Solar sunroof lubrication

[mannyo]

I must be a brave soul, today for the first time since I have owned the D3 I decided it was time to see if the sunroof opened and closed, especially as its very spring like and sunny outside.

Pressed the dial to tilt the roof and up it popped, hooray so that part works. it closed as will when pulling down on the dial.

Rotated the dial one click, and the roof dropped and opened a couple of inches so all good and tried a couple more clicks and each opened a little more.

Rotated dial back to close position, and the roof closed but it seemed much slower than the D2.

I opened it one click again, and set about cleaning everything relating to the roof.

From what I can see, it had not been opened in a long time. The seal around the edge of the roof had algae on it, so I have cleaned all this off. I also went round the bodywork opening and cleared all the crap that had built up there.

When closing the roof for the second time it seemed much better, maybe its all gunked up after being closed for months/years.

Is it worth getting some general purpose lubricating oil and running that into the mechanism?

[ScottD3]

I can't speak for the D3 but from previous cars I've always done it and seemed to help.
Some good rubber lubricant would be good on the rubber bits and help keep them soft and stop them from cracking.

I need to do mine at some point as well.

Have you tested your drain holes?

[ScottD3]

How did you get on with this?

I'm going to try and tackle mine if I get some free time with nice weather.

[Adrian E]

A silicone based spray usually does the trick on mechanisms without adding wd40 levels of dust collection into the mix

[mannyo]

I tackled it at the weekend, need to test it more fully

I opened the sunroof all the way, and it had obviously been greased previously but the grease had all dried up. I cleaned as much of the old grease off as I could, it should not have even been greased where it was. I just temporarily used a little oil and it now opens and closes a treat. It does still have one problem, it slows down slightly and makes a strange noise for the last four inches when closing. It does close perfectly everytime we tried though.

[ScottD3]

Mine does the same thing.
Its like its moaning.

I like the fact that when you tilt the sunroof the back of the blind tilts with it.

[ScottD3]

I got bored on the ferry, so I filmed it.

http://youtu.be/w-j5JaB_lb4

Hopefully if the weather is dry this saturday I'll have a go at greasing mine up and finding out what that groaning noise is.
I'll let you know if I find out what it is.

[ScottD3]

I was thinking about the sunroof today and for the short time it stopped raining I went out and took this video.

Is this the same noise as yours?

I also took some pics of the runners and you can see all the old grease dry and nasty.
I have a nice little pool in my roof as well.
I tried unblocking the drain hole but no luck.

Going by how much cable goes down the drain hole it looks like it gets stuck around the the wing area.

Does anyone the routing for the drains?

[mannyo]

Mine groans when its closing, the sound is very simillar. I have a feeling the sound you are hearing is the wind deflector motor moving into position, on the D3 the roof, the sunblind and the wind deflector are all operated by separate motors.

Yep thats a blocked drain, mine was dry last weekend. As mine is a solar roof, your mechanism looks slightly different from above.

The video below show the electric wind deflector altering in height depending on speed, ok its on phaeton but the principle is the same.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zan9LVr4bO0

Apparently the motors can get noisy, and are easily replaced.

This video on youtube shows another sunroof making simillar noises, so maybe they are normal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbJRcxMmyjU

[ScottD3]

Never thought the wind deflector would be motor driven.
Interesting that it changes depending on the speed.

I'm filming that tomorrow if its dry. lol

If the noise is normal I'll ignore it then.
Need to sort this drain tube out.