13 replies to this topic

[DANS70GLT]

Hey all, new to the forums here!

I've looked around, but couldnt find a similar post. Got a 1998 S70 GLT. The sunroof goes to the vent position fine, but when i go to make it retract fully open, it seems to be jammed. I definitely don't think it's the motor, and as much as i could get my fat fingers in, it seems something is jammed by the wind deflector that comes up(when i was fooling with it i could push one side of it down but the other side definitely felt stuck). Any tips for maybe getting at that area to wedge it out? I'm a little apprehensive about just trying to force the sunroof back, but if it has proved succesful in the past, who knows?

Thanks Guys

[(_8*(l)Homer]

Sorry to hear about that. Sun roof repair can get expensive. The sunroof in my S70 got jammed and I was not able to get it fixed, a shop attempted 3 times and was unsuccessful. I didn't have to pay, but it would have been close to $800. I went 3 years with sunroof that would not open but would leak.

I'm very happy with my newly pruchased V70R, but can hear the grinding in the tracks though

[T5power]

my future recommendation would be (if and when you get it fixed) is to use your sunroof every day, or as much as you can/want to. when i purchased my car 5.5 years ago, it was grinding and clicking when i opened it for a few weeks, but i use my sunroof EVERY day during summer, spring and fall. it hasn't ground or anything since then.

[trs80]

Check your local recycle yard, I pulled a complete Sunroof assembly for less than $40.

[101]

I have a similar situation on my 98 V70. The sunroof vents just fine but will not close if I fully opened it.

Here's what happened to mine:

With the sunroof in the vent position, you can see a black metal drainage channel that goes actoss the rear of the sunroof under the glass. It is attached to the plastic guide rail with two small torx screws on each side. There is a small rubber strip along the top edge on one side of the drainage channel. The drainage channel itself moves back with the sunroof when it slides back, but stays put when the sunroof is just vented.

What happened to mine is that the rubber strip separated itself from the top edge of the drainage channel, jammed one of the tracks and broke the rear of the plastic left side guide rail where the two screws from the drainage channel attach to it. My sunroof will retract, but when I close it, the drainage channel gets crooked and the sunroof jams every time.

This may or may not be your problem, but its somethimg to check since I think these parts all move together as the roof opens.

I haven't fixed mine yet. Superglue - nope. JB Weld - nope. Removing the drain channel - that works but then the roof leaks like crazy. My stealer tells me the replacement plastic guide rail is $135+, and I would have to pull the sunroof assembly from the car to repair it. I think I'll take the junkyard assembly for $50, Alex! And wait for a cooler weekend this fall.

Volvo - why, oh why did you decide to make a sunroof guide out of plastic? Maybe it the same person who decided that the new glue would work just fine under the vinyl of those door panels?

Let us know what you find! There are not a lot of threads on these sunroofs.

[850_GLT_owner]

my future recommendation would be (if and when you get it fixed) is to use your sunroof every day, or as much as you can/want to. when i purchased my car 5.5 years ago, it was grinding and clicking when i opened it for a few weeks, but i use my sunroof EVERY day during summer, spring and fall. it hasn't ground or anything since then.

I had a problem with the sunroof on my 97 850r. As I was closing it from being fully open, it would stop about 3/4 of the way there and start going back to the open position. The problem just went away the more I used it.

[DANS70GLT]

Awesome, thanks for all the suggestions guys! I was out of town for a while I just got back. I think i am just to the point where I'm lucky enough to have a bunch of U-pull it's around so I will definitely check them out for a new assembly. I figure once i have that in my hands, I might as well just start prying away at the old one with nothing to lose I will definitely check that drainage channel and let you guys know any/all of my findings. I'm glad that my sunroof does not leak at all, but i would still like to be able to open it

[Modus]

The 98 sunroof uses an optical location switch.
If this switch get's wet your sunroof will fail to open because the drive doesn't know the location of your roof.
An easy way to test to see if your roof is jammed is to open it manually.

What? manually? Right!

Remove center lights and cover panel. Take out optical drive, I think it's a few torx screws.
Then connect your sun roof motor to an external 12 volt source.
Wires 12 feet or so connected to your battery will work fine. (speaker wire or something)
Easy way to do this is to wrap one terminal of the motor, negative. Then holding the positive gently touch the other motor terminal.
See if you have movement.
In reverse your motor will pop up your sunroof the other way will open the roof. Granted change the polarity of the wires. To do this. Careful you don't touch the 2 wires together or the positive to any bare metal. (remember you have the positive wire connected to your battery with no fuse!) This is just for testing purposes.

If your roof opens it's not jammed, more than likely it's your sensor.

usually if the sunroof leaks the sensor gets hammered and looses home position.
when it's taken out turn the little plastic wheel on the sensor till it can't move anymore. Then place the sensor back into the roof.
Use dashboard sunroof switch to test. If you have movement it's fixed. If not then remove sensor again and move the wheel in the opposite direction and install and test.

( my sunroof didn't work after my roof leaked when parking on a hill in the rain. Found out the rear gasket was leaky and the rain water would pass the drainage holes an leak towards the front of the car through the map lights. Thus screwing with the sensor)

Time 1.5 hours. Cost free. If you need a how to, PM me.

[martintaylor]

Hey 101 back in July 2011,

Did you ever figure out how to fix your sunroof? The issue on my sunroof is exactly the same. One of the plastic pieces on the guide rail (left or right) broke where the edge rail (rear drip rail) is broken that also caused the sunroof to get stuck. I temporarily removed this edge rail. Have you figure out how to replace the guide rail (w/ the broken plastic mounting piece)? If so, is there a way to replace it without having to completely remove the whole frame assembly?

[T5BLACKattack]

Before you do all this, if it is not jammed, check your control module to see if its calibrated, there are two wheels if you pull down the module. The white marks should line up. Go to this link and look for the username BEJinFBK 1/2 down the page, it shows a diagram about what im talking about.

[101]

Hi:

I removed that rear drip rail for a while but that caused a massive water leak. It's surprising how much water actually infiltrates the roof panel when closed and directed away through those drain channels.

I could never figure out a good way to pin or glue (tried both JB weld and gorilla glue) the broken piece back together, so after a year of no sunroof and getting doused when it was raining and I made a left hand turn, I finally gave up and sourced a complete used sunroof assembly from a junkyard in February. The cost of the one rail from Volvo was in excess of $150, and the sunroof would have to be dropped out of the car and disassembled anyway.

Six hours later (with a helper) I was back in business and now I have a spare motor, control module, glass and shade for the next crisis.

[Burn-E]

^ This. You can tear apart the rails but given the cost and effort it's smarter to source a complete assembly from a JY. If you pull the rails you then have to realign the cables which is very time consuming PITA.

[Kevin.]

Mine was stuck for about a week half open. Got it to close and unplugged the sunroof switch. Unfortunately, the only junkyard near me doesn't have a single Volvo

[T5BLACKattack]

Mike, mine did the same thing, follow the link i posted above, this is what caused my problem!