Just to update everyone who had been assisting me in this forum, and those who are experiencing this issue similar to mine:

 

1) went to the workshop, headliner removed

2) mechanic discovered that panoramic sunroof track is worn out [driver side]

3) he advised whole sunroof track is required to be replaced if want to completely eliminate the noise

4) advised me to head to agent to get it replaced since under warranty

5) he secured and tightened the bolts/brackets, applied some grease

6) now there is about 50% reduction in the frequency of the popping sounds

 

 overall i can hear the difference in improvement, since i left about a year for warranty remaining, ill continue to drive and see if i really need to head to the agent or not.

 

im just glad i managed to see the real cause of the noise now, instead of self-diagnoising.

 

thanks to all who have given me your advise here in this forum.

Curious how it was making such a regular sound - and how many times in its life do you think the roof has been opened to bring about the wear?

 

This tale of woe just adds to the reasons I have for never again buying a car with a sunroof.
 

Last one I had was a Ford Scorpio in 1989 - trouble it was from day 1……….🤠

 

Glad you’ve (hopefully) found the problem.

I'd take that asap to the dealer if it's under warranty. You don't want to convince yourself it's fine only for the motors to fail or the gears to strip a week after the warranty expires.

 

I had a full sunroof cassette replacement on my Passat (assume identical sunroof) under warranty because the motors were struggling and there was popping similar to that sound when it was being retracted

Hope the fact that you have had it stripped down already doesn't prejudice any warranty claim. It shouldn't of course but they could try to claim the fault arose out of taking things apart. They tend to look for any way out. You may wish to keep that to yourself?

Have you lubricated the door hinges and stay? I know rather random, but I had this with a Nissan Micra. I lubricated the hinges and door stay and the ticking stopped. Worth a try.

On 07/10/2021 at 15:52, Berisford said:

Curious how it was making such a regular sound - and how many times in its life do you think the roof has been opened to bring about the wear?

 

This tale of woe just adds to the reasons I have for never again buying a car with a sunroof.
 

Last one I had was a Ford Scorpio in 1989 - trouble it was from day 1……….🤠

 

Glad you’ve (hopefully) found the problem.

I rarely use the sunroof...hence I'm surprised it had been 'worn out '. Perhaps maybe once a month...but not for a long distance. 

On 07/10/2021 at 19:59, Patent said:

I'd take that asap to the dealer if it's under warranty. You don't want to convince yourself it's fine only for the motors to fail or the gears to strip a week after the warranty expires.

 

I had a full sunroof cassette replacement on my Passat (assume identical sunroof) under warranty because the motors were struggling and there was popping similar to that sound when it was being retracted

Yes I'm seriously considering going. The reason why I am hesitant is because I had a bad experience with the Agent the first time. When they passed my car back to me after servicing...there were several scratches to my exterior body and interior had stains. They have no common sense how to look after a customer's car.

10 hours ago, edbostan said:

Have you lubricated the door hinges and stay? I know rather random, but I had this with a Nissan Micra. I lubricated the hinges and door stay and the ticking stopped. Worth a try.

Yes I did prior to removing the headliner. It didn't work at all.

10 hours ago, Steviedakota said:

Hope the fact that you have had it stripped down already doesn't prejudice any warranty claim. It shouldn't of course but they could try to claim the fault arose out of taking things apart. They tend to look for any way out. You may wish to keep that to yourself?

Yes thks for the advise mate.