Hehe...96cali, at least your humor ligthtens up my unhappiness.
Listen, I have significant info that should be helpful. Hopefully those of you with at least
sunroof know-how might have some insight.
I strongly believe that my track and other mechanisms are intact. One unfortunate thing is that I rolled the top close by hand and now it seems it will not open. My ability to investigate this is hampered by not being able to see down the tracks very well.
BUT...I have some questions regarding the motor. Here's my pics:
The biggest telltale sign to my problem (and maybe I'm wrong here) involves the drive gear (3.) When I power the motor on, I can grab hold of this gear quite lightly with my fingers and hold it, preventing the gear from turning. Is there a clutch mechanism in there such that this would be normal? It seems to me that this gear should drive with force unless the top has "brains" enough to clutch it because it knows there's an obstruction or other problem.
In pic 1, what is this (2) threaded hole? It's directly opposite the gear on the other side. Could there have been a screw in here that did something?
In pic 1, I've noted the part number (3.) Google finds nothing on this. Is this motor a standard sunroof motor? If so, I'd expect it would be alot easier to find than a cali-specific one.
That's all I've got. I hope my info is enough to prompt someone who is smarter than me
to get my butt out of this jam.
The saddest part is
I might not be able to take the ti to Bimmerfest on Saturday! Big Bimmer Bummer.
-mr9