Drivers door catching on seal

[Jeanpatrick]

To add to all our other other problems we now have a problem with the drivers door catching on the seal at the bottom, it looks like the door has dropped and has now caused the bottom of the door to to rust. Anyone else had this before I approach the dealer?

 

[gatvol]

I have the identical fault. My paint shop guy actually alerted me to it, when he saw my Cali for the first time as we were collecting another car from him. He has undertaken this repair many times on T5.

It obviously a design or manufacturing flaw. I suspect it would yield a nasty little hole if left unchecked

Mine off for warranty repair of it soon.

 

[Jeanpatrick]

You are luckier than me, we are outside of warranty and a goodwill claim was declined saying it was caused by excessive opening and shutting of the door !!! What if I was a delivery driver :cry: VW Bodyshop has quoted £872 to re allign the door and respray it.

 

[teeboy]

I wonder what they count as excessive, and how do they know?

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[snowy55]

Hi there

Just sold 60 plate Kombi where the bottom rear corner of the drivers door was catching on the body causing a rust patch that in a couple of years time will be a hole. Vehicle had done 60k miles with full VW service history.
Also have a look at the front of the handle on the sliding door, is it digging into the paint? If it is this will also develop into a rust patch.

VW = premium brand, not anymore :censor

 

[Custardtart]

You are luckier than me, we are outside of warranty and a goodwill claim was declined saying it was caused by excessive opening and shutting of the door !!! What if I was a delivery driver :cry: VW Bodyshop has quoted £872 to re allign the door and respray it.

So your Cali is around 3 years old and the door has been opened/shut more times than it was designed for? Unless it's been used as a taxi or has hyper mileage I can't see that argument holding water.

The designed service life of a vehicle must be much more than 3 years and a door/hinge isn't what I'd call a consumable part.

If VW CS don't help maybe trading standards? There are obligations beyond the stated warranty period I think.

If all else fails try an independent bodyshop for a cheaper repair - maybe.

Good luck getting it resolved.

 

[Jeanpatrick]

Thanks, this is also the same dealer that was convinced the roof was made of fibreglass!

We have had the dent guy come out to us yesterday, he will paint it for £80 but he was unable to adjust the door so he needs to come back. So we still need to get the door re-alligned but the VW dealer said they can't do it and needs to go to their bodyshop. At the moment I am having to enter via the sliding door as I dont want to make it any worse. With the roof and steering clonk I am just scared what is going to happen next.

 

[Bluesea]

Hi
Under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 goods must be as described, of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose.
http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/ ... -goods-act
The link helps explain your rights.
Your door is not fit for purpose.
Hope things are sorted quickly for you
Best wishes

 

[James]

I would suspect this might have something to do with people using the door to get into the van, either leaning on it or using it to haul themselves in.

I am not blaming you, clearly even with use, it's bad if they drop but as a Beach owner, we don't have the extra grab handle and i can see the temptation to use it as a way of getting in.

I hope you get it sorted

James

 

[Isa Neal]

Worthwhile checking your door hinges to see if they are damaged if dropped. I have a 2012 DSG Cali and my drivers side upper door hinge just dropped some bits on my drive when I got home one night, it had rusted through a crack, all repaired under warranty but that could have caused the door to drop-mine didn't drop because the rusted crack in the hinge caused a more dramatic result.....

 

[teeboy]

I would suspect this might have something to do with people using the door to get into the van, either leaning on it or using it to haul themselves in.

I am not blaming you, clearly even with use, it's bad if they drop but as a Beach owner, we don't have the extra grab handle and i can see the temptation to use it as a way of getting in.

I hope you get it sorted

James

I was wondering the same thing, if I am camping and want to wash the bugs off the window I do stand on the step and lean round to get the windscreen. I would be easy to put too much weight on the door doing this manuver!

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[James]

I would suspect this might have something to do with people using the door to get into the van, either leaning on it or using it to haul themselves in.

I am not blaming you, clearly even with use, it's bad if they drop but as a Beach owner, we don't have the extra grab handle and i can see the temptation to use it as a way of getting in.

I hope you get it sorted

James

I was wondering the same thing, if I am camping and want to wash the bugs off the window I do stand on the step and lean round to get the windscreen. I would be easy to put too much weight on the door doing this manuver!

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I can't know for sure but I would be pretty certain that this is use rather than a flaw, in the sense I've seen people use the door as a lever to get in. Over time this is probably why the door drops and moves.

I am not blaming the individuals who had this problem, many seem to be used vehicles so probably part of the vans past.

As it only seems to be the drivers door, that's probably your clue

If the forum were to do a sort of guide to buying a secondhand Cali, possibly something to check.



James

 

[gatvol]

Bluesea is right here.

In my opinion folk need to stop condoning shocking California build quality.

I have owned about a dozen vehicles ranging from low door cars like 350z and merc sl, up to high door cars like Cali and range rover. Some have had long doors like coupes, some short like 4 door hatchbacks.

I am 6 5", so have less trouble than most getting into tall vehicles. And this problem at 13,000 miles on what is a garaged third car !!!!!

Only the Cali door has rubbed against the sill. This is amateur night build quality, pure and simple. The door is long, so the forces on the hinges are bound to be higher than in a smart car. Cost cutting vw either designed it poorly or failed to build it properly. Owners should not have to pay for this and should go legal if they are fobbed off by vw or representatives.

 

[James]

Bluesea is right here.

In my opinion folk need to stop condoning shocking California build quality.

I have owned about a dozen vehicles ranging from low door cars like 350z and merc sl, up to high door cars like Cali and range rover. Some have had long doors like coupes, some short like 4 door hatchbacks.

I am 6 5", so have less trouble than most getting into tall vehicles. And this problem at 13,000 miles on what is a garaged third car !!!!!

Only the Cali door has rubbed against the sill. This is amateur night build quality, pure and simple. The door is long, so the forces on the hinges are bound to be higher than in a smart car. Cost cutting vw either designed it poorly or failed to build it properly. Owners should not have to pay for this and should go legal if they are fobbed off by vw or representatives.

If it was poor build quality alone, i'd suggest it would affect both doors, i would be careful and clarify before jumping on the poor build quality bandwagon, that suits some people, but probably isn't the whole story.

No one is condoning shocking build quality but there are too many posters on the forum who take the issue of build quality and run with it.

I don't know for sure what the reason is, perhaps the door is weak, perhaps it shouldn't drop but as I said, seemingly it is only the drivers door, so at present i would put that in the category of 'use' and not poor build quality.

If we turn up with a batch of vehicles with problems on the passenger door, then i'd be more inclined to believe.

Despite different vehicles, all vans are more difficult to get into than cars, the tendency to use the door or lean upon it is obvious

James

 

[gatvol]

James, I do not wish to be contradictory ....

Literally every vehicle produced faces asymmetric use of the driver's and passenger's door. But of every car I have ever owned - and I have been an active forum member of the various cars I have owned for the past 10 years - only Californias have had this problem.

And mine at 13,000 miles. When my paint guy told me it is systematic with Californias. When I easily climb into the van. When it only gets used on reasonable length journeys and not school runs, supermarket runs and the like.....

I had far more trouble getting into my 350z, Audi S5 and Merc SL (roof up) and required more support from the doors in all these cars than my Cali. Even my volvo estate door gets more hammer than my Cali door. And much as I hate modern VW build quality, the Audi door did not rub. But the pillarless driver's door on the Audi did not seal properly so leaked when being washed. And it would not open in the snow so I had to enter from the passenger side. And the intelligent key failed and needed reprogramming. And the door handles needed replacing due to failed intelligent key sensors which I had to pay for despite it being a widespread issue.

 

[James]

James, I do not wish to be contradictory ....

Literally every vehicle produced faces asymmetric use of the driver's and passenger's door. But of every car I have ever owned - and I have been an active forum member of the various cars I have owned for the past 10 years - only Californias have had this problem.

And mine at 13,000 miles. When my paint guy told me it is systematic with Californias. When I easily climb into the van. When it only gets used on reasonable length journeys and not school runs, supermarket runs and the like.....

I had far more trouble getting into my 350z, Audi S5 and Merc SL (roof up) and required more support from the doors in all these cars than my Cali. Even my volvo estate door gets more hammer than my Cali door. And much as I hate modern VW build quality, the Audi door did not rub. But the pillarless driver's door on the Audi did not seal properly so leaked when being washed. And it would not open in the snow so I had to enter from the passenger side. And the intelligent key failed and needed reprogramming. And the door handles needed replacing due to failed intelligent key sensors which I had to pay for despite it being a widespread issue.

It could still be a problem, but I think sometimes owners do have to take responsibility, not everything that goes wrong can be down to the poor build quality, which at the moment seems to be the case

Does seem odd that it is the drivers door and that is one that is most used.

James

 

[gatvol]

Could simply be that both are inadequate. But the driver's fails first as it gets most use

Folk (and remember that this is meant to be a people's wagon) need to take a step back and smell reality.

I deluded myself that my 40k to 50k audi s5 was a one off and the problems I had were not representative of VAG cars.

So in my delusional state I bought a 40k to 50k Cali. And I have been plagued by similar levels of problems albeit they have come at much lower mileage in the Cali.

I will not make the mistake of buying another 40k to 50k VAG vehicle for a considerable time.

 

[Jeanpatrick]

This is rubbish!

There is always two of us in the Cali when we travel so both doors are being used equally . There must be a fault with the drivers door as I local body has seen this many times with T5's. Also I am tall so would not need to use the door to lean onto to get into the van. I have had vans and motorhomes before where this has never happend even at higher mileage.

Owning a Cali outside of warranty is like having a ticking time bomb!

 

[James]

This is rubbish!

There is always two of us in the Cali when we travel so both doors are being used equally . There must be a fault with the drivers door as I local body has seen this many times with T5's. Also I am tall so would not need to use the door to lean onto to get into the van. I have had vans and motorhomes before where this has never happend even at higher mileage.

Owning a Cali outside of warranty is like having a ticking time bomb!

I wouldn't say it is rubbish - i would say it is unproven.

Why is it only the drivers door, the door used the most.

James

 

[Tridini]

To add to all our other other problems we now have a problem with the drivers door catching on the seal at the bottom, it looks like the door has dropped and has now caused the bottom of the door to to rust. Anyone else had this before I approach the dealer?

I have an 08 plate california and have rust around the sliding door handle VW will not honour the corrosion warranty which is 12 years as they say it is a paint warranty claim that is only valid for 3 years. Has anyone had this problem? VW have also changed the handle design to stop this issue according to forums but VW won't admit that this caused the problem

 

[Rob H]

Heres a thought, the hinges are assembled dry, or minimal assembly lube, fitted to the door and the whole bare vehicle shell painted after sealing, .... then the doors are removed, and travel down the assembly line with the vehicle and .... refitted after the dash goes in ... so ... when do the hinges get greased properly ? at PDI or at first major service ? or perhaps never ... the doors are heavy and the hinges are highly loaded, to be sure the job isn't missed, arm yourself with oil can and tin of grease, all hinges and strikers, and door stays and sliding door roller support mechanism, and tailgate hinges and struts, and cost next to nothing. wipe excess off strikers and roof scissor mechanism once lubed, merest hint will do. Your right this is a delivery van, those doors and hidden van mechanicals are designed and built to be good for 8 hour working days and thousands of deliveries. lol.

Rob H.

 

[Cal’ish]

Resurrecting an old thread here. Just discovered a worn/peeled/superficially rusty patch on the passenger (LHD vehicle) side. Anyone else seen this problem?