Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

The little motor that pushes and pulls the spiral worm gear driven sunroof may conk out on you one day. I've seen this on over a dozen L400's already.

Rule of thumb when operating the front and/or back sunroof :

1. Do not open or close it while driving on the highway or speeds over 70km/h or so. This can cause the side rails to shift putting them out of alignment and then straining the motor until it dies.

2. Do not force the sunroof by hand while opening or closing. This will bind the rails and damage the worm gears.

3. If the sunroof is stuck at some point in the open position and will not close, there is a manual retractor. See below.

- pull off the light assembly in the middle above the driver/passenger seats. The clear bezel and dark bezel pop downwards. Use a thin screwdriver to pry it gently.

- There are 3 Phillips bolts that hold the entire bezel on the ceiling. Undo all three and it will hang down via the attached wires. No need to disconnect them.

- using a 4mm Allen socket/wrench, turn the manual crank to open or close.

- when nearing the close stage, it will all of a sudden stop/become very tight to turn. This is the stopping point. Do not force it past this point.

That's it. So if you find yourself with the sunroof stuck open, follow the above directions to close it properly.

I will update this thread with a motor removal/installation when I get the chance to do mine. I've already done it and it's not difficult. Just time consuming.

Nice write-up Jesse. Coincidentally, this happened to me when I came over to pick up the ladder from you back in February and gotta admit though that it was a bit worrying and made for a cold ride home...now I kind of wish I had mentioned it to you before taking off to come back to Victoria.

In my case the issue was that the three screws holding the motor in place had become loose (barely dangling but still there!) and just needed to be tightened up but once that was done, the sunroof opens/closes nicely again. I was able to get it closed and then used this writeup from our Australian deli-cousins to get it sorted.

http://www.delicaclub.com/load.php?id=35

Will definitely watch this with some interest because I've been meaning to pull the motor out for a proper clean and to check for wear but haven't found any good photos yet. Always nice to have someone else lead the way eh?

apparently another common problem on the L400 sunroofs is a stripped plastic gear (wears out over time and use) which can be solved by turning the gear upside down... now I've had not troubles so far, but I remember reading a lot of posts on that particular issue over on the UK site.

I read about this tip before getting my Delica, and when visiting family in the Okanagan, I stopped by Ukrainian Tire, making certain to get myself a set of metric alan keys.

This tip saved my bacon, as I had the sunroof open for slow driving in the Penticton heat, and then it jammed and would not close, and I was facing a rain-soaked return along the Coquihalla... I pulled my alan keys out of the glove box, and manually closed the sunroof!

So thank you VERY much for posting this one Jesse!

No problem

When I got the van originally, the sunroof was "grinding gears" whenever opened or closed but somehow I fixed it (it wasn't motor mounting).
I know there is a problem with the limit switches because if I hit the "Close" button when the glass is closed; it will grind. Same for hitting the "Open" button when its already open. I just remembered and didn't pursue it.

I shuda known better but when we were returning from camping in the Merritt area yesterday, I tried to close the sunroof at speed. It didn't like it and jammed off kilter (just like Jesse warned). Motor is still good and it will travel a bit in either direction before stopping on its own (there must be a safety in the system). fortunately it didn't rain too much on the way home. I have printed out the appropriate pages of the service manual to read as time permits today but if anyone has fixed this specific problem, maybe they could save me some time...

john


EDIT EDIT EDIT

Nevermind;

Got a chance to play with it. I'm choosing to edit rather than delete in case someone could find some value in this post. This worked for me but it may not be the "right" way.

Removed the 2 bolt covering trims, loosened 4 nuts that hold the glass. Unlike me, you should then remove the levelling shims from above these nuts so you don't waste time trying to find em. remove these nuts then remove glass. (heavier than it looks). Now I operated the sunroof buttons until the glass holding arms were back in alignment. Reinstall glass, shims and nuts but don't tighten more than snug. Operate sunroof several times and snug up nuts little by little. When I tightened it up at first, it would close but pop back open (like the safety on a garage door). BTW I only reinstalled half the shims, one on each corner instead of 2. It looks better. I don't think this will affect anything but I will keep them (well labeled) in the Deli's tool kit...

john

I've gone through 2 motors on mine.

The rails are very poorly designed and frail.

I dread the day that my sunroof is open and I can't close it even with the allen key.

It's a shame they didn't incorporate a better sliding mechanism or more durable motor/gears.

jfarsang wrote:....
I dread the day that my sunroof is open and I can't close it even with the allen key....

Like what happened to me tonight. I knew the motor/gear was toast on mine and as it turned out the motor was disconnected from power. BUT I wanted to get the sunroof open to remove the wind deflector.

So I took off the cover and cranked open the sunroof with the allen key. No problem. Removed the wind deflector as planned. Then went to crank it closed and go most of the way there and click click click. The end of the road! Sunroof stuck open and turning the allen key did nothing.

A quick call to jfarsang to get some cool and calm advice and things were fixed in no time. So when this happens to you do this:

1. Remove the mirror and light enclosure.
2. Remove the sun visors
3. Remove the few clips that are holding the front of the header liner in
4. Remove the passenger holy sh!t handle
5. Remove the trim piece around the sunroof opening

Now start to take out the motor.

1. remove the cage - 2 10mm bolts
2. remove the three screws holding the motor in

This was enough to release the pressure that had bound the rails up. We just pushed the sunroof back in and then put the motor back in. Once the motor was in we gave a couple turns on the allen key to make sure it was locked closed and then put everything back together.

Now put everything bqck together and you are golden!

Once I got the word on how to fix the problem it took no time. I think all we used for tools were:

-10mm socket with extender
-philips screw driver

Got to love that sh!t I have really done it this time feeling!

-Mark

this is all good to know. thanks for sharing fellas. crappy design, bad bad mitsu engineers! wonder if it's the same problem in pajeros....?

almost like it should be part of the standard presale service package....check sunroof mechanism..

Pajero's only have rear moonroofs and front (popup ) sunroofs.

The rear moonroof (retracting large glass in the middle) is the same on the lowroof L400's and LWB Pajero/Montero's. The rear system is great except if the water channel gets pluged up. Then you have to clean it /compressed air, otherwise it will rust the rail.

ahh, coolio. thanks!