Giulia Ti Q4
2018 Model Year
09/2017 Build Date
5/11/2022 - The sunroof became stuck open. Driver side would close completely, but passenger side would stay in the tilted position.
5/12/2022 – Drove 1-hour to my nearest dealer and asked questions. The Alfa Technician looked at it for ~1 minute and said I needed a new assembly (they weren’t being cavalier about it, they
had replaced two sunroofs within the past couple weeks). Vehicle is out of warranty. Alternatively, he said he could try replacing just the cable, but that this was likely only a temporary fix. It would allow me to close the sunroof, but would be expected to break again in the future.
A second dealer said it was a
common problem and needed a full assembly, price was verbally going to be $2,500 - $3,000.
A third dealer said it was
common on 2018-2019 model years. I did not request a quote.
Prices:
Full Assembly Replacement ~$2,500.00 - $3,000.00
6ZQ74U7BAA SUNROOF $1,900.00 (parts) ??? (labor not quoted)
Cable Replacement Only (described as temporary) ~$1,100.00 before tax
68417429AA CABLE KIT $164.00 (parts) ~$880 (labor)
None of the dealers could offer a loaner or get me home, so I decided to think about my options on the hour drive home.
5/13/2022 – Sunroof repaired.
My Problem:
Passenger side of sunroof will not seal, stays in tilted position.
View: Standing at the
driver’s rear wheel, sunroof tilted open, looking below the glass.
Legend:
Metal Guide Sleeve,
Plastic Alignment Adapter,
Screw mounting the plastic alignment adapter
View: Standing at the passenger’s rear wheel, sunroof tilted open, looking below the glass.
Legend:
Metal Guide Sleeve,
Plastic Alignment Adapter,
Screw mounting the plastic alignment adapter,
Cable that pushes and pulls the sunroof into its positions
You can see in the
passenger view that the metal guide sleeve became unseated from the plastic alignment adapter. This is an issue because when the (very rigid) cable is pushed and pulled by the sunroof motor, the metal guide sleeve now gets pushed and pulled toward the back or front of the car instead of moving the sunroof mounts along their guide rail.
Knurling on metal sleeve – You can also see some knurling on the metal guide sleeve (the grooves that make diamond or x shapes). This is done to give the Plastic Alignment Adapter something to “grab” when the metal guide sleeve is pressed into it. The knurling is very shallow, and there is no evidence of any type of epoxy, so the two parts may not have sufficient hold strength compared to the push/pull force of the cable.
View: From the
passenger seat looking towards the passenger rear wheel, sunroof slid back, looking below the glass.
Crack in Plastic Alignment Adapter – Also contributing to the broken sunroof is this crack in the plastic alignment adapter, which I honestly didn’t notice until writing this post. The crack was likely caused by up/down forces from the cable due to pushing. (Think about holding a thick rope between your two hands, and pushing one hand toward the other. The rope curls instead of pushing your hand away. In the case of the Giulia, the cable curls and exerts a force on the metal guide sleeve and the plastic alignment adapter.
Root Cause Hypothesis:
The push/pull of the cable during normal use of the sunroof exerts a force on the walls of the Plastic Alignment Adapter. Over time, this force will cause the Plastic Alignment Adapter to crack. Once the crack forms, the friction force between the Plastic Alignment Adapter and the Metal Guide Sleeve is reduced, and no longer sufficient to mitigate the push/pull force of the cable. Continued normal use of the sunroof, and thus continued push/pull of the cable, will cause the Metal Guide Sleeve to separate from the Plastic Alignment Adapter.
How did I fix mine so that it would close again?
- Remove sunroof glass. This is the only step that having a helper is valuable for, because it can be awkward to lift off after removing the six (6) screws.
- T25 Torx – Two (2) external and one (1) internal on both the driver and passenger side, for a total of six (6) screws.
- Remove Plastic Alignment Adapter screw. Photo below is from me standing in the sunroof hole looking down. You can see the screw that holds the Plastic Alignment Adapter has been removed, allowing the Plastic Alignment Adapter to rotate and slide on the cable.
- T25 Torx – Accessed from the bottom using a ¼” wrench with T25 Torx bit. Be careful not to drop your Torx bit into the void.
- Slide the Plastic Alignment Adapter back onto the Metal Guide Sleeve.
- Drill a SHALLOW hole in the Plastic Alignment Adapter that is equal diameter to the metal wire from a clothes hanger. Be careful to NOT penetrate into where the cable moves.
- NOTE – I’m not sure I would do this in hindsight. It will weaken the Plastic Alignment Adapter, and give another location for a crack to generate.
- Bend a clothes hanger piece (1-2 inches long) so that one side goes into the hole you just made, and the other can be secured to the Metal Guide Sleeve. (see photos below)
- Epoxy the **** out of what you just did, but not too much, as you don’t want stray epoxy around anything that moves (which is everything surrounding where you are working).
- I used standard JB Weld in my fix. It’s the light gray stuff.
- Let dry according to the instructions on your epoxy. (15-24 hours for mine)
- Mount sunroof glass back on the rails. (secure, but not super tight)
- There may be instructions out there about proper mounting, but I did it like wheels on a car, finger tight in a diagonal order.
- Hold your breath and attempt to close the sunroof.
- If it closes, check it from the outside and make sure the glass looks evenly spaced and that the rubber seals all look good.
- Then open back up enough to tighten securely. I’m not sure if there is a torque setting. From the factory, they used what looks like red loc-tite on the screws. I just put mine back in with no additional epoxy or anything.
- If it doesn’t close, cuss a lot, and maybe try again. You’re probably not out any money, and the dealer will still want to replace the entire assembly.
In hindsight, I would have also done something to try to repair the crack in the Plastic Alignment Adapter, but that’s a job for another day. I don’t plan to use the sunroof from here on out, because I don’t get enough joy from hole in the roof to make the $3,000.00 fix worth it. Not to mention having to figure out what to drive for a couple weeks with the car at the dealer.
Prevention:
Based on what I learned doing the above work, I
think this can be prevented by reinforcing the plastic alignment adapters around the circumference, and putting some epoxy at the point where the Metal Guide Sleeve meets the Plastic Alignment Adapter.
I’ll leave this work for another good citizen.
Special Thanks:
My Dad - who always worked on his vehicles before going to a dealership. If you don’t have money to burn, maybe you have spare time and a good head on your shoulders to figure it out yourself.
Neighbor Bob – who helped me along the way and had the idea to attach the two pieces with a hanger, and executed that work flawlessly. Bob has a sweet Corvette, a great lawn, and very friendly dogs.
Haynes Manuals – these may not be around anymore, but they walked me through many vehicle repairs in my teens and twenties. I’m looking at you 1989 Toyota Celica, and 2003 Mini Cooper S.
Forums – like this one, which fill in the knowledge gaps for the community when someone gets a wild hair and decides to say, “Screw the dealer, I can do this one myself.”
