1995 Honda Passport sunroof will not close
 

1995 Honda Passport. 6 cylinder. 4 WD.
Sunroof button is on headliner in front of sunroof.

Wife's car. Sunroof had not been opened for years. She opened it. :( Now it will not close.

Sunroof is stuck almost fully open. Will move about 2 inches, but never near to closing. Here is what happens:

- Turn on ignition or start car.
- Push button to try closing. Nothing happens.
- Push button to try opening. Fully opens.
- Push button to try closing. Closes only 2 inches (almost fully open).

The funny thing is that at this point pushing the button does nothing. But if I wait a day the procedure again works (fully open, then close 2 inches). It's like the mechanism has to "rest" a day, and then it will try to open and close (but only close a little).

I lubricated the sunroof tracks with WD40. I looked very carefully. Also, the glass wiggles back and forth. So no apparent obstruction.

I tried pulling on the glass when I push the button to close, to help it close. It did not help. :(

Taking off the headliner (the fabric surrounding the sunroof) seems really difficult. I started taking it off a little, and gave up.

I switched the fuse. That doesn't seem the problem anyway, because it occasional tries to close.

It's easy to pull the switch down from the headliner. It looked OK. I have no idea what kind of test if any to do on it. I do not have a shop manual.

Any suggestions? Any way to manually close? Suggestion about taking off headliner? Any way to remove the glass without removing headliner? Any way to test the switch, or maybe I should just try replacing it?

Thanks!

Correction: It's actually a 1997 Honda Passport. Of course, actually an Isuzu Rodeo....

Update: Yesterday, it closed most of the way. After not being activated for about a day, the open toggle worked. This time, when I pushed the close toggle, I pulled harder, and it moved more. Unfortunately, I was inside the vehicle, so I had to let go. It's about three inches open. As before, pushing the button again has no effect. It's almost as if it has to "rest" for a day before responding.

The next day, with the sunroof in nearly closed position, I drove to another location. Oddly, on the way, the switch mechanism kept making noises, like it was trying to do something.

I refrained from touching it, kept driving. Finally, to my surprise, the sunroof opened. And the switch stopped making noises.

At my destination, I got someone to get in the car and push the close button while I pushed harder from the rear of the glass. Again, with the harder push, it closed much more, and because I was outside, I got it to close (almost) fully! There was still a small gap, and I feared that it might leak. But this time pushing the close button again resulted in the sunroof snapping down into position. I tested with water and it's not leaking.

This is all still a mystery why the sunroof is so balky, but luckily it is now closed. My wife promises never to push the button again! Thanks to the group for your patience, and maybe this might help someone else.