Hey all, so I've been searching and searching for most likely culprits here, gonna pretty much disassemble it all and rebuild at some point, but right now I just wanna get it closed. My motor spins this way and that but to no avail, I know there is probably gummed up grease on the tracks and cable, possibly messed up gear, etc. No time for troubleshooting right now, but I'm having trouble locating the infamous manual emergency sunroof closing nut. Is it that one that is right at the top of the triangle of bolts (1st pic)? Has a 17mm (I think) nut atop a stud that is squared off at the tip? When I turn that nothing happens. It loosens and tightens. Do is need to turn that stud in the center of it? is that assembly the "clutch?"



I got it to close manually all the way except the back popping up into place.

In the second picture you see there is a rod coming from the bottom of the motor in line with where the cable enters, is that supposed to be a manual closing mechanism? It rotates, but does nothing. Other than rotate.



In the third pic there's a couple of connections that have nothing to do with this post, but I'm wondering what they are



A block connector and that round one with a pin, what are them things???

Thanks in advance!

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'83 240D 4 spd. manual - Undergoing OM617 transplant - Soon for sale.

'97 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins 4x4 5-spd. WVO - Not stock. - For sale!

'06 Sprinter

Put a wrench on the flats of that "stud" and turn counter-clockwise. That's actually the shaft for the gears and the clutch discs. The "emergency closing nut" is just a plastic cap that fits over the flats. Those things are easy to break. It's obviously missing. If you can't get movement, then tighten up that big 17mm nut. It's the clutch adjustment. If you get it very tight and you still can't move the cable, then you have a bigger problem that will require some disassembly. The "rod coming from the bottom of the motor" is the take up tube for the end of the cable.

How is it that you were able to manually close the sunroof most of the way without turning that shaft?

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'79 240D

Your cable is probably stripped. Meaning the manual closing nut won't work. What you have to do is remove the headliner....undo the cable clip and open close the sunroof from inside the car.

This is a picture of a w115 but it's the same design.....the cable controls the black bar...this pops up and pops down the sunroof....once the cable is unhooked disconnected you can manually operate the sun roof with that bar.

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Hey Cooljjay!

Apart from having to rebuild my sunroof at some point - which is what got me onto this thread - I'm intrigued by another topic your photo seems to suggest...

Looks like you've repainted/refinished the headliner material in that car - have I got this right?

An 'interior refresh' is on my list for some point in the future. Can you offer any insights, inspiration, preferred products, gotchas on that?

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'83 300 SD
'05 E320 4Matic
'06 BMW 530 xi
'68 Triumph TR 250 - The only car I ever loved more than the Mercedes; who needs electricity, anyway? - Damn, why did I sell it?!
'59 Jaguar 3.4 'Le Chat Noir' - Damn, why did I sell it?!

It's difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.
- Niels Bohr

I just borrowed that picture from another thread. Here's a link to it. Can promise it will be a pretty big job!

W114/15 headliner - Benzworld.org - Mercedes-Benz Discussion Forum

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are for the OE radio and antenna.

IRT the sunroof cable; It is unlikely that the cable itself is stripped. If tightening the clutch does not result in manual sunroof mavement, then the large plastic gear that engages the cable in the motor gearbox is the most likely failed piece. They will strip and can be replaced either alone or in a new/rebuilt gearbox.

If no movement no matter what, you must pull out the sunroof headliner (held in by a row of spring clips on the front edge), take the bitter end of the cable loose and take out the crossbar it feeds through. You will then be able to close the sunroof by hand.

There are 6 springy Clips on the front edge of the SR Lid. Open the Lid 1/2 way back, carefully pull down on the front edge of the SR Liner to pop out the clips. Slide the liner forward and up out through the top of the opening.

Look carefully between the liner and the Lid and you should see the Clips locations.

Do not try to pull it down towards the dash or the Liner will be bent.


Charlie

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

Thanks for all the info, it ended up being that the fiber gear is completely stripped down to less teeth than a 90 year old professional grandma boxer ().

After removing the headliner by just shoving the sunroof back manually a few inches, I pulled the cable out by attaching my drill to the cable end, and screwing it clockwise until it separated from the motor.

The cable is in great condition. I've searched and searched, and can't find a new gear, sucks that MB doesn't sell them, mercedes source is always out, and the only option is junkyard or new motor.

Anyone have any leads or ideas of where I can get one? The motor still works great...

I'll obviously be cleaning the cable and re-lubing it too, even with no motor back there right now I can only open it halfway, and that takes some effort, no wonder the gear stripped!

Another thing that popped into my head was to have a machine shop copy the gear, but with metal. Has anyone ever done this? I assume there's a reason for the fiber gear, but I'm still not sure what it is...

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'83 240D 4 spd. manual - Undergoing OM617 transplant - Soon for sale.

'97 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins 4x4 5-spd. WVO - Not stock. - For sale!

'06 Sprinter

gears are kind of commodity parts. someone else on here found out which 25 cent gears could be used in the odometer at some point. i would recommend taking the measurements and ordering some gears near that size in the hope that one is pretty close to correct.

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'77 240D, 504H, OM617.952, etc.

Try George Murphy. The gear is not cheap. It would probably end up costing less to source a used complete motor at a junkyard, or on E-Bay. Can't see how having one fabricated would be cheaper.

I doubt that your cable is still good after you chucked the end of it in a drill motor and twisted it. You're in too deep now not to remove the sunroof and give the tracks a good cleaning.

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'79 240D

The drill did no damage. I just simply couldn't pull the cable out (at the sunroof) to disengage it from the motor in order to be able to remove the motor, it had to be twisted out. The drill did this perfectly.

The tracks will definitely be cleaned, looks like this will be a whole service...

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'83 240D 4 spd. manual - Undergoing OM617 transplant - Soon for sale.

'97 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins 4x4 5-spd. WVO - Not stock. - For sale!

'06 Sprinter

Good to see my tread being used here and even happier if it can help someone.
my problem with the sunroof is that it emits annoying rattle just behind the sunroof area.
i am now in process of removing the whole headliner to find the rattle, i am guessing it is somewhere in the sunroof assembly,,
removing the headliner seems like big pain, i have only one half out and not sure if it will go back in, :-(
but the rattle needs to go.

i did paint the headliner with dupli color vinyl paint and it is the way to go.
and now that i have removed sections i can finally vacuum the 42 years of sun baked foam that was falling all over me all the time,

other than that the rest works fine but now that i have most of the things out this is a design with tons of adjustment points causing pain.

Good luck.