I've had the same problem with my moonroof malfunction on my 2009 TCH. In my non-professional opinion, it look like an alignment problem. When I try to open the moonroof it starts to move back before it has fully recessed into the roof cavity, this causes the weather stripping to bind on the top of the roof. This happens to varying degress from no problem at all to the point where the motor safety shutoff kicks in and stops the MR from opening.

First trip to the dealer, the recognized the problem and said they would order the parts. I didn't ask what parts exactly they were fixing, but they seemed to have it under control.

Get the call to bring the car in and I ask what parts they are replacing, they said they ordered a new weather stripping. I said "that didn't seem like the problem" but I don't want to tell them how to do their job. Sit in the dealer for 1.5 hours and they say, "well that didn't do it", and I say "I know."

I then ask them "what now", they tell me I have to bring it back on a day when a qualified technician can look at it, but they will probably have to replace the rails. HA! Not after I read this post:

So I tell them I need to talk to the service manager, he's not there.

I look up some posts and see the TSB about the moonroof rattle. It's a simple fix to realign the moonroof on the rails with 4 screws, seems like this would be a good place to start with my misaligned one. I go back into the dealership and talk to the service manager. I now proceed to tell him what he needs to do and show him the TSB and show him how the MR looks like it is high 2 corners when closed and low in the other 2.

He agrees and says he'll give it a shot. 30 minutes later they drive my car out and say it's all fixed, I say "I know." I check the functioning myself and it works great now. And I tell them I won't charge them this time.

So if you happen to have this same issue, I would politely suggest that they take a look at the moonroof rattle TSB and perhaps start there as opposed to smashing a glass moonroof in your passenger compartment.

 

WOW! My 07' has the same issue. I took it to the dealer and they just lubed it. Problem is still there. Anyone have a TSB number on this problem?

 

Here's an actual download of the TSB. It's not actually for the binding issue, but it does show the dealership how to adjust the moonroof to the proper specs.

http://www.geocities.com/dave12301/C...e-nv006-06.pdf

 

Moptop thanks for the link. I read through it and it's for a rattle not the binding issue. The last step however is to re-initialize the moonroof. I think I'll try that and see if it has any effect. Everything else seems to be working fine.

 

That's what I said in my above messages, it simply shows the dealership how to readjust the moonroof. I tried the re-initialize first myself and it had no effect on the adjustment, it simply tells the computer where to start and stop. My moonroof, as I suspect with yours is actually slightly twisted on the mounting brackets attached to the rails. Take a look at the moonroof when it is in the fully closed position from the outside of the car. Is the weather stripping exactly the same height from the roof itself or do some areas seem high and other corners seem low?

Just as a warning about the re-initialize, when I did it I somehow didn't follow the steps exactly and it didn't fully complete, fudging the operation so that the buttons didn't actually do the operation they were supposed to. It took me 15 minutes of trying to reset and redo the step exactly to get the operation back to normal. I was getting worried I was going to have to take it into the dealer like that and then try to explain. Not something I bet they would take to kindly.

 

Good advice. Looking closely at the alignment it looks like it is sitting properly when closed. I'll play with it in partially open positions and see if I can detect any misalignment that way.

 

I apologize for not following up on my repair as I said I would.

The dealer adjusted my moonroof and this fixed the binding problem. A few days after the repair, I washed my car only to find that the repaired moonroof leaked! The weatherstripping was distorted because the misaligned moonroof had been in that position for so long.

The dealer ended up replacing the entire moonroof - no problems since.

If the dealer simply fixes the alignment on your moonroof, I recommend you perform a leak test.