[Addlight]

My sunroof is slowing down again. I had repaired it several years ago, but it seems the grease I used has gotten gummy. I don't remember what it was.

What recommendations do you have for a lubricant on the cable and gears that resists drying and gunking up?

Thanks,
Matt

[SeanR]

Best bet is the cables that rotate are gummed up and should be pulled out and cleaned, then re-greased. Not much else you can do to make it work well.

[Addlight]

Thanks. yeah, I planned to pull the transmission and then the cables from the tubes and clean it all. But then what grease do I reapply? I don't want to make the same mistake I did last time and use the wrong type.

[SeanR]

I use a tub of lithium grease. Seems to work well.

[Addlight]

Thanks. I have some white lightning lithium grease I use on bike chains. It's a fairly light grease and doesn't gum up chains, so I will try that.

[Addlight]

Got everything apart and cleaned and thought I would share this tip.

To clean each cable, I soaked them in Goof Off to soften up the old grease. After that, I put the end of the cable in an adjustable speed drill. I wrapped a flathead screwdriver with a blue paper towel, stuck that into the groove on the cable and then slowly spun the drill, letting the flathead push the old grease out of the groove as it spun down the cable.

I kept readjusting to fresh paper towel as a section got gunked up with the old grease.

Finally, I scrubbed it with Simple Green and a nylon brush, and the cables are now free and clear.

Matt

[worf]

I found a PTFE dry spray that I’ve been using on sunroof bits.