The panoramic sunroof has started playing up on my 63 VRS.

 

It opens fully ok, but when set to close the sunroof comes fully forward, then dips down at the front, then as the rear starts to come down to the closed position it stops around half way down then raises slightly. 

 

I can't see anything stopping the travel or anything that looks out of place. 

 

I can fully close it manually by tilting down the control knob to over ride the sensor, it then closes fully with no clangs or crashes, but I would like it to opperate normally.

 

I have seen somewhere on the web that it is an easy fix (possibly a washer out of place) from what I remember. 

 

I asked at my local Skoda dealer today to see if I could speak to a mechanic, but they said there were none available. When asking the guy at the service counter he said he had not heard of the fault, and suggested it would need a complete new runner.

 

A friend of mine thinks his mum had the same problem on her VW Golfs roof and it was fixed within 2 minutes at her dealer, but he did not know what the fault was.

When have you replaced air filter? Maybe it's clogged so car tries to get fresh air elsewhere?

 

7 minutes ago, nidza said:

When have you replaced air filter? Maybe it's clogged so car tries to get fresh air elsewhere?

 

Air filter or pollen filter?

 

The car had a full service only a few months ago. Only done around 1000 miles since.

 

The sunroof operates the same if the engine is on or off, even when the keys have been removed from the ignition, so I wouldn't have thought it had anything to do with an air filter.

Mine is a 63 plate and has done the same three or four times in the past year.

 

Each time, it does it I turn the car off, lock it, unlock it, open the sun roof a little then close it up again, worked every time so far.

 

I appreciate its not a proper fix but it does sort it for now especially as the dealer can't locate any fault.

44 minutes ago, Mence said:

Mine is a 63 plate and has done the same three or four times in the past year.

 

Each time, it does it I turn the car off, lock it, unlock it, open the sun roof a little then close it up again, worked every time so far.

 

I appreciate its not a proper fix but it does sort it for now especially as the dealer can't locate any fault.

I have tried that many times, it still didn't work. The only way I could originally close it was by locking the car and keeping the lock button pressed which globally closes the windows and sunroof. It lowered the sunroof by about 5mm. After repeating the process about 5 timed it finally closed. 

 

The manual said if you press the bezel in instead of turning it, it will override the sensor. This did not work. I eventually found that if you tilt down on the bezel then the sunroof closes.

 

I have only spoken to the dealer, they have not looked at it.

As this will be a bit vague it may not help much, but when I had a similar problem with mine, the dealer recalibrated the closing sensor while I watched. What is happening is that the sensor thinks there's an obstacle and behaves accordingly (by reopening a bit). In fact it's just detecting the end wall of the recess.

 

I think what he did was carefully close the roof manually (by tilting the bezel) three times in succession: after that it learns the proper closed position.

 

I may have got this wrong. But it might be worth a try.

9 hours ago, Araucaria said:

As this will be a bit vague it may not help much, but when I had a similar problem with mine, the dealer recalibrated the closing sensor while I watched. What is happening is that the sensor thinks there's an obstacle and behaves accordingly (by reopening a bit). In fact it's just detecting the end wall of the recess.

 

I think what he did was carefully close the roof manually (by tilting the bezel) three times in succession: after that it learns the proper closed position.

 

I may have got this wrong. But it might be worth a try.

Thanks for that. I have just fixed the sunroof!  Not by your method, but you put the word recalibrate in to view. After searching recalibrate skoda panoramic sunroof I found this.

Excellent instructions. I’ve just experienced this on a 2016 Octavia, the roof would only ‘nearly close’ and then tilt up again. Without the roof fully closed it would not reset or recalibrate…. Weirdly,  part closing the sun blind caused the roof to fully close, the recalibration process then worked, all sorted again 🙂

Old topic, but, old problem. This has happened to me (early 2020-manufactured last-of-the-MkIII's Octavia wagon "Scout" model) three or four times over the years, always when the car has sat out in the sun for some hours and the car has gotten quite hot. (Which is problematic because here in southern Europe such hot days quite often end with rainy afternoons...)

Sometimes the reset procedure worked right away, sometimes it took a couple of tries, sometimes it took letting the car cool down. I did take the car to a Skoda shop once and of course since they couldn't reproduce the problem they brushed me off.

Anyone know whether this has ever been challenged to VW Group as a design defect requiring a recall to replace (I don't know what part) with an improved design?

How would owners' forums even try to force a recall for such a thing?

regards,