My sunroof will open to the vent position just fine, closes, but will not slide back. The driver side of the sunroof starts to move, but not the passenger side so it gets slightly angled and stops. I have been unable to find any diagrams on how this mechanism is set up, so if anyone has any suggestions or pics of the sunroof mechanism it would be greatly appreciated.

 

The guide for the pop-up mesh air deflector gets broken. Then it jams up the works. I have no idea if that's your problem. You could try "helping":it get open by gently pulling back on the side that's sticking. If you can get it open, you can inspect the deflector track. The deflector pops out easily, and if the broken deflector track is the problem, once you remove it, the window should operate fine.

 

Have you heard of GoOgle?
Here is a result to this very site. https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/how-...overage-11629/
There are a few vids on youtube, here is one (from a chevhhr.net member). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPFD...unto%27sGarage

 

As a matter of fact, I am quite skilled with the google machine, and saw both of those and many others, none of which have anything to do with the issue I am having. English, do you read it?

Just in case you may have confused the post following mine with my original post, here is mine in it's entirety for your perusal:


"My sunroof will open to the vent position just fine, closes, but will not slide back. The driver side of the sunroof starts to move, but not the passenger side so it gets slightly angled and stops. I have been unable to find any diagrams on how this mechanism is set up, so if anyone has any suggestions or pics of the sunroof mechanism it would be greatly appreciated."

Now, I can see how the first response to mine stating how the screen may have jammed my sunroof could have befuddled you, and I am trying to see if I can help the sunroof open to inspect it, but seriously, I was expecting better from you.

Remember, help that doesn't help, isn't help.

 

Seems your sunroof may have a broken drive cable or a foreign object in the track

A used parts source


http://www.partshotlines.com/parts/c.../sun-roof.html

 

Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. There's a couple HHRs with sunroofs in a semi local pick-a part, but it's a 40 mile drive. Trying to avoid wasting a day that I really don't have time to spare, but I guess I'd rather experiment on a junker than my own car.

 

Poking around with a magnet, and I found a tiny piece of metal that is hook shaped, may be what the cable hooks to. Would be great if there was a breakdown of the sunroof mechanism somewhere, but all I find are rough drawings of the entire sunroof assembly. I guess it's considered non-repairable like everything else these days. Looks like I'll be going to the boneyard after all.

 

They might not include the exact fix you want. But, they give a good idea how the thing works, which is what you asked for, with moving pictures.
There are a lot more on youtube, I didn't care enough to look past the first 2.

​​​​​​​Maybe facebook would be more help.

 

The problem is that all the videos show the sunroof opening, but do not show what makes it open. I figured there would be a parts breakdown somewhere showing how the cables connect, but no luck. I avoid Farcebook for technical discussion because maybe 1 in 1000 people have any actual experience, it's mostly 'I think it might be....' where I just need a good graphic of the mechanics. Finding a broken bit says I need to replace parts, so now its off to the boneyard with a battery pack in hopes of finding a functional sunroof.

I just glad it broke in the closed position.

 

How tiny? In the problem I described in comment #2 above, the broken piece is about an inch long with a hook on the end that catches the deflector. Then the deflector gets skewed an jams up the works. This is a common problem. There is a TSB on it. It seems some owners have successfully put the broken piece back in place with JB Weld (which is not the TSB recommendation.) It was discussed in at least one thread here but I couldn't find it.

First I discovered that I could open and close the sunroof by moving it in small increments while manipulating the deflector. (I have long arms.) Then I realized that just removing the deflector allowed normal opening and closing. Driving without the deflector sucks tho.