help with shutting sunroof

85

Asked by ChicagoX5 Mar 08, 2011 at 09:33 PM about the 2005 BMW X5 3.0i AWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

My panoramic roof that is stuck open in vent mode.  The front glass moves freely while the rear glass is stuck on one side.  NEED HELP!

15 Answers

255

Yep-found out the hard way too!! The mechansim inside has failed and causes the rear to stick and the front to not close properly. Unless you want to spend 4k on a new cassette, you can manually move the sliders toward the back on the rear glass...a liitle on the right then ther left until closed. Hold down the sunroof button until it cycles through the program. It will then allow the mainroof to close, DO NOT hit vent otherwise the rear will open and stick and you will have to repeat the process. You will be able to slide the main glass but that will be it. Better that then never opening it again.

18 people found this helpful.
2,875

bmw now sells repair kits for the sliders and cables in the panoramic roof. about a days labour by someone who knows what they are doing. the kits should only be about $500 ish from memory.

10 people found this helpful.
250

Hi there, My X5 has the same issue, rear glass stuck on ONE side. both glass roof sections try to close but the rear glass only moves on one side...result is both glass sections stay open in vent position...lossened rear glass screws and removed glass and tried to close...front glass went thru the motions to close but popped back up to vent position...looking at the cables and wedge shaped ramps at left and right that lift the rear glass...only the left rear wedge moves...the right side wedge does not move...cannot push it forwards or backwards...not sure how hard to push...have read need to push one side at a time 'reward' until both LH and RH are moved back, but I have not tried this yet...I would think the LH side is connected to motor and could not be pushed back manually. Anybody wit a diagnosis what part is broken and how easy can be fixed?...pictures and instructions?

16 people found this helpful.
2,875

this is really not a DIY type job. it requires removal, stripping and rebuilding of the whole panoramic roof unit.

6 people found this helpful.
375

HI; I have the same problem. I closed it manually with the allen key. I found this fix online which disables the rear sunroof permenantly by by cutting the other side triangular wedge, here is the link for it http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=284615 There is a good PDF file file with pics. Have anyone tried it???

20 people found this helpful.
375

HI; I have the same problem. I closed it manually with the allen key. I found this fix online which disables the rear sunroof permenantly by by cutting the other side triangular wedge, here is the link for it http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=284615 There is a good PDF file file with pics. Have anyone tried it???

9 people found this helpful.
255

I am looking at all options and not rushing them as once you cut the piece, theres no turning back. If I do want my back to close, it takes me all but 1 minute to close it manually by moving the rail side to side, thats if I accidentally hit the "vent" on it.

7 people found this helpful.
250

I found that same pdf work around that Awesome77 found, but I am not sure if it works for my (our) problem...if only one side of the rear glass is stuck...the other side is still connected to the motor...would like to know if anyone has the exact same problem and used this solution with success...I did try to remove the rear glass...4 torx T25 screws...and the glass panel is free...cycled the sunroof and it still did not close...which tells me that the anti trap sensor still thinks something is jambed and won't allow it to close....I also cannot move the wedge shaped ramps holding the rear glass up forwards or backwards...even the one on the "broken" side...any hints as to how to move this?...the side that is NOT broken (I think) cannot move if it is still linked to the motor...right?

9 people found this helpful.
375

Actually this was my exact problem, one side of the rear sunroof not opening and the side that opens will only close manually. I did follow the PDF last night and worked perfectly for me. It coasted me 19.99 to buy the dremel.

6 people found this helpful.
375

After you open ur sunroof the same pieces mentioned in the odd file move them forward and the rear sunroof will close

2 people found this helpful.
110

On my rear vent section the entire glass is up. When I hit the close button it just continously goes up and down. Anyone have a fix?

11 people found this helpful.
9,785

Noland please make your own question and write your vehicle year and model. Sounds like it might need to be intalized.

3 people found this helpful.
15,025

another thing to address, the factory made the drain tube plugs too tight, and water backs up into the truck, you don't know your truck is flooding inside until it pours down the pillar.....remove the plugs from all 4 of the roof drains under the car!!!!!!!!!!

4 people found this helpful.
495

Check out this YouTube video. It gives you step by step instructions on how to get your panoramic sunroof to close manually yourself. And he has a part 2 video on how to disable the back window from popping open again and Unraligning the sunroofs again. So you can use the front one all you want, without having to worry about the back one ever getting stuck again. I did this to my X3 series BMW. http://youtu.be/wXpDcy8C56Y Copy and paste that link into your web browser. It was a life saver and money saver for me. This is a very common problem with the BMW Panoramic View Moonroofs. And this is all that they are going to do at the dealership and Charge you $1,000 to do.

21 people found this helpful.
20

My sunroof is stuck on one side as well but it’s the front bit, do u think I can try the same remedies

2 people found this helpful.

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