Stuck slide mechanism on sunroof

[Welsh Dan]

My sunroof tilts fine, but will not retract, it gets stuck. Is this a common fault? Will I need to remove the sunroof from the car to repair it or is there anything I can do while it is in the car?

Thanks

[craig green]

Depends on wther its an early or late sunroof. pre or post 89.

Mines the same. Will not slide back. Headlining out & remove the glass in my case.

[Welsh Dan]

1990 MK1. Did you just have to strip it and rebuild it or something more?

[craig green]

I guess yours is a later type sunroof.

I'm a bit sketchy with what to do as it seems pretty complex to me. Theres a section in the Haynes manual but I'm fecked if I understand it.

All I know is that to remove the sunroof you need to slide it all the way back to access the bolts along the side. But ours wont slide back!

Tin opener & a welder springs to mind!

[Welsh Dan]

Oh dear lol.

[Mazz]

On my 1990 GTE, mine will tint, but not slide - try putting a bit of downward pressure on the sunnroof from above, mine opens doing this, and i think you can adjust the mechanism once its open..

[craig green]

With downward pressure, mine will slide back an inch. It goes back more on one side than the other which leads me to think a drive cable has snapped or come off its guide.

Thats about 30kg of idle sunroof in my roof skin!

[Gunzi]

I used the pressure on the drivers side front part of the sunroof for my old GSi, worked fine with that.

[Welsh Dan]

Had a good play with mine today, one side is a small increment ahead of the other, If it wasnt raining today I'd have taken the sunroof out. I had a quick look above the headlining and it looks like you can just unbolt the whole unit:
http://www.xen0phobiak.f2s.com/novaload/diamond/sunroof/stickysunroof6.jpg