Passengers

Despite being an ex-coupe owner. And despite being asked NOT to touch the sunroof button on my vt6.

within 200 yards of our 2 hour journey my passenger had managed to do it. Two times.

The issue is-the sunroof in coupes has know issues of rust/rot getting in to the metal frame- the rust lifts the waterproof sealings/sunroofs rot more/sealings move more and all of a sudden the sunroof wont run well/gets stuck. I'd spent some time two years ago closing my sunroof-and getting it sealed JUST SO - that there was now whistling noise, no leaking, and it could be forgotten about.

Cue pulling over and 20 minutes mucking around trying to get the sunroof to open, then close (finally managed it by nudging it to shut and using 4 hands, close the weathproof strips down with the sunroof) Cue the gentle blowing of rust from the roof, then when clear all debris, a quick brush off with my a cloth from the boot.

Why don't passengers "get" Coupes need TLC???? And that buttons are not necessarily things to simply be pushed as you would in other lesser cars! :-)

Cue some coup paranoia about what next for the sunroof too.

Passengers huh!


Regards

MM

My kids used to be like that with the rear window switches in our family motor - air con running but had to keep playing with the switches. Que the disable rear windows button. In adults it reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Homer is on an electric hospital bed "bed up, bed down, bed up, bed down..."

Can't you pull a fuse or disconnect the switch?

Or turf the passenger out at the side of the road?

Both reasonable suggestions gents!!!

I should likely pull the switch and disconnect!

Two minute job to disconnect - pull the gearlever gaiter, reach in, push the switch up through the console and disconnect

Shameless plug - I have a superb sunroof assembly for sale ;-)

I used to have a similar issue with my old Alfa GTV ... if the passenger adjusted their seat it would cause the airbag light to come on which was over a hundred quid to be reset. My usual routine when carrying a passenger would be : wait until I have their attention ... tell them I will kill them if they touch the seat ... then unlock the car.

Yep, I had a passenger who insisted on demonstration how he was going to join two incompatible bits of laminated flooring and scuffed the headlining in the process. Then same passenger allowed a trolley to scuff my rear bumper, and then proceeded to drag his fingers along my filthy bootlid just to prove how filthy it was, probably scratching the lacquer in the process.

Thanks Nigel - I've got a good quality one wrapped in the garage for some point of swapping in the future already tough.

I think I will in-plug the switch

Ejector seat? (may need to fix the sunroof first though)

Just a thought,would it be possible to have a rusty sunroof remanufactured in steel and repainted in the body colour ?

Hi Eddy,

What covering over the glass you mean?.

The outcome of previous discussions were (although others can of course jump in and correct me)

1) It's a rather unique size- not found in any other car

2) Spares being almost unobtanium,for it-options for overhaul are limited.

3) There are not too many sunroof coupes out there-so its a problem for a very small group if there was to be a group buy (coupes are a rare enough group in UK as it is).

4) Try and shut them and forget them for the present -while a future solution is considered.

Regards

MM

Thinking of the glass panel in its steel frame,just wondering if someone with the required metal work skills could copy the curvature of the glass and its frame forming the lip for the weatherstrip to fit back on and hopefully fit back on to the Webasto sunroof frame,at present can't really think of another option but at some stage somebody will have to sort out this problem otherwise sunroof version's may become a thing of the past.

Ed.

Thankfully this isn't one of the coop problems I have but it occurs to me you should be able to get a larger aftermarket sunroof and fit it into the sound metal surrounding, or is it the curvature of the glass that is the problem?

It's the rusting inner frame,

The weather proofing seals eventually split with age, rain gets in and eats away at the supporting metal under the glass.

Then you start getting failures to close/open.

Lucky the A/c in mine is working and keeping me nice and cool!

MM

Hi Nigel, is this still for sale?!

I saw this and thought that Nigel was selling passengers? I guess you mean the sunroof?

Only ones with serviceable parts

Body parts?

I've just been through the pain of a sunroof.

It is indeed not the mechanism that is to blame, but the metal surround that the glass is bonded to that carries the seal. Rusts, swells, get stuck, then more pain as it can damage the mechanism.
I had a perfect roof mech and glass an sold it on thinking I would never need it, 6months later I have two sunroof models......
Got a new mechanism for the duff one which came with a perfect glass - it is on now and I love it.
I think one of the issues is not using the roof too - if you open it you'll see the seal carrier breaking down.

If you are scared to try and open yours to check it and won't be able to close it again, you can take the glass out. There are two plastic trim covers vertically positioned under the glass on the ns and os. Pop those off, three fixings each side, then push upwards with a glamorous assistant handy to catch it if it pops out. Be warned - the back fixing is an absolute bugger - designed to be removed when the roof is tilted up I suspect.

No, sorry - sold ages ago