Pop top issue ..

[Joncali2023!!]

Hi all.
I was packing up my Cali. And noticed one side of the canvas sagging.
When I lowered it, it was lowering like this!!
Now I’m pretty sure this isn’t normal. Anyone had similar ?
Im due to go to Switzerland next Sunday.

 

[Andy C Berks.]

is it parked level, or are the near side wheels up on the kerb ? Can’t tell from the photo. If one or more wheels are on the kerb then move it to flat on the road and try again. Sometimes if try lower the roof when still up on ramps it doesn’t close properly due to “twist” in the chassis when at an angle.

 

[Joncali2023!!]

is it parked level, or are the near side wheels up on the kerb ? Can’t tell from the photo. If one or more wheels are on the kerb then move it to flat on the road and try again. Sometimes if try lower the roof when still up on ramps it doesn’t close properly due to “twist” in the chassis when at an angle.

It’s just on my drive. Slight downward slope -0.5 degree according to the digital level but nothing extreme .

 

[flying banana]

Mine did something similar at camperjam. Left side was stuck up 4 inch. Roof was showing closed. Someone pointed it out to me as I'd not noticed. Sent it fully up and then down again all was normal. Never done It before and not done it since.
Edit. No sagging. It just never shut right for some reason

 

[Kernowboy]

If a side has sagged a little it’s always best to raise it fully before lowering, so it starts on an even keel. Also, are your lowering it with the front of the bellows fully open like that? Might not be the best idea, looks like it could easily get snagged. Zips partially open on front and sides is all that’s needed to let the air out.

 

[Joncali2023!!]

If a side has sagged a little it’s always best to raise it fully before lowering, so it starts on an even keel. Also, are your lowering it with the front of the bellows fully open like that? Might not be the best idea, looks like it could easily get snagged. Zips partially open on front and sides is all that’s needed to let the air out.

I noticed one side sagging whilst it was up, so asked the missus to lower it slightly and then raise it fully before lowering it, it was lowered all zipped up .

 

[yorkshiredave]

@Joncali2023!! we picked up our new MY23 Ocean a few weeks ago and noticed it was doing the same on collection day. When we highlighted this to the dealer we checked a couple of other new vans and they did the same, to varying degrees. After a few up/down cycles it improved slightly and we are monitoring. Apparently, when the Sales Rep checked with Service they confirmed that VW have a tolerance of 18cm difference between sides is acceptable but that the hydraulics can take a number of cycles to settle down. Now I don’t know if this is BS but we are keeping an eye on it and if it worsens it’ll be going straight back to the Dealer under warranty. To be fair tho, it has improved but not fully settled into a level state. No need to leave windows/vents unzipped as best to have side & drivers door open when you lower the roof anyway.

 

[Joncali2023!!]

@Joncali2023!! we picked up our new MY23 Ocean a few weeks ago and noticed it was doing the same on collection day. When we highlighted this to the dealer we checked a couple of other new vans and they did the same, to varying degrees. After a few up/down cycles it improved slightly and we are monitoring. Apparently, when the Sales Rep checked with Service they confirmed that VW have a tolerance of 18cm difference between sides is acceptable but that the hydraulics can take a number of cycles to settle down. Now I don’t know if this is BS but we are keeping an eye on it and if it worsens it’ll be going straight back to the Dealer under warranty. To be fair tho, it has improved but not fully settled into a level state. No need to leave windows/vents unzipped as best to have side & drivers door open when you lower the roof anyway.

@Joncali2023!! we picked up our new MY23 Ocean a few weeks ago and noticed it was doing the same on collection day. When we highlighted this to the dealer we checked a couple of other new vans and they did the same, to varying degrees. After a few up/down cycles it improved slightly and we are monitoring. Apparently, when the Sales Rep checked with Service they confirmed that VW have a tolerance of 18cm difference between sides is acceptable but that the hydraulics can take a number of cycles to settle down. Now I don’t know if this is BS but we are keeping an eye on it and if it worsens it’ll be going straight back to the Dealer under warranty. To be fair tho, it has improved but not fully settled into a level state. No need to leave windows/vents unzipped as best to have side & drivers door open when you lower the roof anyway.

Im

Going to give mine a few goes over the next few days and see wha happens .
I don’t want it to start sagging whilst the kids are up top to be Honest, especially if we are away for the next 4 weeks.

 

[yorkshiredave]

Going to give mine a few goes over the next few days and see wha happens .
I don’t want it to start sagging whilst the kids are up top to be Honest, especially if we are away for the next 4 weeks.

Not had it sag once it’s up and locked in position. Just sags on one side when being lowered/raised but level once up and stays that way. One thing I’ve noticed is that the control panel message says pop-top is open or closed before the hydraulic mechanism fully finishes all its operations (I.e. noises). So I always keep the button pushed in until all noises have finished, regardless of whether control panel message says open or closed.

 

[dspuk]

Was it sagging before you lowered it?

We have had a slight sag after 3 days parked up but was the same both sides, only an inch or so. Only one other time previous to that, a little further but not much. Both times just put back up into full open position with panel before lowering. As we don’t usually stay static for more than two days it’s been only these times.

There is a lot of chatter on here about the hydraulics with differing vans with the challenge to various extents. To some VW said it was in tolerance and the software will automatically put the roof back up after a certain sag (no idea what that is), others have managed to prove it was faulty seals on the hydraulic rams. Some replaced the seals themslves.

I’d chalk it up as a one off and keep an eye on it.

 

[Steve1]

I also had a one of occurrence of this once when I was parked very unlevel. It has never done it since, it was about a year ago. I think that an air bubble must have got into the system. Putting it down and back up a couple of times solved it and it's been fine since. I don't know if being off level caused it or just bad luck that day.

 

[sagy]

Thank God I have a manual roof. So sorry for all you Ocean owners.

 

[Joncali2023!!]

Was it sagging before you lowered it?

We have had a slight sag after 3 days parked up but was the same both sides, only an inch or so. Only one other time previous to that, a little further but not much. Both times just put back up into full open position with panel before lowering. As we don’t usually stay static for more than two days it’s been only these times.

There is a lot of chatter on here about the hydraulics with differing vans with the challenge to various extents. To some VW said it was in tolerance and the software will automatically put the roof back up after a certain sag (no idea what that is), others have managed to prove it was faulty seals on the hydraulic rams. Some replaced the seals themslves.

I’d chalk it up as a one off and keep an eye on it.

Just sagging on one side to be honest . Noticed the canvas was floppy on the drivers side.
I’ll try it again tomorrow and pop it up a few times .

Thank God I have a manual roof. So sorry for all you Ocean owners.

I’ve had manual pop tops previously , the electric ocean automatic in my opinion far outweighs a manual .

 

[Corradobrit]

I’ve had manual pop tops previously , the electric ocean automatic in my opinion far outweighs a manual .

Thats for a whole other thread.

 

[Joncali2023!!]

I’ve noticed on my poptop that one side - closes faster than the other (the side that had the sagging issue) is this normal ?

 

[BIG C]

I’ve noticed on my poptop that one side - closes faster than the other (the side that had the sagging issue) is this normal ?

My 2017 Ocean did same, opened straight but lowered unevenly by about 4 inches had it fixed under warranty by Edinburgh Van Centre. They swapped the scissors first (no change) then replaced hydraulic pump big job due to pump access and fluid replacement £££. I am pretty sure there is another thread on this.

 

[BristolCali]

Thank God I have a manual roof. So sorry for all you Ocean owners.

Ignore the hype. No one posts about the 100’s of times their Ocean roof works perfectly, it’s awesome.

 

[Glenn Blundell]

Hi, we have the same issue with our T6.1 2020 Ocean. Ours drops faster on the passenger side by around 14cms and VW won't do anything unless it's 18cms or more. I've had a massive battle with two dealerships, the dealer we bought it from and Customer Care. They start off as if they have never heard of the problem, then get all defensive, saying it's within normal operating procedure. Apparently the dealerships are under strict instructions to not change the hydraulics from VW.
If you watch the roof closing from the back, it looks even worse, as it appears to twist. It has completely taken the shine off it for me. We got our van with extended warranty, which still has 18 months to run but I feel this is a waste of time. I would be very interested to know if you have any success in getting your roof sorted, as I have taken it as far as I can with no good outcome.
It's obviously a design fault, that involves an expensive fix, so VW are covering this up. How on earth can you have a tolerance of 18cms, over such a small distance?
Sorry to be so negative and I do hope you get it sorted.
Cheers
Glenn

 

[andrewgrasharp]

My

Hi, we have the same issue with our T6.1 2020 Ocean. Ours drops faster on the passenger side by around 14cms and VW won't do anything unless it's 18cms or more. I've had a massive battle with two dealerships, the dealer we bought it from and Customer Care. They start off as if they have never heard of the problem, then get all defensive, saying it's within normal operating procedure. Apparently the dealerships are under strict instructions to not change the hydraulics from VW.
If you watch the roof closing from the back, it looks even worse, as it appears to twist. It has completely taken the shine off it for me. We got our van with extended warranty, which still has 18 months to run but I feel this is a waste of time. I would be very interested to know if you have any success in getting your roof sorted, as I have taken it as far as I can with no good outcome.
It's obviously a design fault, that involves an expensive fix, so VW are covering this up. How on earth can you have a tolerance of 18cms, over such a small distance?
Sorry to be so negative and I do hope you get it sorted.
Cheers
Glenn

My Ocean 22 is at the dealership now with exactly this problem, getting the feeling that they’ll say it’s within tolerance if it’s 18cm..! Not acceptable in my opinion!

 

[Glenn Blundell]

My

My Ocean 22 is at the dealership now with exactly this problem, getting the feeling that they’ll say it’s within tolerance if it’s 18cm..! Not acceptable in my opinion!

so sorry to hear this, I know exactly what you must feel like. The first dealership I took it to, treated me like it was entirely my fault and I must have misused it?
Hope you get it sorted and I would be very interested to know how you get on.
The second dealership I tried were much better but couldn't get to the bottom of the problem. They bled the hydraulics. This made no difference and they said they swapped the pumps over, to see if the problem switched sides and it didn't.
VW then basically told them to do no more work on the van. When I contacted this dealer a few months later, so they could give me a record of the work carried out, they told me the technician who worked on the van, was off long term sick and they had no job card or record of the work carried out, so I don't know for sure if they actually did what they said they did?
You couldn't make this sh@t up.
Good luck and please let me know how you go on.
Glenn

 

[Corradobrit]

so sorry to hear this, I know exactly what you must feel like. The first dealership I took it to, treated me like it was entirely my fault and I must have misused it?
Hope you get it sorted and I would be very interested to know how you get on.
The second dealership I tried were much better but couldn't get to the bottom of the problem. They bled the hydraulics. This made no difference and they said they swapped the pumps over, to see if the problem switched sides and it didn't.
VW then basically told them to do no more work on the van. When I contacted this dealer a few months later, so they could give me a record of the work carried out, they told me the technician who worked on the van, was off long term sick and they had no job card or record of the work carried out, so I don't know for sure if they actually did what they said they did?
You couldn't make this sh@t up.
Good luck and please let me know how you go on.
Glenn

Sounds like some proper BS right there.

 

[Andyhcfc]

so sorry to hear this, I know exactly what you must feel like. The first dealership I took it to, treated me like it was entirely my fault and I must have misused it?
Hope you get it sorted and I would be very interested to know how you get on.
The second dealership I tried were much better but couldn't get to the bottom of the problem. They bled the hydraulics. This made no difference and they said they swapped the pumps over, to see if the problem switched sides and it didn't.
VW then basically told them to do no more work on the van. When I contacted this dealer a few months later, so they could give me a record of the work carried out, they told me the technician who worked on the van, was off long term sick and they had no job card or record of the work carried out, so I don't know for sure if they actually did what they said they did?
You couldn't make this sh@t up.
Good luck and please let me know how you go on.
Glenn

Hi, this is my first post on the forum, and it's simpatico with you about the pop top. Our Pop Top started closing by itself, enough to stop the up top lights from working. Took it back to the dealer (Eurovans Crawley) who admitted it's a known problem, and would bleed hydraulics and check it over. They did, yet that didn't fix it so my van is booked in again later in August for another fix. While on holiday in France, in the middle of the night the roof hydraulics kicked in and raised the roof fully, and the roof has worked properly ever since!!
I will still take it into Eurovans to check over the pop top, as the wheel nuts have rusted and they almost admitted there should have been wheel nut covers on them, but there weren't any, so the next fight is to get new wheel nuts and cover under warranty.
What really annoys me is VW having the audacity to say Pop Tops dropping 18cm is OK? Who decided that, it certainly doesn't let you know in the marketing materials and sales talk!!
Good luck with you warranty claim.

 

[couplands]

so sorry to hear this, I know exactly what you must feel like. The first dealership I took it to, treated me like it was entirely my fault and I must have misused it?
Hope you get it sorted and I would be very interested to know how you get on.
The second dealership I tried were much better but couldn't get to the bottom of the problem. They bled the hydraulics. This made no difference and they said they swapped the pumps over, to see if the problem switched sides and it didn't.
VW then basically told them to do no more work on the van. When I contacted this dealer a few months later, so they could give me a record of the work carried out, they told me the technician who worked on the van, was off long term sick and they had no job card or record of the work carried out, so I don't know for sure if they actually did what they said they did?
You couldn't make this sh@t up.
Good luck and please let me know how you go on.
Glenn

If you mean they switched the hydraulic rams side to side and the problem remained on the same side, that indicates the pump is faulty.

We had the same issue and one of the relief valves in the pump leaked, there is a relief valve for each side. Our roof was drooping on just one side approx 50mm (not cm) in 15-30mins.

They changed the pump, which I believe is £1000-£1500 but could be wrong. It’s a lot better now, but will still droop eventually on both sides after a few days.

 

[andrewgrasharp]

so sorry to hear this, I know exactly what you must feel like. The first dealership I took it to, treated me like it was entirely my fault and I must have misused it?
Hope you get it sorted and I would be very interested to know how you get on.
The second dealership I tried were much better but couldn't get to the bottom of the problem. They bled the hydraulics. This made no difference and they said they swapped the pumps over, to see if the problem switched sides and it didn't.
VW then basically told them to do no more work on the van. When I contacted this dealer a few months later, so they could give me a record of the work carried out, they told me the technician who worked on the van, was off long term sick and they had no job card or record of the work carried out, so I don't know for sure if they actually did what they said they did?
You couldn't make this sh@t up.
Good luck and please let me know how you go on.
Glenn

Hi Well it’s back from Dealership with no issue to report on sagging pop top, not surprised with the outcome reading posts. I’ll just monitor it, I guess it’s something I’ll have to live with for now!

 

[Glenn Blundell]

If you mean they switched the hydraulic rams side to side and the problem remained on the same side, that indicates the pump is faulty.

We had the same issue and one of the relief valves in the pump leaked, there is a relief valve for each side. Our roof was drooping on just one side approx 50mm (not cm) in 15-30mins.

They changed the pump, which I believe is £1000-£1500 but could be wrong. It’s a lot better now, but will still droop eventually on both sides after a few days.

Thank you.
I am not 100% sure what they swapped over and I don't think the dealership is either. The big problem I am having is not that the roof generally stays up okay and will slightly sag a touch after a few days of it being up, which is not a problem. I can live with that.
It's the other issue of when we close the roof. It's drops faster by 140mms on one side and if you look at this from the back of the van, the whole roof twists because it's much less than 140mms out at the back. I think because it's made of aluminium, it's flexible enough to do this but it looks terrible and I am worried that it will probably only get worse.
VW have just put their heads in the same over this and said it's less than 180mms, so basically get on with it.