[Lemon]

Trying to Fix my Sun roof on my 2001 escape. I thought the motor was bad but it's working fine with no wear on the gear. There appears to be sone chewed up plastic in the cable. The motor turns but the window is not moving with it and moves freely. I'm have removed the frame but I'm not positive what I need to fix or replace. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[tomw]

If the gear, motor and cables are intact, then the panel should not be movable(readily) manually. It is likely the 'chewed up' cables allow slippage around/past the drive gear, and allow the gear to spin without moving the cable. The toothed cables are the mechanism that moves the panel back and forth, and if they slip, the panel will not move.
I believe in the first image you are showing where the cables bypass each other when they travel past the drive gear. Inside the housing, the cables are supposed to be pressed up against the gear, meshed, to enable the gear to pull/push on the cables.
tom

 

[Lemon]

If the gear, motor and cables are intact, then the panel should not be movable(readily) manually. It is likely the 'chewed up' cables allow slippage around/past the drive gear, and allow the gear to spin without moving the cable. The toothed cables are the mechanism that moves the panel back and forth, and if they slip, the panel will not move.
I believe in the first image you are showing where the cables bypass each other when they travel past the drive gear. Inside the housing, the cables are supposed to be pressed up against the gear, meshed, to enable the gear to pull/push on the cables.
tom

Thanks for the response. Your correct on the on first picture, It is where the motor gear would sit.
Could replacing the cables be the solution to fixing it the?

 

[tomw]

If the cables are chewed, the gear will spin... and the cables will just sit there staring at the teeth wiggling by on the motor shaft. And the panel will also remain where it is. IOW the cables must be intact for the thing to work.
I would suggest checking the operation of the glass, sliding back and forth manually to see how difficult it is. It should not bind in any particular position, but should slide pretty easily from full closed to full open and back to full closed. If it binds, it is either damaged, rusty, twisted, or in need of lubrication. I think you should be able to see the areas where the panel rests on the tracks, which would be a good area to apply some lubrication. Generally a light (lithium?) white grease is smeared using something similar to a paintbrush at the factory. You can use fingers, 'acid brush', or a small paintbrush to duplicate. I would clear the tracks prior to adding just so the application is sort of equal across the surface.
tom

 

[Lemon]

If the cables are chewed, the gear will spin... and the cables will just sit there staring at the teeth wiggling by on the motor shaft. And the panel will also remain where it is. IOW the cables must be intact for the thing to work.
I would suggest checking the operation of the glass, sliding back and forth manually to see how difficult it is. It should not bind in any particular position, but should slide pretty easily from full closed to full open and back to full closed. If it binds, it is either damaged, rusty, twisted, or in need of lubrication. I think you should be able to see the areas where the panel rests on the tracks, which would be a good area to apply some lubrication. Generally a light (lithium?) white grease is smeared using something similar to a paintbrush at the factory. You can use fingers, 'acid brush', or a small paintbrush to duplicate. I would clear the tracks prior to adding just so the application is sort of equal across the surface.
tom

Thanks. Do you happen to know where I can buy the parts?

 

[Mountain Escape]

Thanks. Do you happen to know where I can buy the parts?

Welcome to the city, lemon.
White grease, and a parts brush? Any hardware store/auto parts store near you

are you seeing wear on the drive gear? I am not seeing wear on the cables, just the plastic sheath. Without the drive mechanism installed, the glass should slide like butter… since you got it all torn down, I would suggest picking all the plastic out out of the worm gear.

I think the cheapest solution for parts will be a scrapyard.

If the drive screws are not making contact with the driver, I will suggest that one of your gearing mounts has possibly broken/cracked.

I have occasionally had luck with flipping the gear in its mount, to avoid the flat spot where it has rested for 20 years.

 

[ProjectSHO89]

Make sure the attachments for the drive cable to the glass aren't broken. Common failure.

 

[Lemon]

Make sure the attachments for the drive cable to the glass aren't broken. Common failure.

Do you know where I can buy the parts? I'm several hours one way from the closest junk yard. I'm struggling to find a place to buy parts. Local aut store us a bust

 

[ProjectSHO89]

As far as the parts I mentioned, only place I ever found was online. They sold upgraded metal parts that were guaranteed to never break. I bought and eventually installed them in my now gone '07 Mariner. They were expensive, somewhere around $125-150, IIRC.

Ford only sold the complete moonroof module.