Welcome to Mirez.co.uk : Converting To An Electric Sun-roof

This was another standard feature on the higher spec-cars and can be easily added. Time taken depends on what wiring loom your car came with, it you have the wiring in place then it's about a 20 minute job else you will be looking at 2 to 3 hours for completion.

You need:

Get the parts from a scrap-yard as buying new will cost you a fortune! I paid £25 all in from my local scrap-yard. The motor assembly incorporates a timing circuit so the motor cuts out when the sunroof reaches its furthest back position. For this reason you must only take the motor from a Mondeo and not from an escort/Granada etc. Mondeo Ghia's had the electric sunroof as standard and all other models had it available as an optional extra. I would suggest disconnecting the battery for this project - but it's your call.

Left is the cowl with switch and right is the motor assembly - Note it’s a completely contained unit.

Right to start with you need to prise out the front courtesy light and disconnect it.
A note here that if you have upgraded to the map reading lights from a Granada or Scorpio they will NOT fit back after this conversion, however the Mondeo's own basic or Ghia (Map lights) will still fit!

Right next up is to remove the existing handle, (Make sure the sunroof is in its normal closed position) open the handle as if you were about to move the roof and you will see a small Thorx screw that holds the handle to the roof. Unscrew this one (it will be very tight) and remove the handle from the roof. Now in the hole the light sits in you will find two small black screws that hold the front of the cowl in place, remove these and slide the cowl backwards towards the rear windscreen. It’s held on two clips and should slide off without much force.

You should now have something that resembles the above right picture, you can see the scratches on the black paint in the top right where the spring clips hold the cowl in place and also the three bolt holes where you will secure the new motor. Right now apply a little grease to the spindle and also to the motor and offer the unit up, try and get it square to all three bolts and it should fit directly onto the spindle. Tighten the three bolts so they are REASONABLY tight, don’t over tighten as you will create more resistance for the motor to overcome and so slow the operation of the roof. Attach the relay to the little metal plate that’s on the roof using the clip on the relay.

This is what it looks like with the unit in place (I've put the Red/Black power cable that I used on the left for comparison)
Now if you have the wiring in place you only need to connect the bottom connector to it, plus the switch onto the orange/black connector and refit the new cowl. Job done…. Else:

There are only two cables that need connecting into the existing wiring and these are the BLACK (-) and BLUE/VIOLET (+) cables that you can see going to the bottom plug in the above picture.

The power cable you choose is quite important as it has to be able to take the current drawn by the motor. I used concert amplifier cable, which cost 60pence a meter. Take one end of your power cable and remove the sheath from the end, cut the little black plug off the + and - cables coming from the motor and crimp or solder the ends of your power cable to these. Attach the switch to the wiring but don’t replace the cowl yet.

Pick how you want to light the sunroofs light switch before doing the rest of the install:

SUBSECTION - LIGHTING THE SWITCH:

Now the cheapskates at ford decided not to light the sunroof’s switch be default. However it can be easily done, but you will need a window switch and not the sunroof’s switch (is dosn't’t have the LED’s in it).

Option 1 - No light. (Install first)

If you are happy to live without the light then simply use the normal switch and refit the cowl when done.

Option 2 - Ignition fed light. (Install first)

This is how I wired my own switch and basically means that the switch is lit whenever you have the ignition turned to position 2. It’s done very easily by adding two small wires, from pins 1 to 2 and 3 to 5.

Place the switch connector horizontally and look at the wire side of it, start in the bottom left (the wire that’s missing and then number each wire anti-clockwise like so:

8      7      6     5
                       X
                    X
XXXX      X
1      2      3     4

Add a wire from pin one (empty) to pin two (Thick Black) and then from pin 3 (Thick Violet/Blue) to pin 5 (Empty). Ensure they are secure and touching the switch. Test the switch illuminates by turning on the ignition.

Option 3 - Light comes on with lights (Do this first)

In order to have the switch light with rest of the lighting circuit you need to first connect a wire from pins 1 and 2 as above but pin 5 needs to be taken down into the foot well with your power cable, run it down as you do the install and connect it to a positive feed from the interior illumination circuit. (If you go down the centre pillar you won’t have to take it to the foot well as you can connect it to the orange/blue wire that feeds the rear door handle light.)

Ok now you’ve decided you need to get your power cable to the fuse box in the passengers foot well, There are two routes down, windscreen pillar of centre pillar – I went down the windscreen pillar but on retrospect I would have gone down the centre pillar as removal and refitting of the windscreen pillar’s trim is a nightmare! The centre pillar’s trim is held to the car by clips only and will come away with a little effort (start at the bottom). The windscreen pillar comes off from the top fist and then slides up, this is the easy bit -I broke the retaining clips trying to put it back in the end – hence why I suggest the centre pillar.

Poke the wire behind the head liner until it arrives where you want it, be patient as this can take time. Removing the passenger’s roof handle helps (Prise the rectangular bits up and there are two screws behind) Inspect the cable as it arrives to make sure it hasn’t been damaged passing through.

Since I did two cars on the same day I have photos of both routes so you can get a feel for how it should look. (The white stickers on the cable simply say "Sunroof Power Feed" so that anyone working on the electrics later knows what the cable is!) Route the cable in the spare cable holder if you go down the windscreen "A" pillar or tuck it neatly into the channel if you go down the centre pillar, but either way you need to end up in the passengers foot well.

Next you need to access the fuse box so open the glove box as far as it will go and then give it a sharp tug towards the seat. Its hinges have a release mechanism that allow you to remove the glove box completely and the greatly improves access to the fuse box. With the glove box out of the way get your head in the well and look directly up, you should see a foam pad and to the right (looking up) is the fuse box. You should also see a small black knob which when you pull it will allow the fuse box to drop down, its hinged the same way as the glove box so give it a big tug towards the back of the car and it’ll come away and allow you better access.

Put the fuse box so the hinges are at the back and the fuses and relays are pointing upwards (IE the way it came out). You will see a bank of fuses at the south end of the box, relays to west side and two long connectors on the east. You are only interested in the first connector block (IE the one furthest east). Go to the north most point of this connector and look at the wires going in. There should be a green wire, a thick yellow/orange wire and a thick violet/blue wire. (Depending on your car’s spec level there may be a forth wire in this connector)

Once you have located it, withdraw the multi-plug that it’s on by depressing the clip and pulling it out.

With the multi-plug out turn on the ignition, you shouldn’t have any output to the cigarette lighter and your electric windows shouldn’t function. If they do then this is not the right plug. If they don’t then its safe to carry on:

Now you need to cut this wire (remove some of the black cable retaining tape to help) so you have enough room to work with at both ends. You need to connect the POSITIVE WIRE of your power cable to this wire. (IE the one you connected to violet/blue at the sunroof end). Crimp or solder (be careful soldering near the box) the joint so the feed out of the fuse box powers both the existing wire and your new wire ( Y connection). Insulate the connection and replace the multi-plug.

The negative wire of your power cable needs to go to ground. The closest ground point to the fuse box is behind the lower door trim.

This is the location, just below the bottom right (looking out) of the passengers door behind the trim and under the carpet. Now you could splice one on the existing grounds or solder onto the bolt BUT if you want to do this professionally you need to get an O or P crimp connector (like the ones already connected) so you can withdraw the bolt and add your connection like the other two.

Right testing time; make sure all the connections you have done are secure, nothing is shorting or could short the fuse box and that your power cable isn’t damaged in any way. Turn on the ignition and wait for a few seconds, first check that both your front windows work and then, if fitted, the rears. Then test that the sunroof opens and closes with the switch. If everything is fine then turn off the ignition and begin refitting the trim from the fuse box back taking care not to trap the new power cable. Remember that the switch fits on AFTER the cowl is back in place so you need to make sure you poke the connector through the switch hole then fit the cowl by sliding in back on and the refitting the two screws, push the switch up into the cowl and reattach the courtesy light. It will be necessary to enlarge the little "key" in the cowl if you have used a window switch - I used a soldering iron to melt the plastic.

And here we have the finished product, unfortunately since I got my map lights from a Granada and not a Mondeo so they don’t fit with the sunroofs relay in the way and so had to be discarded. If you still have the grease handy, put the sunroof as far back as it will go and grease up the mechanism from outside the car as this will help the roof to move freely and at one speed. Well that’s your job done and should only have taken about 2 hours.

Problems you may encounter at the end:

No window power AND no roof power:
This will be caused by your connection at the fuse box as the wire you cut supply’s the window’s. So check the connection is secure and that you replaced the multi-plug correctly.

No roof power:
Check the fuse box connection to make sure both supply’s (existing and new) are both being fed. Check the connection at the sunroof end, and then check your ground point. Ensure + is going to + and that you haven’t mixed the wires up. Check the motor is functioning.

Slow or intermittent roof:
Check the ground point and then the fuse box connection. Make sure you haven’t over tightened the sunroof retaining bolts.