Moonroof problems in 1999 Honda Accord

I have a 99 Accord EX. The other day while closing the moonroof, the motor in the moonroof made straining noises, the moonroof itself stuttered/stalled a bit, then died. I can open the moonroof without difficulty using the button, but closing it is another story. I checked for any debris in the tracks, there was none. I checked all my fuses and they were fine.

Any idea what this could be?

I don’t think it’s a motor issue since the motor works fine to open the moonroof. Any insight is appreciated!

Have you tried putting some appropriate grease in the tracks.

See if you can remove the glass from the side brackets. For instance, there are two Torx head bolts on each side bracket of my 2000 Blazer. Remove the bolts from each bracket and the glass comes right out. Hopefully the Accord has a similar setup.

Once the glass is out check the side brackets and tracks for any broken pieces or debris. A few years back I opened the moon roof when it was frozen shut by mistake. Part of the side bracket broke off and jammed the mechanism. Once the brackets and tracks were cleaned an lubricated with lithium grease spray the moonroof worked fine until this December. Once again I took the glass out and relubed the bracket. The side brackets are mostly plastic and rather flimsy.

Good luck,

Ed B.

STOP… It sounds as though you might have stripped the plastic drive cable. You have an overide system in your roof…it is either in the front or back of your car on the ceiling…you will see a plug…you put the overide wrench in there to see if you feel binding or stripping in the mechanism…this will tell you if you have a weak motor or a stipped cable… Try to feel it out with this FIRST…DO NOT REMOVE YOUR GLASS YET…

Use the overide to see how bad it is…you may indeed find a binding bracket or such…and your motor is too weak to deal with it…use your overide thats what its there for… Dont force it just be gentle so you can figure out what the pressure on the overide handle is telling you.