Out of the blue my sunroof stopped working (in the closed position, thank God). Made My appointment with a Jag dealer in Darien Connecticut (one of the nearest and it's over an hour drive away) and dropped the car off.
Their service department seems baffled. The sunshade works fine but the roof does not even make an attempt to operate. I had checked all the fuses before doing the long drive and they were fine. My guess is a switch, motor or bad ground but the service dept seems completely lost.
I love this car and it's my first experience with Jag.... is this what I'm in for if I need service?

Anyone else have sunroof problems?

 

Hello there, and let me say two things:

One, I’m sorry to read about your moonroof going on strike without explanation. I LOVE sunroofs and moonroofs, and my 2017 XE has what you have.

TWO, I’m GLAD you are having a problem with your moonroof. GLAD!.... because I have the exact problem with my moonroof too (and I feel better that I’m not out in space on my own). It’s June, I live in NY, and I see owners of BMWs, Audis, Mercs and else driving around with their sunroofs in that trendy Up-and-Back position (…they mostly look clumsy btw, because their panel leans downward like it’s about to roll off the back of the car, while my XE looks WAY better because Jaguar kept the panel pitched slightly Upward when it’s open, like an airfoil)…. But I CAN’T GET MINE OPEN! Dang it!

Now that I got that out the way, here’s what I can detail to you, and you can perhaps coordinate this to your dealership. It’s important to say that, NO, mine hasn’t been fixed yet.

I took delivery of mine in November before the cold weather.
Even though it was too cold outside to use it, I actually operated it in my garage once every 2 weeks, to clean around the panel. It worked perfectly each time I tested it.
As you may know, the sunblind coordinates its position with the moonroof---so if the moonroof is half open, the sunblind never closes passed the front of the moonroof. NEVER.

The weather got warmer by March, then SUDDENLY extra warm one week in April. Very warm, way above 80 F. I tried to open the moonroof, and it would NOT open. Strange.
On the last hot day of the week, temperature reached about 90 F, and the car sat in the sun all day. I got in, cabin was very warm, and miraculously the moonroof opened up when I touched it, closed when I touched it. GREAT! But by the time I drove it home that night, the moonroof wouldn’t open anymore for me.

It seemed clear that higher temperature has SOMETHING to do with triggering (and temporarily removing) the problem. So I tried to be a smart-genius, I left the car in the sun the next available weekend that had high-80s temperature… and sure enough the moonroof opened easily. But once the extra heat in the car had gone out through the open roof,… the moonroof now would not close.
I pulled the fuse. I replaced the fuse with a spare from the trunk. No success.
I also noticed, the sunblind didn't seem to know that the moonroof was open, and casually closed all the way if I push the sunblind button (that is NOT supposed to happen when the moonroof's open). So the electrical logic of the two devices isn’t working properly during this problem.

First visit to the Service Dealer:
I drove it to a nearby dealership first thing in the morning without an appointment, and they accepted me as a kind of emergency problem (can’t leave your car like that in NY). In ONE day, they said it was ready for me to pick up. I was shocked—that FAST?
They reported NO mechanical problem with the moonroof. Nothing wrong with the gears, activation motor, nothing. I was pissed, because I have the Oyster interior, and I could see where they pulled down the entire ceiling around the moonroof and left grease stains all over the fabric. All that, and tell me they found NO mechanical issues. They did a “moonroof-software reset”. They say this is something only the service team can do, and sometimes has to be done if your door mirrors don’t fold on command, etc. They said there is nothing I did wrong, and nothing I can do as far as owner maintenance. Problem solved, no charge for the work.

I spent the weekend cleaning up and properly fitting back the interior ceiling (giving the customer his car back all fouled and not snapped back completely is just lame).


Two weeks later, with the car parked in the sun all day, we had another 4 days of nearly 80 F temperature, and on the second hot day, the moonroof failed again. Sun blind is fine (always perfect operation), but the moonroof refuses to open.
I waited for another day when the temperature was pretty high, tried the console button, and SURE ENOUGH the sunblind rolled back and the moonroof began to open properly. I quickly closed it back, remembering what happened the last time. And I’ve called the dealership to complain. The manager says, “so we know there must be something else going on, since the software reset didn’t work…”
Gee, no kidding, Sherlock!
I agreed to make an appointment for later this month. The dealer wants to make up for leaving my car in such dirty condition the first time. I DON’T want them pulling apart the interior again, when there is apparently no mechanical problem.


So when you talk to your dealer, hopefully this info will help you or them.
---I doubt they will find a gear or frame problem (so ask them to go EASY before they pull your whole beautiful interior apart). The fact that the sun blind fully closes when the moonroof is fully open says it’s a CONTROL problem, not a metal or gears or grease problem.

---I’m sure heat build-up in the cabin (or maybe on the metal roof) relates to the problem in some way.

One theory I had was that there is simply a loose wire harness leading to the moonroof button over your head. Maybe once the temperature got warm enough, and I hit enough potholes, the plastic harness expanded enough that a wire is not staying in contact any longer. When the mechanics pulled the darn panel all down, that shook things up enough for the wire to touch again... and maybe changing temperature sometimes expands/contracts enough for the wire to touch again, but not for long.
I don’t know. (They're supposed to be the experts in this stuff, not us owners).

---But I have a strong hunch it's a kindergarten-failed wire near that overhead button, or a computer circuit board for the moonroof control, that is the problem. NOT the moonroof frame. NOT some software reboot.

Empty your trunk before you take it to the dealership, because any kind of software-reset requires them getting to the battery under your trunk.

I’ve only read of this happening to an owner in the UK, on a 2015 XE. He complained enough, and Jaguar-Central finally instructed the dealership to have “the sunroof actuator module” (apparently an electrical control board of some kind) REPLACED. That solved the problem.

Feel free to talk this out with your dealer. Let me know how your first attempt (hopefully your only attempt), succeeds. Whatever works on yours, I’ll ask my dealer to do with mine.

 

Thanks so much for the feed back. I too live in NY (Putnam) and found all that you reported was very interesting. I will surly pass the info on to the dealer in hopes it my help.
At last word from the dealership tells me they found a poor ground and remade the connection. They would like to hold on to the car for another day to keep testing the roof. Not sure it will act up until I take it out and hit a few bumps and let it sit in the heat.
My biggest fear is it getting stuck in the open position, that would suck.
Sure doesn't leave ya with a warm fuzzy feeling.
Please keep in touch, as I will, with any updates and re-occurrences with this problem.

 

A poor ground, sounds acceptable. It's electrical-related.

I hope it's the cause, and I hope that's what they find with mine when I take it in. Mine was stuck in the 'open' the first time. When that happens, I can tell you from experience it creates just a "helpless" feeling.

Have they at least given you a loaner car with a sunroof you can enjoy while they are holding onto yours?

 

Got my car back from the dealer today and so far, so good.
Got my fingers crossed.

 

Great news!

If the DATE in the lower corner of your instrument cluster has the wrong date on it (and you remember that you set the right date shortly after you first got the car)... it means the dealership did a sunroof software reset on it too.

I think I'll make arrangements to take mine to the shop in a couple of weeks.

 

DATE in the lower corner of your instrument cluster has stayed the current.
That's not to say they (the dealer) didn't ajust after reset. All I know is it's still working great.

 

My service center knew I was unhappy with the first visit to fix this moonroof.
So when I brought it to the scheduled visit early this morning, I asked to speak with the chief mechanic as the manager had instructed me to during our phone chat.

I explained how it seemed to be affected by the heat, and how the sunblind willingly closed even when it’s not supposed to (when the moonroof is still open). And I even mentioned the loose ground wire that “another service center” (you) had apparently encountered.

They called Jaguar’s Code Interpreter (…code WHAT? Who the double-heck is that?). He told them to hook up the electrical system analysis tricorder whiz-banger thingy,… and the special code came up on their display.
…The Jaguar Code guy diagnosed it as, the moonroof module has failed. It needs to be replaced with a new moonroof module.

The module takes about a day to ship to them. THEN, the work to replace the module requires about 4 HOURS to do until completion.

Did you happen to notice if your roof fabric interior was all pulled apart and dirtied up? My XE has the Oyster (nearly white) fabric ceiling…

 

They (Jaguar) claimed to have had the whole headliner removed but I was not witness to that. If they in fact did, there is no soil or sign that it was reinstalled incorrectly. The sun/moon roof continues to work well. I really like the car and hope that these are isolated incidents.
FYI, All day yesterday my car seemed to ignore any voice commands, like the system wasn't hearing me. Hands free cell worked great but not voice commands. Spent this morning restarting car and also removing and reinstalling 'SD' card in center console and now system is responding. I guess what I mean to say is check everything when you get it back from service....good luck

 

So I dropped the car off on Thursday morning, and was seated with a different service rep than the previous visit.
After I explained all the behavior to him, he suspected they will have to order and replace the “Sunroof Module”. By Thursday afternoon, he phoned and said their diagnostic anaylyzer lit up like a christmas tree, and told them the sunroof module must be replaced.

In the meantime my loaner was a 2017 XF, 35T AWD. Heavier to fly, yes. More powerful than my 25T XE engine, yes. But SADLY mistreated by the previous drivers. Poor thing---I felt sorry for it. These are CRAFTED motor cars, and some privileged people treat them like “I’m exclusively privileged to be abusive and ignorant”. …Ok.

So after driving the XF in the heavy rain (wipers and windscreen were beyond any chance of coming clean again), in commuter traffic (radio presets were all preset to awful Hip-Hop and Sports-talk), after sunset (Jaguar-LED headlights are weak compared with the XE’s incredible Xenons), and in HOT humid weekend driving (the AC smelled like funky 1975 air freshners)… I was grateful to see my XE on this Monday morning.

Exterior unwashed (THANK YOU, I can’t stand anyone washing my cars but me.)

Headliner fitted back very well, with only 5 smudges on the Oyster ceiling (I can easily clean them off myself when I detail the interior this weekend).

No stains on the leather seats this time. (Last visit was a mess).

The moonroof and sunblind OPENED, but made wacky jerking motions when fully open, and when fully closed. I remembered how to perform the Owner’s moonroof RESET procedure,… and after doing that, the roof seems to be working perfectly so far.

Software functions on the InTouch system are functioning well. Date on my clock is correct. None of my settings have been changed this time. THIS is how professional tech service on a 50K auto is meant to be.

…So yours was a dangling ground-wire. And mine was a failed control-module.

July 4th is promising some mixed weather, hot and wet. Nuke, let’s you and me get out there with our moonroofs and ENJOY.