Hey guys,

I bought an 2006 LR3 SE V8 about 2 months back. It's awesome. I've taken it for several washes and besides a few sprinkles on my head, the sunroof and sunroof drains have worked pretty good. The previous owner said he did some work on the drains without specifying, when i asked about any water in the passenger footwell.

The other day I took the LR3 for a drive-through wash and i did get a little water in the passenger footwell, less than half a cup or so. But it made me paranoid, so I opened the sunroof and put some water into the sunroof catch to see if i could duplicate it. All the water came out where it should (not in the footwell). I closed the sunroof. And then I took apart the passenger side air intake and cleaned out all the gunk and checked the nipple and it is intact but brittle, definitely needs to be redone. Next I checked the passenger footwell and I couldn't see where the water had come from. I took off the glove box and checked the fuse box and nothing looked wet or out of place. I didn't have the tools or time to take out the fuse box and check the drain to see if it was broken from the inside. I went ahead and ordered replacement nipples just in case.

After I assembled everything back together in the passenger footwell, I checked the sunroof again, and the sunroof was non-responsive. Like didn't work at all, neither side of the button. Luckily it closed before it stopped working, but now i cant seem to get it working again. It's been a few days now and it's still not working. I've tried the 20 second recalibration but it's still non-responsive. Tomorrow, I'll get into the fuse box and see about replacing the fuse. But I'm not sure that's it. I've checked mostly every other button on the roof and none are non-responsive.

If i had to guess, I'd say the water in footwell and the sunroof not working are two separate incidents. I think that some water is coming into the sun roof at the back, middle of the sunroof just above my head and instead of draining, it's somehow hitting the sunroof panel motor. I've seen water hitting the sunroof screen. That cant be normal. Also I do notice there is a lot of chatter from the sunroof when i go over any small bumps or ruts and even like traffic lane reflectors. Is that normal? How do I go about troubleshooting the sun roof?

Here's video with audio of the sunroof chatter

Anyone have any advice on how to troubleshoot the sunroof?

 

Pretty sure its a long 20 seconds... at least on mine. More like 34 or so and can only be done running and in park.

Chatter is fixable, but annoying. I think there is a BMW vide out there on the same panel design that uses velcro to stop it. I have to do it to mine still.

Water on the screen is not normal. There are four drains, you need to verify them all.

 

Yeah definitely took longer than 20 seconds on mine, i was having trouble with mine not opening or closing correctly but strangely it came good on its own.
Once you get it open check the tracks for leaf debri as i believe that's what my problem was and clearing it out helped.

 

Ayyyy. ok so issue #2 was the sunroof non-responsive. I must have done the 30 second recalibration routine wrong. I retried it and low and behold it began working again. Thank you guys for the advice on that one. And, after the recalibration, the sunroof chatter stopped. Not sure why. Maybe the sunroof closed but didn't lock into position before the motor stopped, initially, and with the calibration it is now locking into place correctly. Awesome that the calibration killed 2 birds with one stone.

Now, i just need to go in and do the sunroof drain nipple replacement. I'm sure it needs it on all 4 drains. thank you guys for the advice.

 

The rattle will come back. When I head to the western US states where the roads are rough, I either drive with it open or I recalibrate twice a day.

This is not the exact video, but I think the fix is very similar. Basically the panel supports crack and the whole thing is a bit bouncy. Pads help, in this case some velcro pads. I will probably use neoprene foam.

 

I never open it on tracks unless i'm going slow, usually to much dust around. Not noticed any chatter open or closed ?

 

sweet thanks for the video. I will work on this over the weekend and report back. Much appreciated

 

Never said tracks, talking those endless miles of metal roads. The darn thing would rattle so much but opening it would stop it. Unless I reset it, then like I said it will stop rattle for a while. I really think it comes down to the strut support things that are not available separately.