Closing roof - please start engine

[sidepod]

Well as long as the argument in favour holds water.

The electric roof adds weight, complexity and cost for virtually zero benefit, it's not even quick!

Definitely a marketing beats engineering decision.

 

[Bobcat01]

Gents I'm experiencing the same issue as Notlob several posts above. Where I'm getting the 'ignition on' message when the engine is running and then the roof doesn't lower. Eventually after retrying several times restarting the engine over a 15min period it eventually works not before I've been ready to remove the control panel and lower the roof manually. I find it makes no difference if on ehu or having just done a long trip ie 500mls and the batteries being fully charged. At other times it seems to work as intended ie press close and it closes without any further messages. Any thoughts on what's happening or source of the issue?.

 

[WelshGas]

Gents I'm experiencing the same issue as Notlob several posts above. Where I'm getting the 'ignition on' message when the engine is running and then the roof doesn't lower. Eventually after retrying several times restarting the engine over a 15min period it eventually works not before I've been ready to remove the control panel and lower the roof manually. I find it makes no difference if on ehu or having just done a long trip ie 500mls and the batteries being fully charged. At other times it seems to work as intended ie press close and it closes without any further messages. Any thoughts on what's happening or source of the issue?.

Have you tried restarting the Control Panel?
Press L Lower button on Control Panel. Wait 30 secs and press button again.

Any Diagnostic Codes stored on the Control Panel?
Press and hold R Lower Button and then press the Control Knob. New secret menu is displayed.
Scroll to VW Diagnostic. Any codes. Write any down and then Delete/Reset codes.

 

[Bobcat01]

No codes stored on the control panel diagnostics function on the occasions I checked. On the occasion I tried to switch the control panel off I got the message 'roof up' and it appeared not to switch off. I've tried it again this afternoon and all worked fine four out of five times. I then got the ignition on message and the roof did nothing. Pressed the close again and it came down ok. Can you confirm in normal use that you don't get the 'ignition on' message and the roof just closes..
Thanks for any help or suggestions.

 

[Bobcat01]

I thought I would provide some feedback and hopefully closure on my roof closing issue above. My camper has been in the VW centre for a couple of weeks to get the issue fixed along with a couple of other minor fixes. The dealer was able to replicate the fault eventually but there was no diagnostic codes evident and they didn't have much idea the source of the fault. They ended up submitting a Technical Query to VW Germany who advised to change the ignition switch. Seemingly it sends a signal to say that it is switched on and this signal was intermittent. The ignition is now changed and the keys recoded and so far no repeat so fingers crossed. I also had the EGR changed at the same time due to the light being on. So all is now good.

 

[sidepod]

Don't ya just love the over complex T5!

 

[Hotel California]

Don't ya just love the over complex T5!

Nothing complex at all , just been two weeks away , 2700km , happy as ever....
Knock on wood!

 

[WelshGas]

Don't ya just love the over complex T5!

So much more complicated than the T4.

https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/forums/t4-california-technical.134/

https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/t4-breaker.15791/#post-172536

 

[RichardH]

I thought you had to start the engine to put the roof down.

Hi, we have just returned from a trip around Europe some 2500 miles. Average drive around 200 miles, no electric hook up as not needed. When closing roof we had to start the engine every time - apart from when we had ehu to see if the problem still happened - it didn't. So does that mean that the ehu is charging the battery better than the engine and is it the fact that the battery is not holding the charge it is receiving from the engine?

In our tenth year of using our Cali a lot, but only recently come across the CCU requirement to start engine before lowering the roof (having run down the leisure batteries to about 11.9v by running the fridge for three hot days without EHU). Could not do so while the engine is actually running, but after a few seconds of doing so was able to turn off and lower the roof. I think this has always been the situation since the van was new but later postings on this thread imply that lowering the roof while the engine is running is normal. Any suggestions?

 

[Steve1]

In our tenth year of using our Cali a lot, but only recently come across the CCU requirement to start engine before lowering the roof (having run down the leisure batteries to about 11.9v by running the fridge for three hot days without EHU). Could not do so while the engine is actually running, but after a few seconds of doing so was able to turn off and lower the roof. I think this has always been the situation since the van was new but later postings on this thread imply that lowering the roof while the engine is running is normal. Any suggestions?

I have a 2014 SE too, I can open and close the roof with engine running I usually would if I want going on hookup to save battery power. What does yours do when you try to operate roof with engine running to stop you ?

 

[RichardH]

I have a 2014 SE too, I can open and close the roof with engine running I usually would if I want going on hookup to save battery power. What does yours do when you try to operate roof with engine running to stop you ?

Thanks for the quick response. It seems that I needed to be more persistent. Today’s first attempt to open the roof with the engine running brought up an immediate “roof open” message without activation of the roof motor. Repeating the CCU instruction raised the roof normally. I had a similar error message a couple of days ago when trying to lower the roof but it then worked OK when I pressed the button again. Trying to replicate it again, but no success so far. Until the recent “start engine” message, when the leisure batteries were low, I’d not encountered this before and had raised and lowered the roof hundreds of times with just the ignition switched on. I think I must be lucky with my leisure batteries. They seem to hold charge for so long! I’ll report back on this again if I can pin down what’s happening.

 

[Steve1]

Thanks for the quick response. It seems that I needed to be more persistent. Today’s first attempt to open the roof with the engine running brought up an immediate “roof open” message without activation of the roof motor. Repeating the CCU instruction raised the roof normally. I had a similar error message a couple of days ago when trying to lower the roof but it then worked OK when I pressed the button again. Trying to replicate it again, but no success so far. Until the recent “start engine” message, when the leisure batteries were low, I’d not encountered this before and had raised and lowered the roof hundreds of times with just the ignition switched on. I think I must be lucky with my leisure batteries. They seem to hold charge for so long! I’ll report back on this again if I can pin down what’s happening.

My one will say roof open if I start the engine with the roof open for a short period without touching the control panel. Then It will stop saying that after a few seconds. After that the roof operates normally while the engine is running. If the batteries are full it will also work fine with the ignition on but without the engine running. But if your batteries are low, the roof is a large current user so will drag voltage down enough that that battery is detected as low, which I think is when it would tell you to start the engine although I've never let my one get low enough to definitely confirm that bit.

 

[Skylark2.0]

The roof motor has a big draw on the battery that running the engine mitigates.

 

[WelshGas]

The only requirements for operating the roof are:
1. Adequate leisure battery voltage, 12.2v +
2. Ignition On and this is just a safety precaution to avoid accidental usage .

If you have the roof Open and start the engine you get an Open Roof message in case you inadvertently drive with the roof open. It has been done. Following the message display the roof operates normally. Similarly if you Open the roof with engine On.

If the leisure batteries have inadequate voltage you are asked to Start Engine. Once done the roof can be opened or closed normally.

 

[BeeBee]

Mmmm… at first I was bamboozled, then I was mesmerised and I think now just amused.
With us it’s , Ignition on, Engine on, “we have lift off, or landing”.
One small step for ‘womankind’ lol

 

[RichardH]

Thanks for the input, all those who replied. It seems I was too impatient and was misled by the initial display messages. Persisting with the CCU while the engine is running has allowed me to raise and lower the roof successfully each time. Good tip about preserving leisure battery power. Thanks I'll look forward to even greater battery life!