For the select few who are dealing with the sunroof cassette "chatter" or plastic cracking, this thread covers a possible alternative to purchasing a brand new sunroof cassette for at least $600 in parts alone. This guide will hopefully help a few people understand and go through a few steps to fix the sunroof cassette.
First let's start with the ever common Sunshade Clip Issues:
http://www.lincomatic.com/e46sunroof/e46sunroof.html
http://www.csfrancis.net/BMW/sunshadediy.pdf
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1388821
So you have played with your clips/sunshade. Maybe luckily it should have been a 1 Hr Fix and a few bucks to replace the clips. (They are cheap via RMEuropean). However there is a chance you have the following noise issues as seen in both youtube videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0yveQQVWrU&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruwjIuFEEo8
There can be a number of problems:
- the sunroof cassette in the front side of the housing ruptures causing the cable to fall out
- the cables are misaligned/kinked
- the cable tracks are lodged/dirty causing an inconsistent track
- one or more parts of sunroof mechanism is faulty causing cables to wreck havoc on the cassette & entire sunroof mechanism.
I ultimately had the worm cable come out of my housing which destroyed my sunroof system. The next best step would be to drop the headliner with the following guides:
http://m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=222481
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=759871&highlight=headliner
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=222850&referrerid=46330
http://www.yellowmann.net/forum/showthread.php?t=142
http://www.e46fanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=588646
My suggestions for dropping your headliner is either to do it fully or just drop the A/B Pillars and the few clips near the driver's side. At that point you should be able to tell if your housing is broken and if the cable is breached. My cable had breached and I could see it literally drop down the headliner. :facepalm:
First let's start with the ever common Sunshade Clip Issues:
http://www.lincomatic.com/e46sunroof/e46sunroof.html
http://www.csfrancis.net/BMW/sunshadediy.pdf
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1388821
So you have played with your clips/sunshade. Maybe luckily it should have been a 1 Hr Fix and a few bucks to replace the clips. (They are cheap via RMEuropean). However there is a chance you have the following noise issues as seen in both youtube videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0yveQQVWrU&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruwjIuFEEo8
There can be a number of problems:
- the sunroof cassette in the front side of the housing ruptures causing the cable to fall out
- the cables are misaligned/kinked
- the cable tracks are lodged/dirty causing an inconsistent track
- one or more parts of sunroof mechanism is faulty causing cables to wreck havoc on the cassette & entire sunroof mechanism.
I ultimately had the worm cable come out of my housing which destroyed my sunroof system. The next best step would be to drop the headliner with the following guides:
http://m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=222481
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=759871&highlight=headliner
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=222850&referrerid=46330
http://www.yellowmann.net/forum/showthread.php?t=142
http://www.e46fanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=588646
My suggestions for dropping your headliner is either to do it fully or just drop the A/B Pillars and the few clips near the driver's side. At that point you should be able to tell if your housing is broken and if the cable is breached. My cable had breached and I could see it literally drop down the headliner. :facepalm: