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Rear sun shade stuck and repaired

134K views 58 replies 32 participants last post by  bobgodd 
#1 ·
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.
 
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#5 ·
That was the first thing I had replaced with my 06 CPO. It gave the slightest vibration going down. The new one is designed much better, folding arms instead of those long reach scissor arms in that plastic track.
 
#8 · (Edited)
I am in the same boat and the sun shade is stuck in up position. I just removed everything (seats, head rest), now I just have to figure out how to take out the rear speaker out that sits under the shade and the pannel should go forward and come out.

Do you hear the motor running when the shade is stuck in upward position or not? The dealer said they heard the motor when pushing the button, but I can't hear jack. Does this mean that the motor is burned, or just stuck due to the housing problem?
Thanks
 
#9 ·
Gears under tension?

Thanks for the informative post. I went through the laborious process today of trying to fix the shade as it had been in the "deployed" position for the last 6 months.

I had the exact same issue that you had-- the copper cap that should hold the silver bearing in place at the gear end of the shaft was sliding freely instead of locking the bearing in place. This allowed the shaft of the motor to slide out the opposite end, preventing the motor from turning as the brushes would catch above the copper commutator.

My question-- how much, if any, tension did you apply to the spring when you reassembled the gears? When I opened the gearbox, the gears popped out and were obviously under some tension. Now that I have reassembled the screen, it labors more to go up and goes down more quickly (makes sense, gravity and all). I'm wondering if I should have tensioned the spring when I put it back together.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!!! I'd like to get it right before I put everything back together as it is really a pain to disassemble everything.
 
#10 ·
08' E550 Sunshade Repair

Dial,

Repaired mine over the holidays. It was stuck in the down position and the motor would click when actuated. I bought the car in Oct 2012 with 40k on it and it didn't work when I bought it. I got the car for a good price and just figured I would fix it myself eventually. What a fun repair - ranks up there on the fun scale as does a root canal!!!!!!!!

When I put my motor back together I removed the screw located in the gearbox housing. This screw apparently serves as a hard stop for the metal gear which has 2 "flats" located roughly 30-40 degrees apart. I inserted the metal gear and spring into the gearbox and then rotated the gear until the 1st gear flat cleared the screw position. I then had a helper install the screw. I didn't want to pre-tension the spring too much and did not know exactly how much was required. When I tested the shade with a spare 12v battery before putting it back into the car it ran up and down very well. Holding the shade outside of the vehicle (need a helper of course) I connected it to the wiring harness connector and tested it with the switch on the dash. Again, it worked well.

Put everything back together and it operates fine. Unfortunately I don't know what the root cause of the failure was. I lubed all the pivot points and plan to exercise the shade every few weeks and pray that it continues to work.

BTW - I tried to purchase the shade drive motor but it is not available from MB as a seperate part. My dealer would gladly sell me a replacement shade assembly for $1400. I politely declined. I see they are available elsewhere for less than $1000 bucks anyway. If I have future problems with it I may either replace the whole thing or see if I can get a replacement motor from an alternate source. The motor is made by Buehler Motor, Inc in Germany. My motor part # is 1.61.068.501.02. I found the US Buehler Rep (Morrisville, NC) and will reach out to them if need be.

Hope this heps.

Mike
 
#11 ·
Sunshade working again!

Mike:

Thanks for the reply. I did the best I could at resetting the gears again. I guess I could have backed out the screw that limits the large gear travel and let the motor wind the spring a full revolution by plugging the unit in and hitting the button, but it just seemed like that would be toooo much tension and the motor would strain to get the shade down, versus the strain to put it up. I guess time will tell.... It is back in the car and functioning--woohoo!

I, too, looked at the options as getting a replacement unit as the dealer cost is WAY too high-- was quoted $1,800 to replace. I guess I will hope this outlasts my ownership of the car and will deal with it again if it crops up (fingers crossed it doesn't as this was one of my least favorite MB repair jobs!).

Thanks again for your very, very helpful input! Do share if you get a line on the motors as a separate part.

Thanks,

Craig
 
#13 ·
08' E550 Sunshade

220013047,

Appreciate the PM. I am good for now but I bet you can sell it in the forum based on the history of these damn shades.

Dial,

I will advise all on the forum if, in fact, I locate a source for the Buehler motors.

Glad to hear your shade is working well. I believe I only rotated the large metal gear less than 1/2 of a revolution - just enough to get past the 1st stop which didn't put too much tension on the spring. I think the tension is about right because the shade moves up and down at nearly the same speed and is incredibly quiet and smooth. Clearly time will tell.

The thing that gets me the most is I simply don't know what caused it to fail originally. As a Reliability Engineer I deal with Root Cause Analysis everyday and I hate it when I can't find the cause(s) of a problem. That being said, my plan (which you may also want to consider) is to "exercise" the shade every 2 weeks and operate it only when the car is stationary. I would hate to be moving it in or out while driving and hit a bump which jars it and creates a problem.

Mike
 
#14 ·
You know this shade is a PITA.. Mine is stuck in the down position and has been for a while.. I actually appreciate you guys sharing your experiences with fixing yours but I'm gonna be honest I really DON'T care if it works.. Now, if it were stuck in the open position I would be tempted to break out the scissors..

This seems to be a design issue from MB.. Good luck getting a recall on that lol..
 
#15 ·
I want to thank Roehl for DIY instructions. I worked with this with my son. Good bonding time. His eyes were better when it came to working on the clips for the head rests. Side panels were difficult to remove. Rec. moving the speaker counterclockwise and moving it a bit out of the way. The rear deck would not budge otherwise. The motor is the problem just as he described it.. I could not bang the bearing housing lip in place. Metal too soft and not much to work with. Called MB for the second time. Spoke to specialist. Told me they do not use thefroumsas evidence. I was willing to pay for a new motor but they cannot give it. In summary this is a definite poor motor design and a very expensive oneto fix. I removed the motor and gear assembly. Used zip ties to hold the rest in place. Put everything back. I can now use the shade manually. I joined the forum for the valuable information shared by Roehl and to thank him. I saved money in labor and had a great time with my son. If anyone has information on how I can just get the motor will appreciate it also.
 
#17 ·
Rear Sunshade

Maymin,

My sunshade which is MB part #A2118101220 has a Buehler Motor. The part # on my motor is 1.61.068.501.02. Although Buehler is a German company they have a location in the US:

Buehler Motor, Inc
175 Southport Dr
Morrisville, NC 27560
(919) 380 3333

Assuming your motor is also a Buehler, reach out to them. I tried to call them around Christmas time when I was deep into my shade repair but I believe they were closed for the Holidays. I ended up fixing my shade but I am concerned that one of the motor gears is a little worn - hence my original desire to replace the motor. You may be able to get the motor directly from them or one of their distributors. Also, the cheapest price I have found for a complete shade assembly is $990 from parts.com. My dealer wanted $1400.

Hope this helps.

Good luck,

Mike
 
#27 ·
Nevermind, no words or wisdom needed now :rolleyes: Looks like my shade is now stuck in the up(extended) position. No noise heard when pushing the button so I doubt it is a gear issue. Looks like I'll be pulling things a part to fix the issue using the info provided in this thread. Once I do it and have additional feedback I will post it here. A big thank you to all who contributed so far :)
 
#21 ·
I can hear my motor shade do it's full cycle but no movement. Like it's stuck...someone said lube it, but it looks sealed.
Sounds like the gears in your motor may be shot since the motor is running with no shade movement - on my 08' E550 the intermediate gear is plastic so it wouldn't surprise me if yours was the same.

When the shade is deployed there are only a few pivot points that can be lubed - the remaining points are accessible only if the assembly is removed. This is a pretty tough DIY on the newer E-Class cars - it might be easier on a 97' S.

Mike
 
#24 ·
Sunshade repair



What I did before I touched mine, in addition to reviewing this forum, is purchase the Model 211 E-Class Factory Service & Owners DVD-ROM for my car from Auto Repair Manual CD Factory Service Manual. This DVD, which is put out by MB USA, LLC, provided all the instructions w/pictures for gaining access to my sunshade drive motor. I think this DVD cost me ~$115. Strongly recommended if you don't have it already. Hopefully one is avail for your car.

Good Luck,

Mike
 
#26 ·
My shade was stuck in the up position as well. I have an 05 E320 CDI with the fold down back seats so getting the rear deck cover off was not too difficult once I figured out where all of the connections were. The hardest part was getting the side pillar covers off and disconnected from the rear deck cover. Hint: they have tabs that slide into slots on the cover itself. Pull the side covers forward then up to release. Once I had the motor and gear assembly out, the shaft was sticking out about a half inch as described above. When I got the gear cover off, I was able to get the shaft to slide forward and the motor worked perfectly. When I reassembled the gear box it worked perfectly when detached from the shade unit. But when I tried to have it raise the screen, the load forced the shaft back to the prior position and it locked up. I could not figure out what mechanism was that was supposed to hold the shaft in place and secure it in the gear box. My cover did not have a notch or slot to hold the shaft. I ended up cutting a piece of spring metal to act as a clip around the shaft and prevent it from sliding all the way back into the motor housing. It seemed to me that there must've been a spring type circ-clip that broke or snapped off, but I found no evidence of one. Works perfect now.
 
#38 ·
I had the same problem as Byron and came to the same solution. The gear shaft was being pushed backward into the motor and getting jammed. To prevent this, I cut a small piece of sheet metal into a "C" shape to span the shaft and keep the gear from pushing backward into the motor.
 
#28 ·
Hi there I just looked at an old post you have regarding your rear sunshade. At this point you may not be a member or own the car but maybe you do and maybe you remember this repair. I have a motor on the bench for my rear window shade as well and have exactly the same issue. I'm not sure if the issue the way you describe it is the motor end play or in the gear box. Do you remember the repair and is it possible to help me repair mine too. Thanks bunches in advance
 
#29 ·
Hello Mike. I am having the same issue with my S class sunshade. I am not sure what you mean as fr as the motor bushing goes. I bought a used motor and gearbox and although it works, and I should put it in my car when inspecting the internal parts of the gearbox it is actually worn more than my one that sticks. the used one that works, bushing in the housing for the fibre gear is very badly worn. Also the end play on the more used one that works is actually more worn. Clearly I'm missing something. I would hate to do a final reassembly and then have it quit again. Based on the condition of the used one I can see failure ahead. Maybe you could offer me some extra guidance on what I am missing. I have become an expert at reassembly just not fixing the problem. Best regards, Ken
 
#30 ·
Sunshade Motor



Ken,

Not sure if you are reaching out to me since you didn't quote my post. I would be glad to help you out but I honestly don't know what you are asking. I reviewed my old posts and I don't recall talking about a bushing. Your best bet may be to contact Buehler and try to get a motor directly from them. You never know but I wouldn't be surprised if they were willing to sell you one. Anyway, can you be more specific as to what you are asking?

Mike
 
#31 ·
Hi Mike. Thank you for the reply. I went yesterday on a search to find more information on repair the sunshade motor. I may have gone to the wrong person. Someone actually did a repair to their motor and I was looking for some clarification on what they did to repair theirs. Certainly knowing what I know now the Buhler option could be a good one. It seems as though I should be able to do a repair but in saying that I would be open to a new motor too.
 
#32 ·
Rear Sunshade



Ken,

OK. Good Luck. If you have any questions or are looking for more details as to what I ran into during my repair please feel free to reach out to me. I repaired mine well over a year ago and it is still performing well. As I mentioned in 1 of my posts I operate it at least once per week and I never cycle it while the vehicle is moving.

Mike
 
#33 ·
Hi Mike I appreciate your help with my window shade. I have my motor and gear box apart on the bench as well as a used one I bought. The used one although it works actually is more worn than mine that was in my car. Funny thing though the used worn one actually does not get stuck at the end of the travel where it comes to the stop. I am not sure what binds up when it gets to the stop. I have read you push a bushing in on the motor end if something is out 1/2 inch. When I put the two motors next to each other they both look the same so I'm thinking I am missing something. If I can I think the gear box from my car is in better shape and certainly I can use the more used motor with my gearbox. What I really can't figure out is why it binds. The marks on the stop screw and the gear don't show a very good contact so I tried just for fun a longer boplt for the stop but that didn't help either. What have I missed here that is causing the bind up? Thanks again Mike, I hope you had a great weekend

Ken
 
#35 ·
Rear Sunshade



I did not have the popped out bushing issue as others have described. I can't say for sure but I think the previous owner of my car may have tried to operate the shade by mistake with something on the parcel shelf. The shade may have contacted the obstruction resulting in a jam which may have caused the drive worm gear to un-mesh briefly with the larger steel gear. The spring would then rotate the steel gear until it hit the stop putting the unit going "out of time" so to speak. I removed the gear box cover which caused the spring to release its energy. I used a spare 12v battery to operate the motor without the gears and spring in both directions and it operated smoothly. I then re-assembled the gear box with a small amount of tension on the spring and ensured one of the gear "flats" was touching the stop screw. Through trial and error I was able to get everything in the correct position. I would suggest disassembling both of your gear motors and making 1 good unit from all the un-worn parts. Not sure what other info I can give you w/o looking at the problem. Perhaps you can post pictures or a video which would help the diagnosis immensely.

Mike
 
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