Faulty Controller

[Holiday_alpaca_van]

Our 2015 T5 California seems to have developed a fault with the controller unit by the reversing mirror.
We first noticed the vehicle made a "bong" sound at or soon after engine start up. The sound was similar to the reminder warning you get when closing the roof. We subsequently noticed that both the roof open symbol and the plugged into mains symbol were flashing. Our local VW garage is currently investigating and have warned me that a new controller is over £1000.
Any suggestions or helpful comments gratefully received.

 

[Ozzy Pete]

There is someone on here that does refurbishing of these units. It might be worth contacting him for some advice.
Maybe the unit needs resetting.

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

Here you go: worth talking to ElectronicEquipmentRepair
They are a VIP Trade Partner.

 

[WelshGas]

Our 2015 T5 California seems to have developed a fault with the controller unit by the reversing mirror.
We first noticed the vehicle made a "bong" sound at or soon after engine start up. The sound was similar to the reminder warning you get when closing the roof. We subsequently noticed that both the roof open symbol and the plugged into mains symbol were flashing. Our local VW garage is currently investigating and have warned me that a new controller is over £1000.
Any suggestions or helpful comments gratefully received.

The Control unit suffers from 2 main problems. The rotary knob wearing so that it doesn’t scroll the menu and gradual failure of the LCD screen. Both repairable. Failure of the unit electronics is as rare as hens teeth.
However, software blips can occur OR you have 2 faults to do with the roof sensors or the charging system.Unlikely.

As with any computer have you switched OFF the unit, using L lower button and then switching ON . Problem still there?

Or try this.

Check Control Panel Diagnostics.

Control Panel Off and wait 30 secs

Control Panel On

Press and Hold R lower button and then press Control Knob for 5 secs.

New Hidden Menu . Scroll to VW Diagnostics.

If there are any codes shown, take note and then Reset/Clear.

Return to Main Menu.

Switch Off Control Panel using L lower button. Wait 30 secs and Switch On.

Do you still have the problem?

 

[Holiday_alpaca_van]

Thanks for the advice and comments.

I retrieved our Cali van from the VW garage, where it had been for nearly a week, with no progress and thankfully no charge.

Following WelshGas suggestions I rebooted the system and checked out the hidden menu.

The first time I did this was after only turning on the engine there was no more mysterious bonging sound and the code page reported no errors and the symbols did not flash as before, so all appeared good.

I then raised and lowered the roof a couple of times, which worked fine. However on rechecking the hidden menu code page we now had a code 1000 which I could not seem to clear. It states "erase: press esc 5s". I tried the lower R return button, I tried the lower left I/O button, I tried the round knob, all for 5s but the error code still remained on the page.

Also although the roof was solidly down, flush at the roof line and the normal slight grinding sound when it stops retracting, the "roof open symbol" flashs as soon as the ignition is one.

So overall with your help I have at least now got a working van without additional bongs and only one flashing symbol. I suspect it may mean I have a fault in one of the roof sensors, but I can at least live with that for a bit.

I attach some image of the hidden menu diagnostic pages in case the numbers mean anything to anyone.

Thanks again for the advice. Being relatively new to forums I had tried to search but I may not have used the best queries as I did not find much. However after your responses I found the links at the bottom of the pages which show this is not as uncommon a problem as I thought.

 

[WelshGas]

Thanks for the advice and comments.

I retrieved our Cali van from the VW garage, where it had been for nearly a week, with no progress and thankfully no charge.

Following WelshGas suggestions I rebooted the system and checked out the hidden menu.

The first time I did this was after only turning on the engine there was no more mysterious bonging sound and the code page reported no errors and the symbols did not flash as before, so all appeared good.

I then raised and lowered the roof a couple of times, which worked fine. However on rechecking the hidden menu code page we now had a code 1000 which I could not seem to clear. It states "erase: press esc 5s". I tried the lower R return button, I tried the lower left I/O button, I tried the round knob, all for 5s but the error code still remained on the page.

Also although the roof was solidly down, flush at the roof line and the normal slight grinding sound when it stops retracting, the "roof open symbol" flashs as soon as the ignition is one.

So overall with your help I have at least now got a working van without additional bongs and only one flashing symbol. I suspect it may mean I have a fault in one of the roof sensors, but I can at least live with that for a bit.

I attach some image of the hidden menu diagnostic pages in case the numbers mean anything to anyone.

Thanks again for the advice. Being relatively new to forums I had tried to search but I may not have used the best queries as I did not find much. However after your responses I found the links at the bottom of the pages which show this is not as uncommon a problem as I thought.

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Glad it helped to some extent. It would seem you well might have problem with one or more of the hydraulic ram sensors.
You have 2 Options.
VW will replace the whole roof wiring loom + sensors at a cost in excess of £1200.

Or you could do a DIY repair of just replacing the old sensors and resoldering their connections, or get an Autoelectrician to do the same following the excellent How To Guide posted by @Lambeth Cali available in the Resources Section of the Forum.