Crack has appeared in bathroom wall

[Glynn]

Hi. Has anyone else had an issue with a crack in the bathroom wall? The crack is on the wall where the heating vent is located - Suddenly appeared, I am assuming it must have something to do with the heat from the Truma heater??

 

[Eber123]

Hello @Glynn,

I am sorry to see this issue. I can imagine it will be a huge project to get this sorted.

I believe I have seen this issue several times in Caliboard.de. Unfortunately I haven't follow all the posts so I don't know the outcome of the repair. The only thing I believe happened that one VW dealer tried not to accept this as a warranty case (I hope yours is still under warranty).

If this would happened to my Grand California I would inform immediately 1.) my VW dealer, 2.) VW Ireland (obviously in your case VW UK), and for good measurement, VW Nutzfahrzeuge in Germany.

I would demand from Volkswagen how they plan to fix this, how they avoid this happen in the future, how long it will take to repair.

Best of luck and let us know the outcome.

Regards,
Eberhard

 

[Glynn]

Hello @Glynn,

I am sorry to see this issue. I can imagine it will be a huge project to get this sorted.

I believe I have seen this issue several times in Caliboard.de. Unfortunately I haven't follow all the posts so I don't know the outcome of the repair. The only thing I believe happened that one VW dealer tried not to accept this as a warranty case (I hope yours is still under warranty).

If this would happened to my Grand California I would inform immediately 1.) my VW dealer, 2.) VW Ireland (obviously in your case VW UK), and for good measurement, VW Nutzfahrzeuge in Germany.

I would demand from Volkswagen how they plan to fix this, how they avoid this happen in the future, how long it will take to repair.

Best of luck and let us know the outcome.

Regards,
Eberhard

Many thanks Eberhard. We have informed VW today - I will let you know how this progresses.

 

[The Yorkshireman]

Many thanks Eberhard. We have informed VW today - I will let you know how this progresses.

Hi there are posts relating to cracks in the wall in this face book group.
Might sound drastic but if you have only just bought the van might be worth considering rejecting it.

 

[Glynn]

Thank you - Useful information to have if VW became difficult.

Much appreciated
Glynn

 

[The Yorkshireman]

This link is to another group with the same issue.

VW Grand California | Facebook

www.facebook.com

 

[Glynn]

Thank you - Really helpful

Regards
Glynn

 

[Jester]

Hi. Has anyone else had an issue with a crack in the bathroom wall? The crack is on the wall where the heating vent is located - Suddenly appeared, I am assuming it must have something to do with the heat from the Truma heater??View attachment 103706

Looks to me as if the heat defuser is either slightly misshapen or the hole is a tad to small then the hot air enlarges the defuser causing it to expand and crack the plastic walling and obviously a defect and should be a warranty issue.
good luck.

 

[Glynn]

Thanks Jester. I would agree with your thoughts, definitely a heat issue. We have informed VW; however, are about to go on a long trip in the van; therefore, the issue will not be resolved until we return in mid May. I will update once I return.

 

[mpill990]

This should be an easy fix for a competent plastic welder - I've had trashed motorcycle fairings repaired to 'like-new' using this technique so a minor crack won't be a challenge.

I definitely would not let the dealer take out and replace the panel as this will involve a significant amount of dismantling and I wouldn't particularly trust the dealer to get this right...

In the meantime use superglue at the end of the crack to stop it getting worse

Sent from my SM-G986B using Tapatalk

 

[Glynn]

This should be an easy fix for a competent plastic welder - I've had trashed motorcycle fairings repaired to 'like-new' using this technique so a minor crack won't be a challenge.

I definitely would not let the dealer take out and replace the panel as this will involve a significant amount of dismantling and I wouldn't particularly trust the dealer to get this right...

In the meantime use superglue at the end of the crack to stop it getting worse

Sent from my SM-G986B using Tapatalk

Thank you

 

[VW_Johan]

Whats the latest status on this issue? Is VW repairing these under warranty? If so, how is the repair done?

 

[VanFan]

Hi. Has anyone else had an issue with a crack in the bathroom wall? The crack is on the wall where the heating vent is located - Suddenly appeared, I am assuming it must have something to do with the heat from the Truma heater??View attachment 103706

Hi Glynn. Did this get fixed via VW? Just noticed a small crack at the bottom of my 2022 GC600. Never used the shower so this is clearly just heat, but having read these threads previously I have always had the vent open. Be interested to know what VW said.

 

[DMC]

It’s a known issue (https://www.grandcali.com/en/crack-...ow-to-prevent-it-guest-article/#comment-19154). No idea what causes it but it is worth a look through some of the German forums.

 

[Jimmylondon07]

I’ve seen some people have been replacing the butterfly vents with more open versions from Truma. My van is still under warranty at the moment so I don’t want to do that all the while VW are still covering the repair, best off just making sure all the vents are open when using the heating and have the warranty fix in my back pocket if the worst happens.

 

[VanFan]

I’ve seen some people have been replacing the butterfly vents with more open versions from Truma. My van is still under warranty at the moment so I don’t want to do that all the while VW are still covering the repair, best off just making sure all the vents are open when using the heating and have the warranty fix in my back pocket if the worst happens.

View attachment 134673

We are still under warranty but would be such a massive fix, I assume. Urgh.

 

[VW_Johan]

We bought our GC680 a couple of weeks ago, a dealer demonstrator that is practically brand new. Checked the car when we got it, and it also had this issue, a vertical crack above the vent in the bathroom. Reported it to the dealer who will repair it under warranty. So far this has been handled very well by Volkswagen, got the car booked into service quite quickly, they located a dealer who has experience in doing this job.

A fairly massive job since the bathroom is the first component installed when the van is built. To repair this, the bathroom wall is replaced. And to replace that, most of the interior needs to be dismantled. The estimated repair time is 1-2 weeks.

 

[VW_Johan]

Got the van back on friday after the scheduled two weeks of repair. The bathroom wall has been replaced, which meant taking apart a large part of the living area. Fairly OK repair, the silicon seams are not nearly as clean as from the factory, but otherwise things look OK.

 

[VanFan]

Got the van back on friday after the scheduled two weeks of repair. The bathroom wall has been replaced, which meant taking apart a large part of the living area. Fairly OK repair, the silicon seams are not nearly as clean as from the factory, but otherwise things look OK.

View attachment 135516

View attachment 135517

Thanks for posting the update. What can you do about the seams?

 

[VW_Johan]

Thanks for posting the update. What can you do about the seams?

That's a really good question. Don't know to be honest. Kind of disappointed at the level of workmanship to be honest.

 

[VanFan]

That's a really good question. Don't know to be honest. Kind of disappointed at the level of workmanship to be honest.

It’s hard to know what to do about ours, as it’s so small, and we haven’t used the shower other than as a tap and don’t intend to. So wondering if it is worth pulling it all out. But then it could get worse so perhaps should get it done, etc etc. It’s being inspected on Tuesday so will see what they say. Thanks.

 

[AndrewCook680]

Shame about those seams. When the sealant came away on bottom of shower and around base of toilet on our van, we paid a local plumber to reapply the sealant. We reckoned he would be a lot more experienced than a workshop mechanic at doing that sort of work. Even though van still under warranty.