hey guys perhaps you can help me out. on my 95 legacy ls i have the sunroof and it started leaking the other day during a bad rain storm and it leaked really bad. the leak was filling the map light/sunroof control unit with water. needless to say, the next day the sunroof stopped working. i can't open it. i'm not even sure i got to close it all the way before it crapped out. has anyone had this problem? is there any way to manually open or close it? what could this be? i press the open button and i can hear a very very faint hum but not even sure if its the motor or not. and how can i fix the leak? the slider that closes the sunroof off from the rest of the inside of the car was soaked in some spots too. thanks guys.

-mike

oh boy, from what I read, Subaru doesn't sell specific parts for the sunroof, only as a whole. And the friggin thing cost $1000US. Search Nasioc and ask there. A few ppl have experienced this. I'd suggest source the problem and check the junkyard.

Check your owners manual for how to close the sunroof manually. On my 91's headliner, theres a little piece that pops out (like a screw cover) to give access to a place where a crank goes in. You turn the crank to open/close the sunroof. Check the drain tubes to see if theyre clear too.

yea i think i know what you're talking about as far as the little piece that pops out. that's where all the water spits out. i can't figure out how to get it off except prying it off with a screwdriver. as far as the drain tubes, where are they exactly so i can make sure they're clear?

-mike

You have to have the sunroof open to find the drains, so not much you can do now. When you do get it open (and if youre taking it somewhere to be fixed have them clear them and show you how), you just have to look around for holes. Sometimes it helps if you pour some water in there and see where they are from that.

My old '92 leaked a bit, mainly due to clogged drain tubes. Which are on all 4 corners of the "glass area."

I cranked the glass open with the manual release in the ceiling/roof(the crank should be in the center console), then used a straightened metal coat hanger to shove out the crap (pine needles, road grit) down and out. Then I found a bit of WD-40 sprayed down the tubes helped keep them cleaner longer.

If your tubes aren't the problem, then the seal around the glass is shot and needs to be replaced.... big money here cuz Subaru forces you to buy the entire glass and not just the gasket. Junk yard glass may be damaged so you'd just be back in a similar situation so.... bite the bullet and go to the dealer nearest you and buy a new glass assembly. Up here in Oregon I picked one up for my parents '93 wagon for about $250 bucks. Maybe that might be your best bet.

If you want to go really cheap, or at least until you can get a new glass assembly try MARINE GOOP(tm.) works wonders. just put a nice bead of this silicon wonder anound the outside of the gasket and area between gasket and sheet metal. Peals off with a wood popcicle stick nicely.

good luck

okay i may do that, only thing is that it hasn't leaked in a while for some reason. and we've had some heavy rain since then and it doesn't leak now. but the sunroof is still shot, it won't open or close. any idea how to get at the motor or whatever and find out what's going on in there?

-mike

motor can be pulled out back by the manual release crank....once the headliner is removed. Pain in the ass!!!

Though lucky enough the motor is probably still in good shape (fairly protected back there), what could be wrong is water damage to control unit(map light up/down button thingy).

Remove old control unit, find new'er one from junk yard. Just pops on and off, and a couple of wires to plug/unplug. maybe 5 minute repair. easy.

motor can be pulled out back by the manual release crank....once the headliner is removed. Pain in the ass!!!

Though lucky enough the motor is probably still in good shape (fairly protected back there), what could be wrong is water damage to control unit(map light up/down button thingy).

Remove old control unit, find new'er one from junk yard. Just pops on and off, and a couple of wires to plug/unplug. maybe 5 minute repair. easy.

its weird though because the map light actually still works. just not the sunroof controls. can you explain to me in great detail how to get at the motor? i know i have to pull the whole assembly apart, but how do i do that?

1st. remove all screws, handles, window visors...basicly anything holding up the headliner.

2nd. carefully "fold" lilner in half to get it out of the car. Be careful cuz there is probably pooled water up there or maybe not depending on last rain storm.

3rd. should now be able to see sunroof motor assembly. Motor to a wormgrear type meaning you can remove just the motor and not the long track assemblies on either side that retract the roof. before you rip the sucker out use a test light to see if you are getting power to the motor. If you are getting power but it still wont move the motor is dead, but no power means the fuse or the controler is shot. The map lights will still work because they are on another circuit, the roof needs much more power then the tiny lights. the fuse for the roof is under the dash on the driver side by your left foot. The box is about 3" by 3" the roof fuse may be blown.

But what you wrote in the first email it sounds like you got water into the roof controler, I bet if you open the controler up ther is going to be water staining on the wiring (usually a white chalky buildup).

Really I'd exhaust all wiring issues before I tear off the motor (it's rivited on from the factory, you have to re-rivit it back on later, which is a pain in the ass!!!) .

Good luck.

BTW a few "junk yard" web pages out there will sell you the entire roof unit and controler pulled from a wrecked car for about the same price as a new roof glass from your dealer. I did this when my '92 ej22t roof died. Sorry but I don't remember who I bought from (about 5 years ago). Just search for JUNK YARDS on Yahoo! or whoever you normally use.

I learned the hard way about my roof so when my parents roof died (subaru says it's a common thing after 5 or so years) I just went the new roof way and they seem to have had no leaks since.

sounds like a ridiculously hard job... i may tackle it today because i'm really bored.

okay so i looked under the driver's side at the fuse box (3" x 3" box i assumed you were talking about), and i didn't see a fuse named "roof" or "sunroof" or anything like that. there has got to be some sort of fuse for it, i checked in the fusebox in the engine bay too and couldn't find anything. anyway, i'm going to attempt to pull the control unit apart (2 switches + map light). i want to get that off so i can look in there and see what's up. if i press the open close button i can hear a very faint hum but i'm not sure if it is the motor or not. so i'm going to see what's up in there. if you have any more ideas please let me know!

-mike

NOW I AM REALLY STUMPED...

i pulled the control unit out of the headliner and it had 3 metal tabs holding the left side and the center in. the right side i think is being held by a screw which i can't locate to loosen it. well i did get to see the controls from the other side and all the wiring, and the wiring and switches appear intact. there's no water damage, no cut wires, no corrosion, nothing of the sort. my hands smell like electricity now though, so i don't know what that may mean. when i try to press the buttons, nothing happens. i don't even hear the hum now, but no wires got yanked out or anything when i pulled the piece out as much as i could. i can see what you were talking about as far as the manual crank to open and close the roof, but i couldn't figure out how to pull off the little plastic square on the control unit to get at the crank. i tried with a flat screwdriver but it seemed pretty firm in there. i'm starting to think that i'm going to take it to the dealer to have them tell me what's wrong and see how much they want to rape me on the price to fix it....

-mike

that little tab is in there really good eh?

I seem to remember that it was rather tought to get out but a flat bladed screw driver did the job, just be careful but forceful.

Hey too bad you're not on this side of the land of the free, I'd help ya in a heartbeat.

just to make sure you are trying to pull the tab from the center rear of the car right?

I bet your motor may be toast now that you say no more sounds eminate. That sucks.

Try the Dealer but just ask 'em to "look at it" and let you decide later if you can afford the "dirtshoot accupuncture" you'll receive for sure if they tear into a money job like yours.

let me know what you decide, I'm rather interested to hear what the problem is. I'd feel bad If I had steered you in the wrong direction.

well wednesday i'm going to drop it off at a place (not dealer) and have them look at it. he's sure he can fix it. so we'll see how that goes and i'll let you know, but hey thanks for your help!

-mike

im a owner of a 198 legacy and just after a bad rain storm like u my sunroof started leaking, it was not as bas as urs. mine leaked just over my driver sides visor. i think the seal is bad and the gutter is clogged. im goin in soon so they can work on it so when i find out , ill tell ya

okay so its going to cost 250$ to fix my sunroof. i went to a guy, not a dealer... so i don't even want to imagine what a dealer would have charged me. they're going to fix it wednesday. they have to order some part for it, but i didn't ask what it was. i'll let you guys know how i make out.

-mike