Subtopic	Posts		Updated
	Sunroof Problem: won't close & it leaks	6		10/01 05:30pm

By Jose A Cabrera (Jcabrera) on Wednesday, September 19, 2001 - 07:28 pm: Edit

Guys,

I need your help. So you understand: I took my 96 Disco SE in to a Land Rover Dealer. My two sunroofs open all the way but when closing them, they don’t close all the way, they get stuck right before they go down and close all the way. My extended warranty (AllState) refused to cover the repairs because the found “excessive amount of sand in the rails” …. Oh well, I need your help. I want to close them permanently but I do not know how. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you

By Dean Brown (Deanbrown3d) on Thursday, September 20, 2001 - 02:20 am: Edit

Sand? Up there? Where did you go?

You need Rovers original part #UM46894, the extended canopy. ;-)

No, seriously, open it fully, and close it while someone else pushes forward hard from the roof?

By Mike Rupp (Mike_Rupp) on Thursday, September 20, 2001 - 03:20 am: Edit

There is a plastic tab right by the buttons for the sunroof. Open this to get access to an allen bolt. Tighten this up & the sunroof should close fully.

Before you do it, I'd blow out the channels in the sunroof & then spray some silicone lube in there.

By Daniel on Thursday, September 20, 2001 - 04:09 am: Edit

Mike,
What does this Allen bolt do? Is it meant to close the roof manually and permanently or is it an adjustment for this problem? I have the same thing happen every great once in a while. I can close it by opening it back up and re-closing. I figure soemthing needs to be adjusted, I just don't know what.
Thanks,
Daniel

By Bluegill (Bluegill) on Thursday, September 20, 2001 - 05:21 am: Edit

Jose, tell your lame-ass extended warranty company that "sand" is everywhere. Even a run-of-the-mill breeze will carry sand or wind-blown dust (loess) through the air and deposit it on any near-horizontal surface, including your sunroof rails. What you have in your rails are, in fact, eolian sedimentary deposits.

I hate dishonest insurance companies.

By Glenn Guinto (Glenn) on Thursday, September 20, 2001 - 06:48 am: Edit

eolian sedimentary deposits?

English please...



-glenn

By RICH on Thursday, September 20, 2001 - 07:09 am: Edit

I like that geologic reference BlueGill!

Eolian: borne, deposited, produced, or eroded by the wind *eolian sand* *eolian rock sculpture*

By Leslie N. Bright (Leslie) on Thursday, September 20, 2001 - 07:55 am: Edit

Sounded fine to me, Glenn!

And if it was of a smaller grain size, and from glacially-derived materials, we could call it a loess deposit.




-L

By Bluegill (Bluegill) on Thursday, September 20, 2001 - 08:43 am: Edit

At first I incorrectly assumed that Jose was located in a desert, and therefore in a continental depositional setting. Jose is actually located in Palm Harbor, Florida (mid FL, Gulf side). That's a marginal marine depositonal setting. Given Florida's general drainage pattern (south through the 'Glades), I'd rule out a deltaic depositional environment, which leaves us with estuarine & lagoonal environments, beach & barrier-island environments, and the tidal flat depositional environment. Jose's photogallery shows him wheelin through estuaries and stuck up to his axles at the beach. I don't see that any beach sand was flung up onto his roof when he was stuck (which would be an entirely new category, the Disco tire-rotational depositional environment), so I think we're back to eolian sand transport in a beach & barrier island environment. This is interesting because eolian systems are ususally associated with continental (desert) settings, and not with marginal marine, although we all know that eolian transport processes occur at the beach.

Of course, I'd have to perform a sieve analysis or hydrometer experiment to be sure...wanna send me a sample of what's in your sunroof rails?

sorry, spent way too much time measuring diameters of individual sand grains under the microscope in the lab.

At any rate, your insurance company denial is still bunk.

By gp (Garrett) on Thursday, September 20, 2001 - 08:56 am: Edit

to use a word used in a previous thread..... i think 'choad' would be appropriate here once again. but then again 'bunk' has a nice ring to it.

measuring grains of sand? man you must have small hands.

By Daniel on Thursday, September 20, 2001 - 09:41 am: Edit

So does anyone know what tightening that allen bolt does?

By Glenn Guinto (Glenn) on Thursday, September 20, 2001 - 09:42 am: Edit

BlueGill,

Huh

-glenn


What has the world turn into?! First the bombings, then this potential nuclear war...Now people are talking in a foreign language and other people understand!!! - HELP!

By Leslie N. Bright (Leslie) on Thursday, September 20, 2001 - 10:22 am: Edit

Glenn,

Are you implying that because someone can explain a cyclothem or understand Wentworth grain-sizes or know what an allochthonous terrane is, that we're 'speaking in tongues'? LOL!!!

-L


To go w/ the loooong Terrorism thread...

"It's the End of the World as We Know It, and I Feel Fine"....

By Glenn Guinto (Glenn) on Thursday, September 20, 2001 - 10:33 am: Edit

LOL

Okay then... I'll keep quiet now. :-)

-glenn

By Jose A Cabrera (Jcabrera) on Thursday, September 20, 2001 - 11:46 am: Edit

Bluegill,
I was in Palm Harbor, FL. now in Irvine CA. Thank you all for commenting on this. Please keep posting suggestions!

By Leslie N. Bright (Leslie) on Thursday, September 20, 2001 - 01:31 pm: Edit

Well, we DID get off-topic....


1) Get anything gritty out BEFORE using any sort of lube.... or it'll be in there causing problems for a long time.

2) Try a different dealer.... they should've taken care of it: go elsewhere, or at least threaten to... If they want to keep you as a customer, they'll get off their derieres...

Good luck....

-L

By Mike Rupp (Mike_Rupp) on Friday, September 21, 2001 - 04:25 am: Edit

The allen bolt is just a back up way of closing the sunroof if there is an electrical failure. If you turn it, it wont mess anything up. It's not an adjustment knob. Like Leslie said, make sure that you blow out all grit / sand, and then lube it up. Then open & close the sunroof a few cycles periodically and all should be fine.

When I first bought my Disco, I went through the same problem.

By Jose A Cabrera (Jcabrera) on Friday, September 21, 2001 - 04:26 am: Edit

Going back to the subject, any more suggestions on how to fix my problem? Also, Daniel posted:

“Mike,
What does this Allen bolt do? Is it meant to close the roof manually and permanently or is it an adjustment for this problem? I have the same thing happen every great once in a while. I can close it by opening it back up and re-closing. I figure something needs to be adjusted, I just don't know what.
Thanks,
Daniel “

…. I still want to know what the Allen bolt does.

By Bluegill (Bluegill) on Friday, September 21, 2001 - 06:46 am: Edit

Irvine, eh? Don't worry about sand in your rails, then...it will all wash out when the next big one hits and you find yourself in the marine depostional setting.

ok, I'll shut up now

By Jose A Cabrera (Jcabrera) on Friday, September 21, 2001 - 07:23 am: Edit

Bluegill

LOL!

By Mike Rupp (Mike_Rupp) on Friday, September 21, 2001 - 07:59 am: Edit

Jose,

Here's the scoop: if the motor draws too much current (there is something in the way), it will shut off so it wont burn out the motor. This is what I would recommend that you do:
Open you sunroof as far as possible and then get up there and look in the channels and see if there is something blocking the channel. Get some compressed air and blow out the channels to remove the sand. Then Lightly lube the channels to help things move more smoothly. Then the sunroof should work properly. To answer your other question, "I still want to know what the Allen bolt does.", the allen bolt is connected to the gearing system for opening / closing the sunroof. Thus, if the motor dies, you can still shut the sunroof. If you watch the allen bolt, you'll see that it will turn when you are moving the sunroof. Take a look and you'll see what I mean.

By Jose A Cabrera (Jcabrera) on Friday, September 21, 2001 - 09:05 pm: Edit

Thanks Mike Rupp,
I'll be buying those small can of compressed air (for computer purpose) and try to fix it this weekend.... I post a follow up!

By warner@vnet.net on Wednesday, September 26, 2001 - 04:47 am: Edit

The right side of my sunroof seems to get wedged to one side when I try to open or close it. If I use upward pressure with my have on the right side it will almost close all the way. I have to use a screwdriver to push the little tab that you can see running on a track forward and then the roof closes. Is there a cable that could be broken which operates the right side?? Also, I think this is the root of my water infiltration problem. Everytime it rains my headliner fills up with water and drains down all over the rear windows and seats (usually more on the right side). I think the sunroof is not closing tightly enough to create a seal.

Any ideas????