Sun Roof Repair

Ok finally have to do it as the sun roof button was accidently pushed yesterday and well it stuck well and truely so had to dismantle to get closed. Anyway the diagnosis is that the rails are missing a few teeth one of the rails is cracked and the gear wheel on the motor has seen better days.
Now for the questions I see all sorts of bits on ebay and differing price ranges for what I want / need.
Has anyone (feel stupid asking this one!) used these repair kits ie the rails and gear motor wheels and what is the success rate? I have always the option to buy a complete new one at roughly £550 just to set in but thats a fair bit to spend on a vehilce that 11 yr old! Although its clean and had all the major work done i.e. clutch etc lrd shafts abd whatever. So I would be glad of any advice or suggestions as to what why where and when ! Thanks

Have fitted replacement plastic parts to replace broken ones (the bits that fit the cables to the mech). It is fiddly, but simple enough. Just make sure that the bits you want are in the kit !!! Many different ones, but they mostly show good pictures. I did mine for £60 both sides and the sliders come apart ok. Do one side at a time then you can check how to put it back together !! See my post on 'sunroof won't stop' - above for more details on how to refit, align motor to mech etc.

Good luck

I would be saving some money and leaving it permanently shut.

Pull the fuse or take the wires off the switch so that no-one can open it again.

I didn't want a sun-roof but try as I might I couldn't get LandRover to see it as a 'delete at no cost' option. I even offered to pay extra to not have one.

I regularly open mine - twice a year - to polish round the edges and pour a litre of water done the drain tubes. I keep the sliding blind thing shut all year round too.

Singvogel.

Well had a look at the rails and it looks like the two things gone are the drivers side rail due to broken teeth and the gear wheel on the motor that drives the cables. So I will order these and give it a go. Is there anywhere that sells the cables just in case? Honestly the whole mechanism the person who designed such a feeble system needs shot with two balls of his own dung !

Just Billy said:

Honestly the whole mechanism the person who designed such a feeble system needs shot with two balls of his own dung !

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Two balls of his own dung!!!!!

What a wonderful expression. First time I've heard that - and that's after 50 years in and around the military.

Perhaps it was the same person who re-located the fuel-pump and filter under the rear wheel-arch.

So that would call for four balls of dung.

Singvogel.

Ha its a local expression known to we ulster scots in Northern Ireland ! Yes the more I experience the freelander the more I keep thinking that maybe those chinese toys we all had as children were not as badly built and designed as matchbox would have us believe! I think the same persons who designed and built Barbie and Ken just continued and carried on with landrover. Is it just me or does everyone else who owns a freelander doubt its off road ability due to the lack of for one, a low /high ratio box? I have this thought in my head that when the going gets tough I have no small lever to change and control things am I right ?

Hi JB

think you may need to have a look on yootube, there is some cracking footage of FLs on there

Thanks for the explanation.

The expression is unknown in NE Scotland for sure. I'm still laughing about it.

As for doubting my Freelander - there are 2 things I have no worries about - the reliability of the TD4 engine, and it's off-road ability.

I've never been stuck yet, despite going places where most UK farmers wouldn't go with a tractor. See where I am at the moment.

The lack of levers knobs and such lets you concentrate on steering the beast through the mud/sand/snow/holes or whatever.

The auto-box also takes away another distraction. Ha ha.

Singvogel.

Thanks A I have been late at getting back to this subject due to health problems and should have combined it with my other post regarding the plastic gear wheel. Anyway to cut to the chase the cables are they available anywhere? Its also my intention when I get the old rails off to take them to a local specialist precision engineer to investigate the possibility of making them out of stainless steel if its cost efficient. I think there maybe a market if they were reasonable enough ?

Have searched youtube and cannot find it must be removed.

how do you go about getting into the sun roof that wont open all the fuses and relays look ok as does the switch but still cannot get it to open any ideas ????
Sorry its a freelander 1

Had a similar problem with mine earlier in the year, it had seized solid. finished up buying the complete side assemblies complete with cables at £99 per side
I bought one of those kits and didn't use it, together with a new (Genuine) cable.
Send me a PM and maybe we can sort something out.

NormanMessenger said:

how do you go about getting into the sun roof that wont open all the fuses and relays look ok as does the switch but still cannot get it to open any ideas ????
Sorry its a freelander 1

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Remove the lens covers oft the internal light then remove the screws to remove the light. Disconnect the wiring harness to remove. Then put a screw driver in the slot in the sunroof motor. You have to push the screw slot in to release the cog/fitting, to be able to turn the mechanism manually.

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/sunroof-help-138399-2.html