I have an '01 s40, and have been recently hearing some rattling of what sounds like metal pieces/bars from the sunroof mechanism. I have not tried to open the sunroof lately, as it was winter and I am now afraid that if I open the sunroof it will be stuck that way.

I had to stop quickly in traffic yesterday and heard what sounded like metal pieces of the sunroof mechanim slide forward from the back of the sunroof towards the front, and now I cannot open the sunshade as it seems stuck on whatever flew forward (thank you to the person running the stop sign!).

Obviously something has come loose and is flying around above the sunshade, does anyone know what it may be, and how would I get to it to fix it? I'm a fairly handy person, so I think I could fix whatever the problem is if I knew how to get to it. I've read other posts about opening the sunroof and removing the glass to access the sunroof mechanism...is this the best thing to try or are there other options? Thanks for any help!

 

It sounds like the drain channel (this is a metal channel that is located under the rear side of the glass panel and is attached to the mechanism to catch any water that comes in at the rear of the glass) is loose and slid forward and this is blocking the sunshade to slide open. I would put the glass in tilt position (up) and look inside from the rear to see if the drain channel is loose and blocking the shade to move. If this is the case you can try to move this drain channel into place and slide the sunshde open. Remove the glass panel to get access to the screws that hold this channel in place.

Good luck,
Dutch Connection

 

I have had the same metallic noise, but not having any problems with the sunroof function. Yesterday I finally reached up into my sunroof shade and found a metal bar just laying up there flopping around. It looks like the epoxy that attached it to the glass has released. I am going to pick up some epoxy and try to reattach it this weekend.

 

I have lost both bars on my sunroof and it kinda sucks. They are there to push the cover back when you open it and to prevent you from closing the cover and leaving the sunroof open. I don't think they have anything to do with keeping the glass from flexing and after 2 years without them I have not had any problems so far.

I tried 3M auto body tape but that didn't hold. I like the epoxy idea but I can't get the car into the garage overnight until I remove the truck project. Let us know how that goes or I will if I can get to it by summer.

 

I got the bar back on with some 2 part epoxy and everything seems to be holding together fine