My 1992 Mazda 323F has an interesting problem with the electric sunroof.

AFAICT what's supposed to happen is that you press the button once for tilt, 
again for half open, and again for fully open.

The first press always works. The second occasionally, and the third hardly 
ever (but it has a few times..)

Pressing the 'close' button always works regardless of position.

I've cleaned out the rails, sprayed around with WD40, done everything but 
take the whole thing apart, which involves disturbing the headlining which 
I'm reluctant to do.

Any ideas?

In article <eSiLe.1981$P.370@fe3.news.blueyonder.co.uk>, PC Paul 
says...

> My 1992 Mazda 323F has an interesting problem with the electric sunroof.
> 
> AFAICT what's supposed to happen is that you press the button once for tilt, 
> again for half open, and again for fully open.
> 
> The first press always works. The second occasionally, and the third hardly 
> ever (but it has a few times..)
> 
> Pressing the 'close' button always works regardless of position.
> 
> I've cleaned out the rails, sprayed around with WD40, done everything but 
> take the whole thing apart, which involves disturbing the headlining which 
> I'm reluctant to do.
> 
> Any ideas?
> 
> 
> 

Change the switch?

-- 
Conor

If Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened 
rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic 
music.

Conor wrote:

> In article <eSiLe.1981$P.370@fe3.news.blueyonder.co.uk>, PC Paul
> says...
>> My 1992 Mazda 323F has an interesting problem with the electric
>> sunroof.
>>
>> AFAICT what's supposed to happen is that you press the button once
>> for tilt, again for half open, and again for fully open.
>>
>> The first press always works. The second occasionally, and the third
>> hardly ever (but it has a few times..)
>>
>> Pressing the 'close' button always works regardless of position.
>>
>> I've cleaned out the rails, sprayed around with WD40, done
>> everything but take the whole thing apart, which involves disturbing
>> the headlining which I'm reluctant to do.
>>
>> Any ideas?
>>
>>
>>
> Change the switch?


That's the problem, it's all buried in the headlining. Also given the 
complexity of the mechanism I suspect there are several switches/contacts 
involved throughout the roof. Can't be an electronic controller for a 
sunroof, surely!

In message <eSiLe.1981$P.370@fe3.news.blueyonder.co.uk>, PC Paul 
 writes

>My 1992 Mazda 323F has an interesting problem with the electric sunroof.
>
>AFAICT what's supposed to happen is that you press the button once for tilt,
>again for half open, and again for fully open.
>
>The first press always works. The second occasionally, and the third hardly
>ever (but it has a few times..)
>
>Pressing the 'close' button always works regardless of position.
>
>I've cleaned out the rails, sprayed around with WD40, done everything but
>take the whole thing apart, which involves disturbing the headlining which
>I'm reluctant to do.
>
>Any ideas?
>
>

You're right about the way it's supposed to work:  It should be two 
separate pushes to open:  The first takes it to the 'tilt' position and 
stops, while the second tilts it further then slides it all the way 
back.

Mine had a habit of sticking at the fully tilted position until the 
dealer sorted it (lubricating the rails, which you've already tried.) 
In the meantime, I just used to raise it as far as it would go, give the 
panel a quick thump, and then press the button again to open it fully.

This sounds like it could be a problem with the switch that stops it 
when it gets to the 'tilt' position.  If you can find it, you might as 
well see if you can bypass it - I never really saw the point in the stop 
at partial tilt anyway. The problem is that it would mean taking the 
headlining down.

The only other thing you could try is inserting the emergency winder 
handle (assuming that the car still has it) and seeing if it needs some 
assistance when it hits a particular point.  I had a problem with the 
passenger door central locking on my 323F, and just repeatedly operating 
the door plunger a few times by hand sorted it out.  I get the feeling 
that some of the motors they used on these cars aren't really strong 
enough for the job, though I reckon the headlight retractors would 
happily remove your fingers.
-- 
David Thornber