘01 Pace Car opens and closes, but EXTREMELY slowly. Once it even refused to close at all when it was in the open position; got home after a drive and hit the button to close it but it was totally dead/no response/movement. Tried again after like 5 minutes and thankfully it closed slowly like usual and I haven’t attempted to open it since. The tracks appear clean/free of any debris/obstructions. I know the headliner has to come down to access most of the important components so my question is: as a quick diagnosis ahead of time do we think it’s likely just the motor? Or could it be something else? I’d rather have the expected part(s) ready to go already for when I take the liner down, as this is my every day car and I don’t really have a backup to borrow in case the experimental/exploratory diagnosis takes longer than anticipated. Thanks in advance for any info that might help!!

 

I know you're new here, but since you already posted an intro thread, I'd suggest posting this in the "Monte Carlo Repair Help" section instead. Theres a lot of members (myself included most of the time) that never even come into the New Member subsection since its generally just an introductions section. The people looking to help others fix issues will usually gravitate towards browsing the Repair section instead.

For your specific issue - any idea if its ever been lubricated? I know you've got to be careful with over lubricating as it will tend to collect gunk - but given the age of these cars, if the only lubrication ever applied was the factory stuff, its probably long gone now.

Not saying the motor isn't the culprit, but lack of lube may have contributed to its failure.

I just went through something similar on my Ford Edge - we rarely opened the sunroof the last couple years we owned it because it was a dice roll as to if it would open or close all the way. Going through the clean + lube procedure made it work like new again without touching the motor.

 

Thanks Will repost in the repair section also! (Assumed I was forced to keep my posts in the new member area until I was no longer considered “new” lol.)
As for the lubrication I have never attempted to put any. The thought did cross my mind and I was going to try spraying some WD-40 on the tracks but was more concerned knowing my luck that somehow I would get it into the wrong places and it might cause some kind of other problem(s) as a result. I guess I’ll give that a try first next.

 

Hey everyone, so still kind of new here but looking for some experienced opinions on an issue I’m having. Last few weeks or so the power sunroof on my ‘01 Pace Car opens and closes, but EXTREMELY slowly. Once it even refused to close at all when it was in the open position; got home after a drive and hit the button to close it but it was totally dead/no response/movement. Tried again after like 5 minutes and thankfully it closed slowly like usual and I haven’t attempted to open it since.
The tracks appear clean/free of any debris/obstructions. I know the headliner has to come down to access most of the important components so my question is: as a quick diagnosis ahead of time do we think it’s likely just the motor? Or could it be something else? I’d rather have the expected part(s) ready to go already for when I take the liner down, as this is my every day car and I don’t really have a backup to borrow in case the experimental/exploratory diagnosis takes longer than anticipated. Thanks in advance for any info that might help!!

 

No offense intended, but I think WD40 is probably the worst fluid for this kind of application. Its extremely thin stuff so it won't hang around long on parts that make contact, and it can also act as a solvent to thicker greases removing them in the process (ie if there is any factory lube left, it could wash it away). While it may seem like it makes a short term improvement, I think it would be detrimental in the longer term.

I'd suggest googling sunroof lube a bit as there are a lot of different suggestions depending on the manufacturer. When I did this for my Edge, I ended up using a light weight grease on the tracks I could get a brush to and lithium spray lube (via red straw) for the areas I couldn't easily access without removing the glass (I was intending to sell the car soon, so I wanted to get it functional with minimum effort).

 

FYI - I merged the two threads and left them in the "Repair Help" section.

As for the sunroof issue, I am going to guess one of four things:
- A binding in the mechanics of the sunroof
- Bad motor
- Strange electrical problem (like a damaged wire preventing current from getting to the motor properly)
- Faulty switch

I am not sure the best way to access the wiring for the motor (you may need to drop the headliner). As a heads up, if you drop the headliner, it is velcro-ed to the roof. Do not force pull it down, as the velcro part on the headliner will probably rip off the headliner (the velcro bond is stronger than the adhesive holding the velcro to the headliner). You may need to reach your hand in to help separate them.

 

Thanks so much for the wealth of information and advice so far everyone!! Going to try to get working on this problem sometime this week and will post updates once I have any!

 

Maybe this will help. This information is from my Genuine Chevrolet service manual 1999.
this should all be.

 

I flipped them around so they were better to read.

 

This definitely looks like it will be a HUGE help once I get started!! Thank you so much!!!