6.9 sunroof troubles

[s class]

My sunroof can only open 25 to 30% of the way before it stalls.  The problem appears to be the interior lining of the sunroof, on the left side which is snagging and preventing further motion.  There is also an alignment issue because these attempts to open the roof resulted in the left side of the sunroof panel's paint getting scraped against something inside the roof  The sunroof now has some avant-garde go faster stripes on it.   

I can't gain access to anywhere useful to see what's going on.  Can I get the lining off the sunroof in the half-open position, or must I remove the entire car's roof lining 

[s class]

I will try prising the lining away as you suggest, but when I tried that a few days ago it seemed I was going to need to force things - I'll go and have a more intelligent look now. 

Thanks

[s class]

Right it was easy once I realised that the front edge of the panelling is secured by pop-in clips. 

problem found :

On the right hand side everything is as I assume it should be (apart from the rust, that is) - towards the rear is a slider thingy which has a nylon shoe part :



The equiivalent item on the right is missing its nylon shoe, and in fact the whole slider is just lying there loose, missing its bolts



Ah but wait - there is one of the bolts - I'm sure that's not helping any :

[robertd]

Hi Ryan,
First of all welcome to the 6.9 club, it was a pity you couldn't break through the red tape
and import an ozzi car but thats life. As I can see from your photos you certainly have a major
project ahead of you but I'm sure you are the man for the job. Although with lots of good advise
from forum members it will make the task easier.
Regards and Good Luck
Robert

[CraigS]

I noticed in one of the photos from your other posts that there did not seem to be a deflector for the sunroof when open. Is that correct ?

[s class]

deflector?

didn't know I was missing anything.  My W140 has a pop-up plastic strip thing - should the 116 have something similar?

[CraigS]

Should do - or at least I think it should have it, but perhaps early ones didn't. I know because I had to replace a rusted one recently. I will check #1738 and see if it has one. Don't have a photo to hand, but it is about 1" wide and raises slightly once the roof opens.

[116Benz]

there should be a rubber blade looking thing at the front of the sunroof opening that pops up when the roof is about 1/2 way open...I know the early ones didnt have one, but the later ones did. I know this much, my sunroof on the SEL has a case of the staggers as well, the 280CE we had years ago, had a problem when it was cold it was like the belt was slipping and we had to help it close by hand.

[CraigS]

Just confirming that #1738 does have the deflector.

[s class]

If I'm missing the deflector, there are probably other brackets, springs etc etc.  I will try to see one in the breaker's yard - maybe even get the parts.  As far as I recall they currently have 1 x 280 and 1 x 350, but I think both are sans sunroof.   

[CraigS]

If you can find one, they are very easy to remove./install. I tried to look in the library to see if there was a diagram, but it's not working, but I'm sure there willl be one on the web somewhere.