Electric sunroofs back in the late 80's were still a pretty snazzy gadget to have, it was an option on a lot of models and a lot came with them as standard high up in the ranges.
15 or so years later most of them still work just fine, the mechanisms are very reliable if a bit heavy and impeding on headroom.
However the roof panel had a large rectangle of multi ply cardboard stuck to the underside of it to sound deaden the panel. It did its job very well, only this is card doesn't last very long when its exposed to extremes of temp and humidity. As a result it droops down and catches the sunroof and jams it.
So you either live with it or sort it.
This is not a 10 minute job, its not overly complex or complicated, its a long task and a lot easier if you have a helper. Its easier on hatch versions compared to the chamade as well.
What you need, patience, T30, 10mm socket and T20.
You need to remove the interior, that means all the plastic side panels, rear seats, rear speaker side shelf supprts etc.
Remove the sunvisors and the central lighting plip housing.
The headlining is held to the underside of the sunroof mech by velcro strips.
I use a long wide chisel to get in between each side to remove it, be very carefull not to bend the headlining.
On the hatch pull the headlining out the boot carefull not to snag it on the front headrests, on the chamade you can actually work it out the rear door. Or you can leave it in but I DO NOT recomend this.
Put the headlining somwhere safe, a nice double bed for example. If its dirty its a good time to clean it.
With the headlining out of the way you will see its a pretty big mechanism. You will also notice 4 rubber drain tubes, one at each corner. On this car I noticed this on the front drivers side. It was scraped back to metal, kurusted then greased
the front end has 2 10mm nuts holding the frame to the roof, you need to loosen these as leaving them tight and the sunroof dropping will bend the roof
this is what pivots on those nuts!
The side bolts are T30's, theres 6 in total.
2 ways to do this, undo the rear 4, loosen the 2 front ones and the 10mm nuts and get a helper or make a prop to hold the back end of the mechanims. or remove it totally.
You need to pull the rear drain tubes off if just dropping it or if you fully unbolt it pull all 4 tubes off.
Either way will allow access to the card, in this case I dropped the mechanism and balanced it on the headrests as i can't support it, take pics and remove the card at the same time.
This is the culprit, as you can see the bit thats folded back under was done by the slide cover and you can see where the thick part of the card has bene hit by the glass tryign to go back. This needs to come off. This normally pulls right off no problem.
You can leave it with nothing as I tend to do and I have not noticed any more noise or you could dynamat it, although adding more weight to the worst place isn't a good idea in my book.
A point to note, the rear of the headlining may get wet in heavy rain as can the front. Even if the tubes are attached and not blocked. Its due to the mechanisms construction. Renault issued a dealer fix which was to add mastic to the front and back, the 2 parts of the mech are spotwelded together and water creeps through the gaps between the spot welds. So you run a bit of mastic on the edge, this pic shows, its not the best but was the best i was managing.
Now its a case or reassembly! Pretty easy job, only tricky due to the weight of the thing. Like I said easy with a helper but I do them solo all the time, so if I can you can!
Before it only opened this far
now all the way back
Long job but worthwhile!
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