I posted quite a bit of stuff on the "Opening Time" heading, about retrimming the headlining material which diverted a bit to the problems concerning the sunroof itself. So, I need to ask another question here.

Where is the "neutral" position for the sunroof when you want to start the "Settings" cycle ?

I thought that I had read somewhere that the sunroof needs to be wound back, fully open, first and then the "Close" switch is pressed and kept pressed until the sunroof reaches the "Tilt" position and stops, then press the "Close" until the glass comes back down.

I did try just starting from a closed position - so press "Open", run right back, immediately press "Close" and let the glass return to closed position and continue up to the "Tilt" position, finally pressing the "Close" switch again but having to guess where the correct closed position should be before releasing the "Close" switch. I keep getting a message "Sunroof Open" though.

So, my questions are:

[1] Do I need to start from a fully open position?

[2] Is there a "Neutral" or a "Stop/Start" position where you can set the glass first ?

P.S. As I have been outside a lot, working on the vehicle, my other half wants to paint the kitchen and she put it this way - "I think that we should paint the kitchen". I know what that means, it means "me", not "we". Why is it always "we" ?????????

Pierre3.

In my experience you can start from anywhere in the cycle, provided you do the full cycle. You do need to pause with your finger on the button for about a second at each stop point so the motor stalls, the BeCM sees a rise in current and “knows” that it has reached the end of travel.

So, open until it stalls, hold the button for a second or so longer, close until it stalls and do the same, then tilt and back home doing the same.

You might find you have to do it a couple of times to get it to “take”.

Agree with Marshall, when I made my (poor) repair, it took just a full cycle on both ways and it found its way.
It does sit a little low on one side, but this is glass' adjustment, not motor/mechanism issue.
Will someday spend the proper dough and get the damn thing original brand new and stop bothering ...

Thanks for the replies.

I tried again today to get the sunroof to set correctly, but, although I go through the routine, I still have the "Sunroof open" when I take out the ignition key.

Today, I went through the complete job - manually winding the glass fully open and then rewinding it fully closed. Run the motor backwards and forwards for about 20/30 seconds in each direction, first in the "Open" direction and then in the "Close" direction.

Reconnect the motor and then go through the setting cycle. At each point hold the switch down for a further 5 seconds. But when I test the operation of the sunroof it is kind of working correctly, in that the one press operation works and the sunroof opens and closes but when I take out the key and close the driver's door I still get the "Door open" message.

The motor definitely seems to rum correctly. It doesn't jump or stutter, or anything, when it operates. When I do the setting cycle and I hold down the switch for 5 seconds I can hear the motor click, which I presume to be the motor registering the position.

My big, big, big problem is - I don't know how the motor knows where the "Neutral" or "Closed" position is. I know that I keep asking this without, unfortunately, ever getting an answer, but surely there must be a "0" or "Start" position for the glass to be in before being operated.

There are a lot of generalisations regarding setting the sunroof and nowhere does anyone state where the glass has to be at the very beginning. Does the roof need to be in the fully open position first, or the fully closed position ?

I can't see that if the reset cycle is started with the glass half open, that the motor will recognise that it has to keep going backswards first, after all there are no actual switches in the cassette to trigger a message when the glass has reached the end of its cycle, either backwards or forwards.

The really frustrating issue here is that before I took out the cassette the sunroof operated OK. I haven't taken out or replaced any of the drive cable mechanics, just greased the tracks, while it was out. And retrimmed and refitted the sunshade.

I have had to adjust the height of the glass a few times but this is only to either set it slightly up or slightly down, in line with the vehicle roof [ as per RAVE instructions].

At the moment, I have the sunroof closed but only by manipulating it with the switch, a little bit up or a little bit down until it is in about the correct position.

Any advice or suggestions or information to solve this would be gratefully received as it is really driving me crazy. As it is positioned at the moment I am hoping that it is "waterproof" but as there has been no rain I can't tell. Hopefully rain is due tomorrow, and if all is OK it looks like I am going to just unplug the power switch cable from the motor and just leave it permanently closed.

Pierre3.

It was a bit of a dark art when I did mine. With the panel closed and the motor off I took it fully open and fully closed pausing at both extremes and then put the motor back in and fiddled with it until it set into the keyway. Try taking it through tilt as well as to and fro.

I have been reading lots of posts from different RR or LR forums and there are some detailed descriptions which involve more than just running the glass backwards and then forwards. I think that the method of opening the roof, then holding the switch for 5 seconds, closing the roof and holding the switch for 5 seconds, raise to tilt position and hold the switch for 5 seconds, and finally back down, works provided nothing has been changed or removed.

I suspect that once you take out the cassette and then refit it then there is a more complicated method in resetting the parameters of the motor.

I will just have to keep reading, and trying different methods of setting the motor parameters. There is definitely some connection to manually setting the glass in a start position after running the motor backwards and forwards while not connected to the drive cables.

Pierre3.

I changed the whole cassette on the Ascot but just unplugged the old one, fitted the new one and did the setting procedure. However, the motor hadn't been removed. How about winding it fully open, removing the motor, winding that fully forward then fully back until it stops, then refitting it? That way at least the fully open position should be right.

I had the case with a friends P38 , where the sunroof motor was working, but the glass not moving, in which I could engage the drive by pressing the button making the Motor spin and carefully moving the glass with the „emergency key handle“ ... maybe worth a try?

Hi guys, thanks for the further information.

I am going to try another method - starting with the glass manually set in the correct closed position press the "Open" switch, which should then run the glass to the fully open position. Then close the glass and set that point. Then open to the "Tilt" position, keep the switch pressed, and finally, press the "Close" switch and hope that the glass closes at the correct place !!!

I put a few soundproofing pads in the roof, last week, just to see if it makes any difference. I just filled in the spaces on the actual vehicle roof so it will be interesting whether it makes any difference. I hadn't realised how heavy the soundproofing stuff is, it weighs a ton, and I could imagine that if you did the doors and the boot area, etc. etc., you would add a LOT of weight to the vehicle.

I also did the two "D" pillars, the ones at the very back.

Pierre3.

Pierre, what thickness have you used? up to 2mm is fairly light and flexible, 3mm upwards not so, for bitumen/bytil based.
the closed cell 6 o 9 mm are also doable.
For the material I use (say, CTK), 2mm "basic" is around 3.45kg per m2, a 3mm "premium" (more dense) is 3.7kg per m2
I use no less that a full box for a large station wagon (A6 size) which are around 2.5m2, that means 8/9kgs.
Add the foam, and I guess when you make the entire car must be around 15 to 20kg. No more than the rubbish in the thunk ... :-)
In any case, worthwhile addition!

Hi, I used 2.3mm thick, and is designed specially for vehicle use.

I will be interested to see whether the amount that I have fitted will make much difference. I hope that it will make things a little bit quieter !!

Pierre3.

Reviving an old topic here. My sunroof mechanism is probably worn out, but here is my problem. I have adjusted the glass as far as it will go upwards, but it still sits about 3 to 4 mm low from the roof panel. This results in the glass being lifted and water dumping down my neck and seats when going through the far too powerful drying blowers of automatic car washes.
The "Home" location" described before is determined by a microswitch located inside the gearbox and is activated by a cam on the driven gear. You are also correct about stall current when opening and closing. That is also part of the window/sunroof anti-trap safety system.
I don't know how many revolutions the driven gear makes during a full open/close cycle, but I suspect the switch is ignored by the BECM if an open/close command has been initiated.
The motor can be resynchronized to the sunroof if you set the sunroof where you want it, remove the motor/gearbox, unplug the multi connector, cycle the ignition to clear the sunroof memory. Then using a multimeter set to ohms check the switch wire to gearbox ground, turn the gearbox manually with a hex wrench until the switch just.......And that's where my memory fails. Sorry. I have done this successfully several years ago on my other P38, but can't find the info right now. I'll figure it out again if need be and fill in the blank.