Redd

Yesterday I heard some really surprising KRAK KRUNK SNAP noise which I passed off as a radio oddity, since the car kept running normally. Today, I noticed the passenger side of the sky roof liner was hanging down, apparently unattached from whatever it rides on. And the mechanism made the same "Step oin my umbrella and break a few ribs why don't you?" sounds, when I tried to retract and reset it, thinking it might just get back in place.

Nope.

The cloth seems intact, the far right edge of it seems a little gummy, as if it had been glued down and the glue failed? Or something has gotten onto the cloth? But that leaves me wondering...

Does this mean the whole headliner has to be dropped for exploratory surgery? Or is there something less invasive that I can try to do, to get that cloth back on track?

MurrayA4

Redd this can be a nasty one sadly ! I believe Bob P recently posted an image or video? of the headliner being dropped.You think Boeing have some problems ! Mine is retracted and twice a season I "exercise" it with some trepidation.If it was mine and I was keeping my car for the long haul,I am, I'd be tempted to cut it out of there and be done with it.But then again you must be due for a couple of weeks of summer vacation.Cold beer and sunshine and German fasteners !

Redd

Murray, I have a vague and upsetting memory of that, or at least, of the complications that may be involved. I'd be tempted to just pull it out. At night, the perforated "roof" still lets overhead lights strobe through. In the daytime...heat is no problem, I have Crystaline on the glass anyway. Coupla magnets and some black cloth, or maybe just some paint..I mainly want to fix it because someday, someone will not want to pay full price for this used car if the headliner is hanging down. Then again, maybe some good work with a razor blade and they'll never know. (G)

Meanwhile, I figured I'd try to get informed on this.

yamato72

I bought a replacement screen kit for about $350 and installed it myself. It is not a terrible job but you have to be super careful and methodical. I followed a couple write-ups that I found online.

The plastic trim piece at the back roof exposes the whole mechanism, but you have to pop out the headliner from about the b-pillar back in order to get it to hang down out of the way enough to do the work. Popping the headliner is fussy if you don’t want to put creases in it.

Redd

Any links to the source of that screen, or the videos for it? I'm wondering if it is really broke broke, or the cloth has just come unstuck from a tape or rail?

yamato72

There's a keeper at the front edge that is sewn into the material, like a hem. It has a lot of stress on it from years of heat cycles and tension if left in the closed position all the time. You mentioned seeing sticky edges and that could be from the fabric that is supposed to be stuck to the metal springs along the edges.

I got mine from this dealer on ebay. Here's a link to a similar part - you have to know the part for your interior color. Link

A couple links - I love the ones that say it's a 15-minute job. It's not.

https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...oramic-sunroof


And this is the most helpful one

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1s...RuSHBvWm8/view

Basically there is a tightly-would metal spring glued along the length of each side of the shade, the spring spools the fabric in and out. The critical steps are that you must slide front edge of the replacement fabric into the aluminum bar at the right time, and that you must insert the leading edge of each spring strip correctly into the plastic channels that run along the roof. It makes sense once you've done it but the first time I did it, I kept finding that steps needed to be done in a particular order or things wouldn't go back together. It took me several tries to get the springs started. Perhaps someone can share the procedure from erwin. I want to buy the factory service manual for this car but have not had any luck sourcing it.

MurrayA4

Thanks yamato72 good post.Will be useful to anyone experiencing this issue.Not cheap that little sucker !

Redd

Thanks, yamato. Lots to read and plenty to misread. It looks like the "liner" has just come unglued from the metal strip that it was attached to on the right side. Surprising that a car maker couldn't use a better glue, but apparently I have to pull the headliner down and see what's in there to find out if I need a new $400 "assembly" or if the liner can perhaps be glued back to the metal strip. And that's ignoring whatever the noisy parts were about.

Always fun. (Not.)

AFAIK there is no "factory manual" for these cars, just the electronic one. Elsawin is commonly sold online, real or not I can't tell you but it is underwhelming software, often just not clear what they are showing and saying, to me.