moonroof

[Willie Anglin]

Moonroof, mmmmmmm, good, open or closed, love to vent the back window and open the moonroof where it is open at the back (glass angled up). Had moonroof on many Ford products and never had a problem. Just sold a 93 Linc M8 with 146K on the od and it worked great, did not leak. I guess the major drawback would be loading between the lugage bars.

 

[EddieS'04]

I agree the factory oem is a nice unit. But I say no. The one on wifes '01 escape leaked. It wasnt pluged drains. Thay replaced it under warranty. It started leaking again after the warranty. I sealed it with rtv and disconnected the switch.



The one on her '08 escape is leaking now. Out of warranty. It is her problem now, we are divorced. I tried to talk her out of both. I have had them in the past. They do get leaks and mechanical problems. Your choice though.



I will take a solid roof any day.

 

[Bill Koonce]

I haven't had any failures either, but I have had some leakage because there's no switch position to close and seal the moonroof; instead of closing, it overshoots and opens up enough to let rain in. This is a bad design on Ford's part.



Also, in the areas where I've lived, breaking into cars through the moonroof is common. In the city, they can break a window and nobody will do anything if they hear it. But in the suburbs, where cars are often parked outside, close to open windows, the most common modus operandi is to enter through the moonroof, because the flimsy plastic tracks will fail before the glass breaks.



Besides, while you're driving, you're supposed to keep your eyes on the road, not the moon. :cheeky:

 

[Bill Koonce]

A sunroof gives you infinite headroom though. Reminds me of the Canyonaro ep of The Simpsons...

I prefer "The Homer" myself. When I step on the gas pedal, I want it to sound like the world's coming to an end. :grin:



BTW, FYI the moonroof in the ST is pretty small in comparison to all of the ceiling real estate that's lost to all of the mechanicals that operate it. Infinite headroom is even worse when you need to mount stuff up there. Some of us need more utility than luxury. And I still don't see why the nearly identical moonroof assembly in my ST takes up more than twice the space that the one in my T-Bird does.

 

[David Ponder]

Bill,

I haven't had any failures either, but I have had some leakage because there's no switch position to close and seal the moonroof; instead of closing, it overshoots and opens up enough to let rain in. This is a bad design on Ford's part.

Perhaps you do have a problem... Its not designed that way. In my 01, and our 06, when you move the roof from vent to open, or from open to vent, it stops at the home (closed) position. It wont continue unless you let off the switch, and then press it again.

 

[Phill R]

I'm not a big fan but my wife is and swears by it. So much so that when she got a convertible, it had to have one. So we got a VW Eos, the only convertible with a sunroof.

 

[Bill Koonce]

Thanks Dave. I know that it tries, but IME with a dozen or so T-Birds, a hundred or so rental cars, and my own Sport Trac, that "feature" is very tricky to activate. You must keep the button depressed for long enough, or it will stop immediately as soon as you let go. If you stay on it for a tiny bit too long, it will go past the closed and locked position, and depending on which direction the window is moving, it will either go on to open up completely, or go to its "cracked open" position.



Some mechanisms work better than others, but none offer a reliable "go to closed and sealed" mode. Sometimes they overshoot a little, just enough that a hard rain can leak right through. The only way I've found to walk away from my car with reasonable certainty that It isn't going to leak is to watch and make sure that the guide pins drop into the part of the guides where the window is closed as far as it goes. And that's a pain.



I just went out to my ST to double-check its operation, and found that it does not stop at the closed position at all when going from "cracked open". The only way to get it to stop at "closed" is to open it up all the way, then move it back forward.



The moonroof is a four-figure option. With a price tag like that, I would be completely willing to pay an extra $25 or so that it would cost (including profit) to have a third button that positively closes and seals the moonroof window.

 

[Kevin Palmer]

Love mine !!!



As a general rule, those that get added after the fact normally have nice options. Such as Auto-Close if the key is turned off and ouch vent positions..

 

[Martin]

For me, never having a car or truck with one in the past and now having one....I love it and use it often. Never have had any leaking or mech issues with it.