For some reason, the sunroof will only open halfway through. How can I reset it? Hope somebody can help here

I dont know how to reset it, but I remember reading you can open and close it manually. Have you tried that? There should be a small round hole at the end of the sunroof towards the back which is used to manually open and close it. Read the user manual, i remember seeing it in there

How far back is half way for you ? If i push the button once after it lifts up it goes about half way, then i continue pressing the open button and goes all the way back.

Swift said:

How far back is half way for you ? If i push the button once after it lifts up it goes about half way, then i continue pressing the open button and goes all the way back.

Click to expand...

Push the button once and it tilts. Push it again and it slides by about a foot. Press it once again and it opens by a further inch, where it is fully open. That was what was happening until recently. Now, when I press the button once, it tilts. Press it again, and it slides back by about 5 inches. Press it again, and it further slides by an inch. It won't open further. What can possibly be wrong here?

Tried to operate the sunroof manualy today, it would only open half-way through! Seems the sunroof mechanism is broken... Judging by the relative lack of responses, seems I must be the first person to experience a broken skydome motor....

Going by what your sayings its opening fully. You do realise its only the front part that opens? The rear glass section is fixed?

If its going through the 3 stages, one - tilt, two - half open, three - fully open then your sunroof is perfectly fine

georgios1976 said:

Push the button once and it tilts. Push it again and it slides by about a foot. Press it once again and it opens by a further inch, where it is fully open. That was what was happening until recently. Now, when I press the button once, it tilts. Press it again, and it slides back by about 5 inches. Press it again, and it further slides by an inch. It won't open further. What can possibly be wrong here?

Click to expand...

rosshutchie said:

Going by what your sayings its opening fully. You do realise its only the front part that opens? The rear glass section is fixed?

If its going through the 3 stages, one - tilt, two - half open, three - fully open then your sunroof is perfectly fine

Click to expand...

He said that it was opening normally until recently rosshutchie ....

I have had my new Evo for 3 weeks now and the skydome opens one less inch than when I very first got it. I opened it all the way and manualy pushed it with my hands and it slid all the way open like it did originally but now it only opens, minus 1 inch, but it's not really that much of an issue unless it does what yours does.

Fully open yours and then try to push the glass back with your hands, I realised the runners are greased up and yours may by sticking. And compared to my S1 Grande Punto the electric windows on my Evo cut off the motors once the windows are fully open where as on my grande I could here the motors still trying to lower the windows even when they were fully lowered.

So maybe your skydome is doing this as it feels resistance (maybe caused by sticky runners ) so the motors cut off as it thinks it's open.

Hope that helps

Dealer had a good look and told me that one of the two 'vessels' that fully extend the sunroof is broken. Fiat lists the part at £247 plus God knows how much fitting will be. I'm getting a full cost breakdown before proceeding with the work, will keep you posted.

Spoke with Fiat UK in Slough and they agreed to pay for all parts required for the sunroof, and they are providing a courtesy car from Enterprise Rent-A-Car for the duration of the repairs.

I'm only paying for labour, something I am happy to pay for. After all, the car is nearly 4 years old and has clocked 65k miles.

It really pays to have the car serviced at Fiat dealers after all, whatever the cost.

Very happy with Fiat customer care

WOW thats a result and a half!! So all you have to pay for is labour...winner!

Car is now fixed, both vessels needed replacement, Fiat UK paid for one vessel and contributed £70-odd towards the repairs, I paid for the other vessel and the rest of labour... A few hundred pounds out of pocket, it could have been a lot worse had it not been for LC Motors in Cwmbran who kept costs to an absolute minimum. Dealers like them are a top asset for Fiat UK, can't praise them enough.:worship::worship::worship:

What really upsets me is how flimsy the vessels are. I was shown the part and am surprised to be the only person so far having my sunroof vessels broken, it seems I have no luck with the car. Yet again, if Fiat engineered those vessels to last, say 5 years, they should at least ensure that the replacement parts are reasonably priced. £247 + VAT per vessel does not sound reasonable at all.

Nevermind, at least FIAT UK were kind enough to make a contribution in view of the number of warranty issues I had with the car (26 warranty claims, more than 70 visits to dealers for warranty issues since July 2006!). Yet only 1 fault was engine related (EGR valve), the 1.9JTD is hugely reliable and dependable, yet the rest of the car, in my case, is not. I fear that next fault will see the car being part-exchanged... My patience is exhausted...

Hate to resurrect an old thread, but mine is now acting very similar to this opening about 6 inches, then nothing after that. For the past few weeks it's been a little stiff opening/closing, requiring a little manual effort at times. But now it opens and closes perfectly, but only opening to about half the amount it did before. It feels like the mechanism's getting to the end of the runner, but as I never looked into it before I don't know if the runners extend again or anything. And suggestions before I get it looked at?

try taking out the negative terminal on the battery to reset everything, leave it for atleast 30mins ( i leave mine overnight )

mine was having issue closing, after reset everything works fine again, thank god....

Seems like a common problem on the GP.I have to open to halve way and then push the rest of the way. No way I'm paying those prices to get it repaired.

I've gathered there's something stuck in my left runner from the horrible juddering and scraping it's now making

Managed to close it and it's staying that way till I can get it to a Fiat dealership... which is 3 weeks away. All this lovely sunshine I won't be able to revel in!

Ok, so I've tracked the grinding and scraping down to this loose metal strip hanging from the inside of the left runner:



I realise it's a bit of a long shot, but anybody have any idea what this might be and/or what to do? I'm thinking it could be a contact for the 2nd stage motor, which might explain why that stopped working first, then from me messing it's just got torn more after being loose from all the opening and closing. I checked the other side and can't see any sign of this metal strip, and, no creaking from the right side either.

Your symptoms are very similar to mine. I found the engineer's notes, hope they help you:

'Checked for sunroof fault, removed and reassembled sunroof glass, found offside and nearside glass vessel ribbon snapped. Removed and reassembled headlining, motor and cable runner, and replaced offside and nearside sunroof vessel, retested, ok.'

Prices (12 July 2010)
Vessel (each) £247.83 + VAT
Labour 3hrs.

Sounds exactly the same with regards to the ribbon. Looks like a hefty repair bill for me :banghead:

georgios1976 said:

Your symptoms are very similar to mine. I found the engineer's notes, hope they help you:

'Checked for sunroof fault, removed and reassembled sunroof glass, found offside and nearside glass vessel ribbon snapped. Removed and reassembled headlining, motor and cable runner, and replaced offside and nearside sunroof vessel, retested, ok.'

Prices (12 July 2010)
Vessel (each) £247.83 + VAT
Labour 3hrs.

Click to expand...

Out of interest, had you changed your battery just before it played up? My problems started right after I changed my battery (coincidence, so I thought) but I just read this from the manual. If so it's something every SkyDome owner should beware of after changing the battery:

Initialization of the system:

After the battery has been disconnected, a fuse has blown or the motor has been disconnected, the sun roof system must be initialized once again following the instructions given below.

- Press the sun roof moving button in the closing position and keep it pressed until the roof is completely closed then, without releasingit, wait until the motor clicks (metallic noise) (this should take around 5 seconds after closing).

- Leave the button, then press it again within 5 seconds and keep it pressed for an entire sun roof opening and closing cycle; after the roof is completely closed, release the button.

- the initialization cycle is over.

Click to expand...