Wife's S80 only has 27,000 miles on it. It is out of warranty. We took it in for 30,000 mile check-up and asked if they could quieten down the sunroof rattle. (it's so loud you cannot carry a conversation).

Well, the verdict came back . . . . needs a whole new glass assembly. $650.00!

WHAAAAAT? That seems a little steep when the glass isn't even broken.

I went out and checked it a few minutes ago. It appears that there's a little drip channel that is glued to the rear of the glass. Looks like a safety drip channel in case the main seal leaks. Anyway, 2/3rds of it was unglued, leaving only a foot still glued to the underside of the glass.

Can I glue it back on with something? Do I have to buy a whole new glass assembly (which I assume I can install myself since I do most of my own car and motorcycle maintenance).

Is this a common problem with 2000 S-80s?

We plan to trade in next year for a 2006 XC. I really don't want to spend $650 now if I don't have to.

 

You can try to reglue it but i doubt it will hold.It is there for a little extra support.I have seen people take them and throw them in the garbage.Yes it is pretty common for that to happen on the S80's.I've seen many cars with out them.

 

Thank you very much for your reply. Understand that if I try to glue it back on, it may not hold. Heck, the original didn't hold, either. Seems like they should have roughed-up the glass a bit at the glue surface area for additional stick-um.

By the shape of the little rail, I thought it might be a little drip trough to catch any droplets or water that might get by the primary rubber seal. It is a pretty substantial piece of steel . . . . very stiff; so you're probably right, it's a reinforcing stiffener.

I think at this point I'll just stash the rail in the trunk and hope that it isn't needed. We'll probably be trading in the S-80 for and XC-90 when the 2006 models come out. This is our 3rd Volvo so we'll probably go for a 4th when it's time.

 

Im glad you are working on your 4th Volvo.Are you going to get the V-8 XC90?They are supposed to be pretty quick.

 

Okay - I have an 02 s60. Sunroof was rattling like crazy when shut only. It would not rattle when tilted up. WHen you pushed on the glass when closed, you could feel play in the mechanism. When you pushed on the glass when tilted, no play. All four bolts holding the glass on were TIGHT. No brackets were "unglued" or anything like that. I became convinced that the play in the system was simply related to worn rails or worn mechanism. I determined my only chance at avoiding major $$$$ to replace the rails was to loosen the 4 screws holding the glass to the mechanism that are behind the accordian things, move the rear of the glass to the lowest adjustment (toward the bottom of the car) and then drive with the tilt slightly actuated. The adjustment was to make the top of the glass match the roof when the tilt was slightly actuated.

Well, this did not work. when i finished, the ?(*&$#@! thing rattled in the slightly uptilted position. HOWEVER - it did NOT rattle in the fully down position!!!!! So now my rattle was fixed but the top of the glass was goofy relative to the top of the car. So I slowly started adjusting the glass upwards in the back, bringing it more even with the roof, hoping my rattle would not come back. i got it up to Volvo geek acceptable position with the roof, and PRAISE THE LORD - still no rattle!!!!!!!! BLESSED SILENCE on craterfilled minnesota roads on my thin as paris hilton 50 series tires.

So when all the usual forum fixes DO NOT FIX YOUR RATTLE, start playing with the attitude of your glass until your test drive is rattle-less.

A new glass gasket ($1XX from Volvo) or a new glass ($6XX from volvo) would probably reduce the amount of FINESSE you need to accomplish this fix. If anyone knows where to get these cheap, i would like to know.