'97 SSEi - Sunroof has lost it's mind!
 

Ok... not exactly lost it's 'mind', but it does seem to have lost its memory per se. My power sunroof motor does not know when to stop and start at its given points. For instance, if the sunroof it open in the vent position, and I hit the button to close it, it continues well past the "close" position and begins to open the sunroof all the way back into the roof. Likewise for every other start/stop position it is supposed to know. I have to fiddle with the button, feathering it until it is where it needs to be. How can I fix this?

Ken

Your assembly has probably jumped teeth on the drive gear. You have to drop the headliner to access the drive motor, and realign the gear to the correct position.

Thanks 2K.... would that explain why sometimes it works though? (sorry, forgot to mention that in my original post) When the sunroof pulls back into the roof, often it will grind gears when it disappears all the way back into the roof when it can't physically move any further back. However, other times, that funtion works fine. The only sunroof function that is consistently "not" working is when the roof is tilted up in the open vent position and I hit the button to close it, and it doesn't stop. It just continues to move until it completely pulls the window back into the roof. (sorry, hard to explain.) There are other positions it should know too, but suffice it to say that those don't work either. Would a stripped (or skipped) gear cause all of these symptoms?

When you "express" open your sunroof and it stops at a position where if you hold the button again it will open a little further, don't open it that further amount. You will end up stripping the drive cables, and from what I can determine they are no longer available as seperate service items. You have to buy a complete new assembly.

I am not 100% sure, but I do not think there is an "express" feature on the tilt function. In other words, you have to hold the switch until it is all the way open. If it is "express" opening, it sounds like the gear is out of position.

Based on your descriptions, I still think the issue is the drive gear on the motor has jumped teeth and is out of position.

One further note. Don't do anything that causes the gears to grind. You will end up replacing the whole assembly.