Bellows becoming detached

[SpikeMcBike]

Hi all,

I have a bit of a belllows issue on my T6 Beach... in hot weather the bellows peel away from the seating at the top corner, per the photo.

1. Has anyone else had this problem?

2. Should I go to the dealer as a warranty issue or should I solve myself by applying some superglue or something?

I would be interested to hear thoughts from the forum.

Cheers,

Spike


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[Hotel California]

Never seen someone posting something like that on the forum.
Warrenty issue !

 

[GrannyJen]

To me, definitely not DIY.
Definitely warranty.

 

[soulstyledevon]

If you have Warranty.
Don’t delay, get them to sort ASAP.

Never seen that before

 

[calikev]

As granny jen says if it’s under warranty which it is leave well alone and let vw sort it

 

[SpikeMcBike]

Thank you, guys, for confirming. Dealer, it is.

It will be interesting to see how they handle this, given the fact that it doesn’t seem to be a common problem. Perhaps a whole new roof assembly


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[Stoneybroke]

Thanks for the heads-up.
I'll be checking mine as Mrs S has been camping this roasting weekend.

 

[BayCatOne]

After owning our new T6 for a couple of weeks and 5 nights out we found that the roof top has come undone on the front left of the roof.

From inside you can clearly see sunlight coming through. I can press the rubber seal back up in place again but as soon as the roof is opened up it’s loose again.

It looks like the front left aluminium rail has a little bit of a gap compared to the front right so I’m guessing it’s installed on a Monday.

Anyone have any advice or had this happen? I only found a thread about it happening in the rear, older vehicle.

 

[SpikeMcBike]

Exactly the same happened to me on my T6 Beach. Hot weather seems to be the common denominator between occurrences on mine.

If you lower the roof to a nearly closed position, you can then push the needing back in place, you should feel it click back into place. Do this in the evening when it is cooler. It should then hold. Mine then periodically came away again but only on very hot days.

For the longer term, you will need to have your bellows replaced under warranty. My van is going in to the dealer on Tuesday to have it done. No quibbles from the dealer, they didn’t even want to inspect first, they agreed to the work over the phone.

Hope that helps.


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[BayCatOne]

Thanks! That’s very helpful.

And surely enough it’s been 30C during the days now and not below 14 during the night.

 

[BayCatOne]

Well there's no clickity-click sound, it's just the rubber seal that sets in place. But as soon as it's fully extended it comes undone again just after a few seconds. If I touch the fabric, like a gust of wind it's instantly loose.

I'll go in to the service center tomorrow and see what they can do/says. I guess it's not supposed to be glued or anything because then swapping it would be "fun".

 

[flying banana]

mine did that today. I just pushed it back in place and seems to be holding. I'll be getting that looked at

 

[burko73]

mine recently did that after having a new bellows fitted after my roof replacement. the strip needs to be pushed right up into barbed fittings within the track. ours was sorted recently , I watched the guy do it just in case it came out again. He said he could feel it being gripped in when pushed in fully. ours survived a week away in windy weather recently and was good. if its in warranty, get them to sort it. If not, it's a simple fix. the fitter used a silicone sealant smoothing tool to push it up into the track.

 

[BayCatOne]

Maybe @admin could merge these two threads and rename the topic to something more descriptive and search friendly for future reference?

https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/bellows.25411/

 

[BayCatOne]

Well, sent to the dealer and they’d never seen or heard of it before. However very helpful trying to push it back up in place but it’s still not holding on.

Looks like the roof is misaligned too and that’s probably what’s causing it is my layman’s guess.

They’re gonna ask around to see what we can do... unfortunately it’s not looking like a fix is around the corner and we have several trips planned too

 

[flying banana]

Well, sent to the dealer and they’d never seen or heard of it before. However very helpful trying to push it back up in place but it’s still not holding on.

Looks like the roof is misaligned too and that’s probably what’s causing it is my layman’s guess.

They’re gonna ask around to see what we can do... unfortunately it’s not looking like a fix is around the corner and we have several trips planned too

View attachment 35545

mines a beach with manual roof strange how mines come away at the same point. top left upper corner.

 

[flying banana]

here's a pic of mine. it keeps coming undone from there. show your dealer this if he's never heard of it.

 

[VW Guru]

Not the first one I’ve seen over the years normally solved by a set of new bellows and an adjustment of the roof roughy about half a day fix and your sorted. Dealers are busy at the moment and the booking lead time is around 1.5-2 weeks at the moment.

 

[westfalia]

If the bellows look square and true when the roof is up i can´t
understand why VW would fit new ones.

When it happens to mine i will use some sikkaflex to stick it back in.

 

[VW Guru]

If the bellows look square and true when the roof is up i can´t
understand why VW would fit new ones.

When it happens to mine i will use some sikkaflex to stick it back in.

Because as long as the roof has been operated correctly then the bellows should not come out. If the rubber comes out on a brand new calli then there will be a manufacturing defect either the bellows or the roof. From experience it’s normally where the bellows are faulty or sometimes they are consequentially damaged due to an incorrectly adjusted roof.

 

[flying banana]

I don't understand how I can have an incorrectly adjusted roof. it's manual and only goes up on the gas struts until it stops. it's a shame as my bellows are in perfect order too. I have been very careful and no nicks or tears at all. I'll see what vw say and update you all.

 

[BayCatOne]

Yes that's pretty much what I've got too. They had it in for half an hour yesterday and they could see that it was poorly adjusted on the back right of the roof so it pushed too hard front left. So now my front left is loose and it's saggy front right as a consequence of this.

They've sent a service request to VW in Sweden but it's very hectic now and it's not gonna get fixed before mid august is their guestimate. However they told me to just use the van as normal, any issues with water stains on the inner roof will be covered by warranty.

 

[SpikeMcBike]

My bellows have been replaced today on my T6 Beach, under warranty, by one of the more highly regarded dealers in Southern England.

They were clearly aware of the issue when I initially called them. They diagnosed, told me the bellows had to be replaced and booked in the van on that one phone call. No further inspection required.

They have just called to say that the work is complete and will drop the van off at home shortly. No mention of any roof alignment problems, just bellows. I will inspect tonight and will obviously monitor over next few weeks and will report back.


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[VW Guru]

My bellows have been replaced today on my T6 Beach, under warranty, by one of the more highly regarded dealers in Southern England.

They were clearly aware of the issue when I initially called them. They diagnosed, told me the bellows had to be replaced and booked in the van on that one phone call. No further inspection required.

They have just called to say that the work is complete and will drop the van off at home shortly. No mention of any roof alignment problems, just bellows. I will inspect tonight and will obviously monitor over next few weeks and will report back.


It probably is just the bellows in your case the roof alignment is not always an issue just sometimes it can miss aligned causing the problem.

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[Alform]

Clickety clicking also...in the evening after a hot day in the Sun.
Come away from corner. Looks like the frame could be damaged also if you look closely at the picture. This is a t6 bellows fitted by vw on a t5.1 in October. When I purchased the original one had a hole in it so it was changed. I mentioned to @dayslikethis in Tenby that I thought somebody was throwing stones on my roof around 2am in the morning , clickety click .