Sunroofs are great, but repair shops and previous owners often aren’t. Sunroof maintenance is a frequently overlooked part of owning a car with a sliding roof, from lubricating the mechanisms to cleaning the drain tubes. Over time, neglect can result in the sunroof no longer opening or closing electronically as it should, but thankfully, makers of older German cars thought about that.
See, back in the old days, when fancy motorized features were bourgeoise instead of merely expected, many sunroofs operated the same way most windows did — by crank. Manufacturers like BMW and Volkswagen didn’t forget this in the switch to motorization, and for a period of time, included emergency cranks to get owners out of the occasional bind. After all, it’s not much fun having your sliding roof panel stuck open in the rain or snow.
Unfortunately, I can’t demonstrate on my own car, partly because the toolkit in my 325i is incomplete and partly because if my roof spanner was in there, I’d absolutely ruin the old tabs holding my sunroof switch trim to my headliner. However, before my colleague Mercedes sold her manual-swapped diesel Passat wagon, she was kind enough to give the sunroof crank a whirl.
In said Passat, the sunroof crank stays stashed behind a trim panel behind the fantastic rotary sunroof dial. Carefully pry off that trim panel, and you’ll find a somewhat S-shaped crank with an Allen bit on one end clipped onto the back of the panel. Take it out, then stick the Allen end in a little hole in the sunroof motor assembly and start turning to make the roof panel move without electricity. Neato.
Oh, and Volkswagen isn’t the only marque to provide a mechanical Plan B. Older BMWs like the E39 5 Series, E46 3 Series, E90 3 Series, and E82 1 Series all should have these cranks. Older Mercedes-Benz models like the W201 190E, W210 E-Class, and W140 S-Class will have these emergency cranks too, and German marques aren’t the only ones. Here’s a listing for an Acura part that appears to do the same thing.
Normally, you wouldn’t dare touch the power sunroof on an old hooptie because trust in that mechanism is on par with trust in gas station sushi. If the mech grenades itself with the sunroof anywhere short of fully closed, you’ll be relegated to fair-weather driving only. And if you don’t have covered parking, you’ll need to get that sunroof sorted before the next rain (or procure yourself a roll of duct tape and some plastic sheeting). But if your car has an emergency crank, you are liberated. If the sunroof goes bad as clouds close in, you can just crank it like Soulja Boy, close your roof and stay dry.
In the meantime though, if you have a sunroof, it’s likely worth opening it up, cleaning the sunroof tracks with isopropyl alcohol and a lint-free brush, and then applying a good sunroof-safe grease like Krytox. From there, push some round plastic garden trimmer string through the sunroof drains to keep them clear, then rest easy knowing that you’ve taken care of your sunroof. After all, these emergency cranks are cool, but never needing to use one is even cooler.
(Photo credits: Mercedes Streeter)
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The post Your Car Might Have A Secret Way To Manually Close A Broken Sunroof appeared first on The Autopian.
