2001 Forester Sun Roof Not Closing

[Susie]

I have a 2001 Forester with a sun roof that isn't closing properly.  It's hard to describe what it is doing so I'll do my best...

 

When the sun roof is opening, the sun roof drops down at an angle in order to move back into the channel.  When it closes, the last thing it does is lift up in order to seal the sun roof closed.  This is where the problem is - when it closes, the sun roof doesn't lift up in the back resulting in leaving the channel exposed. Whatever is the mechanism that lifts the sun roof isn't working.  The other thing is that the shade can't be opened - it does move back when the sun roof is opened, but it can't be opened when the sun roof is closed.  I assume this is because the back of the sun roof is still slanted down so the shade can't move back.

 

Has anyone experienced this problem with the sun roof and if so, what did you do to fix it?  

 

Thanks very much!

 

Susie

[lmdew]

Most likely stuff in the track.  You have to drop the headliner to get the sun shade back on the tracks.  Time consuming but not too bad. 

 

Don't try pulling all the plastic trim when it's cold, they break more often.

[upnorthguy]

I did some sun roof work on my 95.  In my case, the rear drip tray got damaged and came out (prior owner) which resulted in a leak.  The only way to repair it was to take the track apart, which I wasn't interested in doing).  My sun shade was also totally out of the track.  

I found it much easier to just replace the entire assembly (sun roof frame, that included the glass and the sun shade) from a salvage yard car.

 

But before you dive into anything like that, see if you can figure out what is out of whack with the mechanism.  Here is a youtube vid that might be helpful for how the mechanism works:

 

here is another that shows a Forester sunroof mechanism in motion (glass removed)

 

Also, are you able to have the sun roof pop up using the motor (you know, instead of having it retract to the open position, you can choose to just have it tilt up so the back edge is up and the front edge is still down)?  If you do that, are you able to open the sun shade?

 

I agree with lmdew, be careful when removing the plastic trim (if you get to that point).  There are little clips every so often and if you don't pull pretty close to them, you can break the trim.  I ended up breaking one piece, but replaced it with another salvage yard swap..  I found it hard to remove the round plastic clips in the center of the headliner without destroying them.  Hopefully you won't need to get headliner removal...not hard, but definitely took some time.