Hi, as some of you might have already experienced yourselves, my sunshade broke on me some time ago. It turned out to be one of the right sliding pieces. After I put the the sunshade back, I found out that the''driver'' that sits between the two right sliding pieces would go over the rear sliding piece causing the sunshade to close whenever I closed the sunroof. Moreover, it would'nt open manually. I'am thinking about simply bending the ''driver'' to prevent it from jumping over. Does anyone have any suggestions on how that could be done? Any responses will be deeply appreciated ,THANKS.
Problems with fixing the sunshade.
- Thread starter alextaryanik
- Start date
Sunroof sunshade problem...me too!
I'm experiencing the same problem myself. I had my driver side rear sunshade bracket break....I think because of exactly what you described (the rear slider going under the driver, then when the sunroof is opened again the rear slider slams into the driver and breaks).
I've read alot of the info of what's already been posted on this forum but I haven't found anyone identify a 'final' fix to this problem. I agree that somehow bending down the driver should fix the problem but I'm not sure if it's possible. Plus, I noticed the plastic molded clip on the end of my driver is broken, so I'm wondering how to replace that as well (if it's even possible).
Here's a link that briefly describes the issue and how to change the sliders, unfortunately it doesn't say how to modify/change the driver (they call it the 'power retractor').
http://www.jumboprawn.net/jesse/projs/bmw_e46_sunroof/
I plan to go to my local dealer within the next week or 2 to quiz them about this. Based on the number of complaints I've seen on the net, I know BMW has analyzed this failure and I'm hoping they have a fix in place...I just hope the fix won't require us to replace the whole sunroof.![[xx(]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_dead.gif "Dead [xx(]")
I'll let you know what I find out. Please do the same if you find any info. Maybe someone else can help us out?? Thanks.
I'm experiencing the same problem myself. I had my driver side rear sunshade bracket break....I think because of exactly what you described (the rear slider going under the driver, then when the sunroof is opened again the rear slider slams into the driver and breaks).
I've read alot of the info of what's already been posted on this forum but I haven't found anyone identify a 'final' fix to this problem. I agree that somehow bending down the driver should fix the problem but I'm not sure if it's possible. Plus, I noticed the plastic molded clip on the end of my driver is broken, so I'm wondering how to replace that as well (if it's even possible).
Here's a link that briefly describes the issue and how to change the sliders, unfortunately it doesn't say how to modify/change the driver (they call it the 'power retractor').
http://www.jumboprawn.net/jesse/projs/bmw_e46_sunroof/
I plan to go to my local dealer within the next week or 2 to quiz them about this. Based on the number of complaints I've seen on the net, I know BMW has analyzed this failure and I'm hoping they have a fix in place...I just hope the fix won't require us to replace the whole sunroof.
I'll let you know what I find out. Please do the same if you find any info. Maybe someone else can help us out?? Thanks.
Far as I know, the defective plastic sunroof shade clips are still the same crappy plastic.
Mine was repaired at the dealer several times (under warranty).
My current approach is to always leave the shade open 2 inches (so heat from the Sun can escape and not degrade the plastic clips), and to generally not open the sunroof.
It appears the new 3-series has fixed this issue.
BMW could have made replacement clips out of stamped steel, which would not crumble like the defective plastic ones, but to my knowledge they refused to do so throughout the many years the E46 3-series was in service. Shameful, really.
Mine was repaired at the dealer several times (under warranty).
My current approach is to always leave the shade open 2 inches (so heat from the Sun can escape and not degrade the plastic clips), and to generally not open the sunroof.
It appears the new 3-series has fixed this issue.
BMW could have made replacement clips out of stamped steel, which would not crumble like the defective plastic ones, but to my knowledge they refused to do so throughout the many years the E46 3-series was in service. Shameful, really.
Sunroof fix
Well, I found BMW's official 'fix' while doing some web searching. It basically involves removing the sunroof and replacing the driver with a new & improved one so that it will not go under the sunshade sliders. Here's a link showing BMW's service bulletin for this known issue:
http://car.justanswer.com/uploads/Autotechguru/2007-09-18_081412_2001_BMW_330_ci0001.pdf
My sunroof requires repair procedure #3, which is in this link(look for the pdf files 2/3 the way down):
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3162413
This does not look like a fun task:
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=222850
From what I can gather it appears cars made after Sept. 2003 have the new driver, so they should not have this sunroof problem. Unfortunately I don't think metal sunshade sliders would fix this because they would just bind with the driver and prevent the sunshade from functioning properly. I'm convinced that if the driver functions properly, the sunshade clips will NOT break.
I'm guessing the dealer only replaced your sunshade clips when they supposedly 'fixed' your problem. Too bad they didn't fix the real problem...the driver(probably because they are trying to save on warranty costs).
I'm going to the dealer to see how much they will charge for this fix...most likely I'll be doing it myself because I'm so sick and tired of them ripping me off.
Well, I found BMW's official 'fix' while doing some web searching. It basically involves removing the sunroof and replacing the driver with a new & improved one so that it will not go under the sunshade sliders. Here's a link showing BMW's service bulletin for this known issue:
http://car.justanswer.com/uploads/Autotechguru/2007-09-18_081412_2001_BMW_330_ci0001.pdf
My sunroof requires repair procedure #3, which is in this link(look for the pdf files 2/3 the way down):
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3162413
This does not look like a fun task:
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=222850
From what I can gather it appears cars made after Sept. 2003 have the new driver, so they should not have this sunroof problem. Unfortunately I don't think metal sunshade sliders would fix this because they would just bind with the driver and prevent the sunshade from functioning properly. I'm convinced that if the driver functions properly, the sunshade clips will NOT break.
I'm guessing the dealer only replaced your sunshade clips when they supposedly 'fixed' your problem. Too bad they didn't fix the real problem...the driver(probably because they are trying to save on warranty costs).
I'm going to the dealer to see how much they will charge for this fix...most likely I'll be doing it myself because I'm so sick and tired of them ripping me off.
Thanks for the update.
Looks like the instructions in these PDFs would be helpful:
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3157222&postcount=18
Looks like the instructions in these PDFs would be helpful:
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3157222&postcount=18
![[:D]](/images/smilies/biggrin.png "Big Grin [:D]")