# 2000 Nissan Sentra Sunroof Retracts slow / sluggish / sticks



## gump0r (Apr 12, 2007)

For the past year or so my sunroof has had an issue where when I retract or open it, it opens sluggish or sticks and needs help by pulling or pushing it into place.

I'm looking for advice besides taking it to the dealership so they can charge me $200+ (quoted) for sunroof maintenance.

My first step was thinking about simply lubricating it, but I wanted advice as to the proper lubrication to use on the sunroof and any additional tips / suggestions on where to apply it and how much, etc.

Can anyone help me out? :/

Reply here or drop me an email if you can... 

[email protected]

Thanks 
- Neil


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## Quatra05 (Oct 24, 2006)

your probably going to have to get to the motor which is a pain in th ass, lube it and the window tracks up, then test it out a little. the motor should be underneath the button you use to open the sun roof, if that helps


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## Nismosr20det2000 (Mar 13, 2007)

Ummm yes. He is right. My sunroof on my Spec V was doing the same thing and now it just gave up. Its the motor (or better yet its the lil black box thats hooked up to the motor. I took it apart and had one of my super smart electronic guys look at it. (Or thats what most people here call him) And since im stationed in Germany....well for sure I am not going to a dealership. Its really not hard to take it apart. It took me about 1-2 hrs to figure it out. And Im the person who likes to know how things work. Its fairly simple. Just take your time on it. Now comes the money part. The motor runs you about $216 but if you look around at a junkyard, you might get lucky. Oh and while you are there. Can you get me one too...lol.


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## RoyBatty (Jun 28, 2007)

howdy folks:

I am in the process of dealing with this- I purchased a used motor to get my sunroof going for now - $ 85 + shipping for a '04 
firstly - I have pulled out the motor and track - thought the track and drive cable are steel cable / coil wrapped - the slide " Feet " are usually the culprit - some of the little plastic tension things break - and as you know these tracks are usually left open , cracked , - they get crapped up pretty quick - 
you will have take down the entire headliner- being very gingerly as the track is aluminium - easliy bent and scratched 
Let me know if you want to know more on this process 

as for the motor - if its making crazy noises - chances are 2 of the planetary gears have broke under the strain - Nissan in 2000 -ish started farming out their motor works to Siemens - has a factory in Mexico as well as other places - before the motors were all aluminium gears - these new Siemens are all nylon gears- good for Siemens as it makes sure they stay in business replacing their crap - i am now in the process of trying to see from the gear manufacture in Germany about getting my hands on small quantities of these replacement gears to rebuild and maybe offer a swap out motor progam - I think $100.00 is too much to pay for a motor that just needs 2 gears replaced 

enjoy your summer :

cheers


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## RoyBatty (Jun 28, 2007)

howdy Folks;

just read the typo

Track is Aluminium- the drive cable is steel cable wrapped in steel coil and the slide feet are steel with plastic casings

sorry about any confusion

Cheers:


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## racey (Jul 24, 2007)

Hello all,

A friend of mine had her sunroof busted out, shes already bought a new OEM sunroof, but needs to get it installed. I was thinking of doing the work, but after doing some research it looks like the sunroof is pretty difficult to replace.

Anyone have any experience with this replacement and specifically taking the headliner out? If it's too difficult I will just send her to the shop, but I was going to do this as a "favor".

I don't have any previous experience working with Nissans, but I worked on quite a few others (mainly Germans)

Thanks


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## RoyBatty (Jun 28, 2007)

Howdy Racey :

sunroof was busted out - Glass yes?

If all you have to replace is the glass , you may not need to remove anything 

unless this was a violent sunroof brake and shards may have gotten into the track

- headliner is the biggest pain - time consuming and a bit tricky as you have to bend some sheet metal to get support brackets - on a scale of 1-10 - 10 being hard ( I rate tranny swaps at 9 and oil change at 2 ) - I say a 3.5-4 

If just the glass - is 4 points of anchor - 8 Torx heads - adjusting glass is a pain 
the anchor points and bolts are all accessable from cabin front seats - mark the anchor points with white out and make sure you see how they sit - I say this is about 5 rating of difficulty as is time consuming and you need patience- and the line of sight is not most favorable 

good luck , let us know how you fare if you decide to accept this mission 
feel free to ask me more questions as I have done this 3 times now

One word of caution - if you have any doubts about the track - take it all down and clean it one side at a time so you have refrence as how it goes- sunroof drive motor is a very weak point - Sure you got that from the previous posts on this matter

cheers


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## racey (Jul 24, 2007)

Thanks, I think I will try to tackle this then. Hopefully a shop vac takes care of the glass in the tracks problem. Thats good news that the glass can be replaced separate from the entire assembly. 

Will adjustment on the glass be needed if I don't have to mess with the assembly?


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## RoyBatty (Jun 28, 2007)

Howdy Racey :

yes - you will have to adjust the glass - why i mentioned marking the anchor pieces - they are sort of triangle - they fit into a notch almost and need adjustment /alignment fro proper operation or you will have wind buffeting and stain the runners 

since you are not going to remove track and clean - a shoppe vac will not do the trick -- swabs , cleaning solvent )(alcohol ) - re lube - as for sure the slider track lubricant will be as " Stickum " to the shards , glass dust etc..
remember the track is dealing with very minimal tolerances - track is also aluminium - easy to scratch and gouge 

this is why the motor eventually fails - the track gets dirty , gritty, dusty - marries into the lube in small space - causes greater friction /restricted slide capacity- gears get chewed up and you will have a loud noise - screetch 

Best of luck 
tell us how you fare


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