Sunroof stuck in vent position
 

My sunroof got stuck in the vent position - I couldn't close it all the way. It would mostly close so I didn't get too wet in the rain.

I was able to locate the problem - there are two vertical slides or tracks on either side of the sunroof opening that the sunroof slides in. These tracks are slotted to raise/lower the roof as it travels forward and back. The tracks are made of metal so, to keep them from wearing out the guide pins in the sunroof brackets, the tracks are lined with plastic pieces.

In my case, the plastic slot liner broke - the broken pieces hangs down into the slot preventing the pin from sliding back. To get my roof to close, I simply pressed up the broken piece with a screw driver until the guide pin cleared and I was able to close the sunroof. This didn't solve the problem, it simply let me close the roof.

The roof should still slide open without hanging but the vent position won't work anymore.

I offer these insights because I didn't figure all this out until after I had completely removed the sunroof and I wanted to give other owners a hint on where to look before they went through the trouble of removing theirs. It's difficult to get the sunroof realigned with the roof of the van without the help of a second person to check the alignment and removing the roof isn't necessary to finding the broken piece or getting the roof to close.

As far as fixing it - I don't yet know if I can simply secure the broken piece back into position with some glue or a small piece of wire nor do I know if I simply need the plastic piece, the slide, or a whole new roof. If I make some progress, i'll post later.