car is a 90 crx si w/ 250,000 miles on it,
a year ago i had the sunroof opened and once i got home, i went to close it and it was moving really slow, and i barely thought i was going to get it all the closed, and had to also guide it and push it with my hand to get it to move, and as it was closing i notice that it is shifted at a diagonal angle, where the driver side of it was back further than the pass side, as it was moving forward on the tracks? so i pushed the driver back corner with my hand while pressing the button to guide that side more forward so it was even with the other side while it went forward,
(like pic below) :


there was still a couple inches left til it was closed to the front, but the button was'nt moving it any further, so i used the allen wrench to close it the rest of the way manually, and was able to get it closed to the front edge evenly, but then the back was stuck in the tilted up position, and i was'nt able to get the tilted up part to close so it was flat?

later, i removed the sunroof panel and inspected all the parts, trying to get it to work right, but i could'nt get it to work.

a few things to mention about my sunroof : several years ago i had my car painted at
maaco, and after picking it up, i had a problem where the rear passenger corner of the sunroof did'nt go down flat, but the rest did, and was like that for a while, but later on that corner started to suddenly go down out of nowhere?, maybe it was dirty in the mechanism and finally got cleared out? but then it was able to close flat again.

in 2010, i locked my keys in the car, and this guy was trying to get in my car to get the keys and ended up removing the screw-pin that holds the hinge at the back of the sunroof mechanism, on the driver side only, and the part was lost and it has a missing screw-pin on that side, could that cause the lift up mechanism to not work and not be able to get it closed down flat ?
(its the screw-pin shown in the pic below) :


after having the sunroof panel off and putting it back on, i noticed the 2 front mounting bolts at the very front of the rail tracks to hold the sunroof panel down would'nt tighten good?, and when i was tightening them, they would turn round and round?, like were stripped?, not sure if they were like that before removing the panel? or if i ended up stripping them when tightening those bolts back in place? by tightening them too hard? could that be causing it not to work right either ?


any help on what could be the cause of my sunroof problems would be appreciated,
thanks

 

Doubt stripped bolts would cause it not to clpse sounda more lime the motor is shot to open and close it hut itay also be a aimple cylonoid that may be seperated fron the motor but if it is not then you will either have to rwplace theotor or the whole unit. Note entirely surw how the system looks or works butvit reqlly does sound like a failed motor.

 

Never mind I posted a response without noticing that you were talking about a CRX not a Civic

 

no problem, anyone have an idea what would cause the sunroof panel to have one side back further than the other ? where its misaligned on the tracks as its closing ?

i forgot to also mention, i can also move one side back and forth, as if somethings loose ?
while the other side you can't do that? the side that is back further, that is the one you can move back and forth

i think the problem where the tilted part won't go down is seperate than the problem causing the sunroof panel to not be aligned evenly while its moving on the tracks.

really i'm not as worried about the tilted part being able to go down flat, cause i've had it left like that for long time anyway and have no problems, no water gets in since it gets drained from the drainage system around the sunroof, the part i want to figure out to fix more is why the sunroof barely moves trying to open / close it, and why the panel does'nt stay lined up on the tracks evenly from sided to side as it moves ?

i have feeling its nothing major? probably a small broken part? or a loose bolt or something ?

anyone think of what could be the cause ? or give me a direction to look in ?

 

Can someone help us, mine has similar issues. Can't use an enjoyable option
Regards
Dave

 

i realise there are tons of posts about sunroof problems under search, and i've searched and gone through pages and pages of posts, on here and other forums,

i copy and paste sections i see on the posts that might be stuff for me to check on mine, and i paste them all into a text file,

but theres a lot of posts with totally different sunroof problems that i can't use any info off of for mine, so thats why its good to make my own post, to describe my specific problems, since it might be different than others.

 

If you guys are mechanically inclined and have a free weekend, it's not hard to service the sunroof. Yes, you have to remove mid level interior and the headliner just to gain access to the sunroof, but once you get the sunroof out its fairly straight forward.

A couple years ago I pulled a working sunroof assembly out of a parts car to replace my cracked glass panel. While it was out I re-lubed everything, painted the shade panel black again, did some adjustments, and blew out the drain lines. I didn't have a manual for any of that. I would highly recommend having a second assembly to source parts from if you do pull it out.

 

i am mechanically inclined, and i know pulling the whole sunroof assembly is the right way to service and troubleshoot what the problems are, but to me i would rather first try to figure out if the cause of the problems might be stuff i can replace or fix while keeping the sunroof assembly in place, like stuff i can do with the panel off or whatever, . . .
but if i can't find or fix it that way, then i will resort to removing the whole thing

i know i sound lazy, but its not that, i just hate if i remove the whole thing but then end up taking too long and then i can't drive my car and i also don't have a garage and its been raining lately here, the only time i seem to like to work on bigger projects is when i visit my parents cause i'm able to use their garage, otherwise i usually end up doing work and messing with my car at 24hour car-wash stalls late at night, cause it has cover and a big drainage grate and bright light and privacy.

but yeah don't get me wrong, it would be great to pull the whole thing and work on restoring it so its like new again.