OSS - The Good And The Bad

Hello,

I purchased my car with the knowledge that the OpenSky sunroof was not working, and had been left closed and disconnected.

With summer fast approaching, today, I tried to work out what is wrong with the sunroof and potentially to see how I could replace parts, if they were in need of repair. After some gentle persuasion, some pushing and pulling of glass panels and a fair amount of annoyance at how the system behaves when trying to operate, I managed to get the OSS fully open! It looks great!



Now, the bad news. The roof is very jerky, it shudders on the horizontal movement phases of the sequence and then will not lift without persuasion when 'stepping up', if you get what I mean. The motor pinion and the cable drive click a lot, as they jump past each other. Pushing the glass physically stops the clicking, but is obviously not how the roof is supposed to operate. The motor pinion looks in good condition, so I don't think it's the cause.

Is this likely to be the cables that are overly worn, the runners/tracks being either broken, worn or dirty, or something else?

All help would be appreciated.

Regards,

Matt.

Hi Matt,
I would suggest cleaning the runners and seals and using the correct silicone grease to see if that helps. You have to open and close the roof a few times to remove it all. Then re apply the new stuff!

There are lots of good threads on the subject and something i will be doing this week on mine.

I dont want to pay Audi prices for a small tube of grease, so i am looking for something suitable available locally. If anyone can recommend something?

Would this be suitable? http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=281489010831

You find the answer in this thread: http://www.a2oc.net/forum/showthread.php?27192-Opensky-lubricant

Thank you both for the help.

An interesting development though, whilst the motor pinion is in good condition, there appeared to be slight wear to the centre of the pinion. Inserting two washers on each bolt between the motor and cables moved the pinion to a fresh section, and the clicking is greatly reduced; I even opened it once with no clicks at all!

Regarding lubrication, I chose to clean off all of the existing lubrication and dirt, and then coated as much of the mechanism as I could with Silicon spray.

The problem still exists though, even with fresh lubrication and a repositioned motor pinion, it still occasionally clicks, the first panel judders badly when sliding and at some points pulls sidewards such that the roof 'crabs' on the track; this is when the clicking occurs I think.

What do we think then? Could it be I need to remove the glass panels and give the entire mechanism a thorough clean? Do I need to install the small metal repair piece to stop the roof 'crabbing', as documented on the forum?

Naturally, I don't want to keep opening and closing the roof with it clicking because this will wear the motor pinion more. The glass panels just seem stiff on their tracks, and the fresh lubrication hasn't cured it.

Regards,

Matt.

Is there any way that you can disconnect the motor / pinion to allow you to manually slide the roof forwards and backwards perhaps with some WD40 sprayed in the runners to help loosen the dried out grease?

Also try cranking the whole mechanism by hand using the key behind the front interior light unit. At least that way you can control just how far it moves each way?

Or for more speed, find a hex key that you can cut and fit into an electric drill so you can spin it forwards and backwards as little or as much and as quick or slow as you want?

Steve B

Matt,

You mentioned previous posts regarding repair of the OSS, mine was similar and I found that squeezing the drive section of the cables together as shown below definitely helped.



In addition, as Steve has suggested, manually moving the panels after removing the drive motor is useful when cleaning the tracks and allows you to feel any tight spots in the mechanism.
To check the cables, observe the drive section when moving the panels and you will see whether there is any slack in the drive indicating if one or both of the cables have become detached from the sliders.

When reassembling make sure you synchronise the motor and roof position otherwise you may find it tries to pull the roof closed after it's already reached the end of its travel.

Steve

Thank you both.

I've tried moving the glass using just the crank handle but to no avail; the mechanism still clicks badly. I was going to slide the glass by hand with the motor removed, but unfortunately I couldn't use the crank to open it that first little bit, hence the glass is now locked shut.

I have, however, arrived at a conclusion. I'm fairly certain one of the cables on the right hand side has snapped or become detached. The lock struggles to open on this side, and so cannot provide enough torque to even lift the glass now. I have no way, as far as I know, of checking the cables to see if they are detached or snapped because when viewed from diagrams, they look to be inside the frame of the OSS. Is it possible for them to be detached? How would I go about checking their condition with the roof shut?

There's instructions on ElsaWin regarding how to change the cables, but it's simply too big a job for me. Perhaps one for Tony!

Many thanks,

Matt.

Matt,

You can operate the mechanism manually with the motor removed. All you need to do it to unclip the securing sliders on either side of the roof (at the front), this will release the first section which can then be slid back. Once you slide this far enough it will contact the rear panel and this will also lift and open. It should be relatively easy to do this once the initial clips are released. However please make sure that you can reverse the process as a broken (closed) sky is infinitely preferable to a broken (open) sky!

It's actually much easier to do in practice than it is to describe in words.

Steve

Thanks Steve.

The good news - I got the roof open again and managed to work the first panel across the sliders a few times.

The bad news - There was obviously a lot of slack in the cable, so I'm assuming it's broken or detached. The right hand front corner seems to be where it is broken, but I can't pinpoint exactly how or where.

The really bad news - I'm not sure what happened, but the OSS is stuck open! The left hand side closes and locks okay, but the right hand side will not sit flush with the roof and is not sealed. It seems like the front right slider part will not allow the glass to pivot downwards to sit flush and lock. It's almost as if there is something stuck in the mechanism that's stopping it, but I can't see anything. Does anyone have any advice for getting it closed please? I'm really stuck.

Once it is closed, it'll certainly be staying closed!

Regards,

Matt.

I would suggest talking to Tony @ A2 Cars, Milton Keynes. He's refurbing my OSS soon which was stuck open like yours.

Good on you Matt for tackling this. I attempted using the manual method once, and then thought better of it in case it did indeed stick open.

In addition to contacting others, have you asked Tom (the Guru) Timmus?

His knowledge extends to the OSS, as one would expect

Good news! The roof is shut and sealed.

The first panel couldn't close because the slide had somehow become slightly bent, such that the front end would sit flat on the track, but the rear stayed stuck up. The slide has been pushed back down with a soft hammer, meaning that it is back to how it should be; which has allowed me to fully close the roof.

Not being able to close the roof is strange because it worked okay for a few times, the reason behind it I think is either I've bent it somehow when trying to open the roof or the broken plastic/metal pieces that were sat on the track have forced themselves under the slide and the resultant pressure has caused the bend. Either way, I'm glad its back to normal.

I certainly won't be attempting to open it again, it's simply not worth the risk.

MikeMarsUK said:

I would suggest talking to Tony @ A2 Cars, Milton Keynes. He's refurbing my OSS soon which was stuck open like yours.

Click to expand...

Thanks Mike.

I'll try and talk to Tony regarding a repair to the OSS if I can make it to the A2 Cars open day.

johnmed said:

In addition to contacting others, have you asked Tom (the Guru) Timmus?

His knowledge extends to the OSS, as one would expect

Click to expand...

I haven't, unfortunately. Although this is a good call.

Everything is shut now, but thank you for the help.

I have a bit of slack in the take up of the motor on mine, is this something that is worth remedying? So as you open or close there is a delay between the motor spinning and the roof starting to move. The roof moves freely but just a second or so delay which from knowing other cars is not how it is supposed to be. Any guidance would be appreciated as otherwise it is perfect. J.

There could be a long list of reasons why , your beat bet would be to remove the headlining , give the runners ect a good clean and re lube so everythings in good order, advisable to use plasic sheets over the interior, seats and dash ect, check the cable tubes that run from the motor to the alloy channels at each side for any movement as that would be my place to check first and bassically watch closely as your opening or closing to try and suss where the problem may be ...

Hi,

I'd fully agree with Gary that the metal tubes from the motor should be the first place to check. If you pop the front interior light out, then when you press the roof buttons, the gold tubes should stay still - if they move from side to side, then they are not secured by the cast motor mount properly. This is effectively what is wrong with my roof - and I don't know how it's fixed, as there is no adjustment to secure them.

Regards,

Matt.