Sunroof: motor or cables?

[FlashingBlade]

I have read all the articles on sunroof woes, but I still have some questions.

Car: 2002 996 C2

Problem: one touch open not working, need to hold down switch and even then does not always want to close, slows down midway closing, generally seems slow

What I have done:

Cleaned the rails and tracks

Put some light lube on various surfaces (Silicone on the surfaces, light oil on the cables)

Disconnected the battery & retrained the sunroof -- which worked for one cycle

Opened the gear box and relubed with lubriplate (be careful, the gears and small spring will fall out)

Ran all this with a battery charger connected so as give full power to the motor

All to no avail.

Question:

Is this likely to be an issue with the motor wearing out? It free wheeled fine with the gears removed.

Or is there too much build up of internal friction with the cable mechanism? More lube and if so which?

Is there a way to diagnose this before I start spending $$ on parts and labor?

Thanks

[Loren]

Did you try to re-train it by holding the button down until it fully opens - plus 10 seconds? Then do the same for closing.

[FlashingBlade]

Yes, I did try to retrain. It worked for one cycle, and then decided to go stupid again. It really slows down half way closing, even when I hold down the deflector. Puzzled.

[Loren]

If it slows down mid-way then you likely have some binding or a bad motor.

[FlashingBlade]

If it is binding, is there a procedure to further diagnose it and fix it? What is the proper lubrication to use for the tracks and for the "ribbons" that slide inside the tracks? My suspicion is that it's just dirty or has insufficient luberication.

[Loren]

As a Contributing Member you can view TSBs - and there is one on the sunroof. Start there.

Just go to the 996 section and search on sunroof.

[FlashingBlade]

Here are some additional questions:

Where does the one touch logic live? Is it part of the motor assembly? Are the limit sensors in the motor or else where?

Here is the reason why i am asking and what I have done so far:

o cleaned some more

o lubed the cables and tracks with a dry PTFE lubricant (found it Home Depot)

o it now closes and opens smoothly

o re trained per http://www.renntech.org/forums/topic/56-sunroof-not-closing-properly/

But, the unit forgets the one touch operation after one cycle.

Note that as part of the retraining, I had to follow both procedures, and at one limit the unit seems to be drawing a lot of current, dash lights dimmed.

Looked for TSBs but did not find anything relevant.

Hence the question above.

Thanks.