Just wanted to share my experience on the rear sun shade problem I got. My rear sun shade is broken anyway so what do I have to lose.
My rear sun shade is stuck open. I brought it the dealer to get it fix but they charge $1700 to replace the whole sun shade assembly. Good thing I have Dan's instruction on how to remove the rear deck speaker.
Removing the rear head rest is a f*** nightmare. Its like its not design to get off. The lever switch is soooo hard to reach and sometimes it won't work so you have to manually take out the metal clip.
Anyways. I got curious and check the sunshade myself over the weekend. I open up the motor assembly (gear part) and check what was wrong. Well nothing wrong on the gear part. I took out the gears and plug it back in temporarily and motor is perfect. So, I put it gears back in, plug it back and motor gets stuck. So I finally figure it out...
There is a weak part on the design of the motor housing. The shaft bearing cover is loose from the top motor housing. When the motor turns, the gears put pressure on the motor, therefore it pushes the shaft backwards and gets stuck. I disassemble the housing put the shaft back in, place the loose bearing cover in place and hammer the bearing cover's lip to lock it in place. Then put the whole thing back in. Put everything back together and viola! The bearing cover hold its place and stop the shaft from moving back.
If you check the motor and find the shaft rod sticking out on the back of the housing about 1/2" then your bearing cover is loose.
Saves me $1700. I could say that it was an easy fix except for removing that damn head rest. Thank god the motor isn't burned or I will really have to replace the whole rear shade assembly.
I wouldn't recommend this DIY if you don't know how to put things back together.
Hi Mike and everyone. After hours of measuring and looking and more looking I came to the conclusion the issue had to do with the stop screw when the motor is in the up position. So what I have done after loading the internal spring, lubing, reassembling and figuring out the travel range so I could take the screw out was to remove that stop screw and rely on the extension/retraction of the shade. It seems to work perfectly with no lock up. I also contacted Buhler USA and they do not sell parts as they claim they are proprietary items, parts or complete units. I suspect someone else uses the same parts, BMW, Audi or ? The actual internal design of that screw being used as a stop is certainly not the best as the contact is only partial and also just uses the thread against the gear. When looking at the contact it was less than 1/8 inch at the bottom of the gear and not square. Anyway, it works great and as soon as the reclining seat retainer clips arrive I will put the works back together unless someone says no.
That's good news Ken. Glad you got it working. Thanks for the info regarding the Buhler motor. I would have thought they would be ok with selling the motor directly to the public but clearly that's not the case.
The shade is my 2005 E320 stopped working today and I want to try the fuse first, but cannot locate a diagram to ID the fuses. I have the fuse boxes in both the trunk and under the hood opened, but have not located any accompanying sketches. The fuses are numbered and I saw on another posting that # 35 is the culprit, but I have not been able to find it. Any advice would be appreciated. Thx mu h.
Not sure about fuses on a 05' E320 but on my car there is a fuse block located behind a small access panel on the driver's side just to the left of the dash. Inside this location is a map which shows the location of all the fuses in the car. I am not sure if #35 is in this location but it is worth a look.
The fuse to the rear sunshade is indeed number 20. It is the single most inaccessible of the driver replaceable fuses.
The owner's manual refers to 2 separate fuse boxes, but does not tell which is for what. So you have to remove the panel at left of driver dash (pry off with a flat head screwdriver) in order to find the secret treasure map that is the fuse list.
There you will find that the fuse to the rear sunshade is not in that panel at all, but in the trunk.
Inside the trunk at left is a panel that contains the navigation DVD player, if equipped. Loosen the cover and to the right side (right of the player) is a black plastic screen of sorts sitting vertically that must be removed also. Finally beneath are the relays and secondary fuses.
Fuse 20 is at the extreme upper right above the relays, and not in line with the other fuses at all. In fact if your car does not have need for fuses 18 and 19, then it sits up there all by its lonesome in a single orange plastic holder.
My fuse was OK, and paying close attention, I do hear a slight click from the rear when I try the sunshade button. So, I know mine is almost certainly bound up just as others have reported on this forum. I suppose it is possible a malfunctioning relay would still click, but I don't know that.
Took my 09 in for the sunshade stuck in the stowed position. I seldom use it. I could hear a click sound when I press the button. The service agent pulled the shade out about an inch and while holding it, I pushed the button and it worked. He says however that he has seen broken ones and that I should use it now and again to prevent this freeze up.
The rear shade motor on my 2005 E500 is visible behind the rear window shade when it is up. The shade is stuck in the up position and after reading through this post I could see a shaft about 1/8" in diameter protruding out the back of the motor about 3/4 of an inch. When I hit the shade button I could just barely hear a little "click" each time. I carefully pulled the shade away from the window enough to get my arm back there and pushed the little shaft in a few times (it wanted to pop back out) and then hit the button. The shade went down! I am afraid to put it back up now but that is how you get it down.
My rear sunshade which is stuck in the fully extended position is really starting to get on my nerves. It's been broken for a couple years and I just haven't had the nerve to play with it yet. I began checking the fuse #20 in the trunk of the vehicle. You will have to let down the black cover that covers the navigation system and fuse panel. You'll also need to remove the fuse/relay plastic grated cover to gain access to the fuses. Fuse 20 is somewhat hidden on the upper right hand side of the fuse panel just above a couple relays and is rated for 7.5 amps. It's a bit hard to see and up there by it's lonesome. I wanted to verify for good measure the fuse before proceeding with the more difficult portions. Once that was done, I removed the rear seats. The lower rear seat section on my car has two holes on the vertical section under where your knees would be when sitting down. Pushing my finger through the hole I felt a release mechanism. There are two of these holes and release mechanisms and then the lower seat section came up and out. The rear seat upper section had (3) 10mm fasteners that come out, and then the seat comes on out. This is a good time to do a thorough cleaning of the seat sections FWIW.
Glad your is working still after your fix. What a pain it was to pull everything apart! The headrests were the worst part. I went so far as to drill a 1/2" hole below one of the headrest release clips so I could insert a screwdriver in and release it. I ended up roughly machining a brass "C" shaped spacer to ensure the worm gear didn't retract where it shouldn't have been. The "C" shape allowed it to slip right over the shaft. My spacer was around .153" in length. I just finished putting the side pillars back on this morning. I used a hacksaw, a belt sander, and a file to make mine. If I had a full machine shop I could have made something a bit better I'm sure.
People with rear shade stuck in the up position: I have a 2004 E320 with the same issue. I was looking through all the blogs and $1100 - $1700 US is way too much to pay for a cheap part on an expensive car.
Pull on the shade away from the window and the whole mechanism is visible. The motor is dead center. The shaft is pushed out, looks like a small pin sticking out. Start the car, have some intermittently push the shade switch and with one hand on the shade pushing down and the other pushing directly on the motor shaft. The shade starts to come down. It may take a few pushes to get it all the way down!
the rear-shade on my 2007 s550 is stuck in the up position.
when i press the button in the driver side door panel to operate the shade, it just lights up red and stays red, but the shade doesn't move. i can't hear a motor running, but my hearing isn't that good.
when i click the button again the red light goes out, but still no movement.
does this behavior indicate a fuse, or can't really tell from just that?
Most likely the motor shaft is out. See my post before yours. If you can pull on the shade away from the rear window and look down in the gap, you will see a shiny silver motor about the size of a C-Type battery. This is about the center of the window. There is the shaft sticking out that looks like a pin (1-2mm diameter). If you can get your fingers in it and push it in and then push on the shade. The shade will go down. But also I do not recommend using it again. Replacement cost is high!
Hello.
I recently bought the E320 2008 Sedan and I have an atypical problem with sun shade.
The shade was in the lower position.
However, after pressing the button, nothing happens. First I checked the fuses (all OK) then, I exchanged the relay for a new one, with no result.
After pressing a button you can hear a click of the relay but the motor does not work.
The next step was to check the motor (I took out the shade), after connecting to the 12V power supply the motor works quite well. The sprockets in the transmission at the motor are ok.
I decided to connect the motor but with polarity change
The effect, after pressing the button, the shade worked. However, the next press did not give a reaction. The shade was in the upper position. Changing the poles again and pressing the button - the shade hides. Next pressing - no reaction.
From these tests, I assume that the motor is operational, the relay and the button also functioning.
But still have the problem.
Has anyone had a similar problem, or knows a solution.
i have a better question on my 2006 c230 sport on power rear sunshade mine works the arms come up and down and the shade stays at the bottom one of the arms cannot connect to the shade it is missing one of the small i do not know what is the name if you manually raise the shade there is only 1 instead of 2 small plastic half moon that snaps to each arm tops move the shade up and down i tired to go to mercedes benz they do not offer a replacement except buying the new shade for over $700.00
This thread is an absolute life saver, thank you OP! My sunshade has been stuck in the up position for a couple years...which is fine, because that's where I normally want it anyway.
Well I was taking out the rear deck to install a subwoofer, and decided to take a shot at lubing things up, as I incorrectly assumed that the shade wasn't moving because it was binding due to not being properly lubed. Then I found this thread: took it all apart, and sure enough the worm gear was being pushed back and was disengaging. Bent over the sides of that little sleeve that the bearing retainer sits in to keep it all captive, and Bob's your auntie! I'm absolutely stoked.
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