Leaking pop tops on 2023 California Oceans

[ruffty]

We have just spent a rainy two days and two nights in our 24 plate Ocean

As we've learnt a lot from this forum, I thought I should report our pop top experience

Bellows are 04S 191223 A
Not a drop of water on the seams or elsewhere despite two nights with variable but substantial rainfall

Two newbie type questions
1- Because of clumsy manoeuvring in the top bed, there is a small ridge developed across the interior ceiling about where the slatted cover reaches when retracted. Looks structurally OK - is this recognised or of concern?
2- EV didn't give us a valve to screw into the 907 bottle (regulator and tube present). Should this have been supplied?

 

[Betsycalifornia]

We have just spent a rainy two days and two nights in our 24 plate Ocean

As we've learnt a lot from this forum, I thought I should report our pop top experience

Bellows are 04S 191223 A
Not a drop of water on the seams or elsewhere despite two nights with variable but substantial rainfall

Two newbie type questions
1- Because of clumsy manoeuvring in the top bed, there is a small ridge developed across the interior ceiling about where the slatted cover reaches when retracted. Looks structurally OK - is this recognised or of concern?
2- EV didn't give us a valve to screw into the 907 bottle (regulator and tube present). Should this have been supplied?

Got mine in sept 23 and it had the valve you’re describing with it.
As for the ridge. Is that the one that is there to allow the blind to retract into the slot? I.e always there? I’ve had no issues with ours

 

[Corradobrit]

1- Because of clumsy manoeuvring in the top bed, there is a small ridge developed across the interior ceiling about where the slatted cover reaches when retracted. Looks structurally OK - is this recognised or of concern?

The ridge is normal and accommodates the slatted cover when retracted.

 

[WelshGas]

Does anyone seriously believe that VW are paying for these Warranty replacements etc. The Bellows manufacturer will be carrying the cost as part of their design and manufacture contract with VW. I doubt if the Bellows Manufacturer are part of Global VW so the cost to VW will be minimal mainly admin etc.

 

[Corradobrit]

Does anyone seriously believe that VW are paying for these Warranty replacements etc. The Bellows manufacturer will be carrying the cost as part of their design and manufacture contract with VW. I doubt if the Bellows Manufacturer are part of Global VW so the cost to VW will be minimal mainly admin etc.

B2B contracts may not be the same as those we are familiar with. VW may have had to sign off on a design/build, and by doing so reduced or eliminated the financial responsibility of the supplier. Without reading the contract we are none the wiser.

 

[bullibuskombi]

Couldn’t agree more. But it did and mistakes do happen. To my mind making this mistake isn’t so much the issue, it’s how it’s dealt with afterwards. They’ll feel the pain of this mistake as it’s costing them a lot to replace everyone’s bellows.

10 months since reporting the issue to my dealer, having almost 'they all do that sir' from that dealer, to that dealer fitting a 03S after ignoring VW exec instructions and now caught in the crossfire.

There is a video of Hanover production where they show a test of the roof for leaks in a water spray booth, wonder what happened to that test?

 

[bullibuskombi]

Couldn’t agree more. But it did and mistakes do happen. To my mind making this mistake isn’t so much the issue, it’s how it’s dealt with afterwards. They’ll feel the pain of this mistake as it’s costing them a lot to replace everyone’s bellows.

3 mins 13 in, the water test for cali roofs, someone forgot this in October 22.

 

[RockinNRollin]

3 mins 13 in, the water test for cali roofs, someone forgot this in October 22.

That’s a T5 production line so the video is pretty old!

 

[bullibuskombi]

That’s a T5 production line so the video is pretty old!

Indeed, but if they conducted this test I would not have had 10 months of frustration.

 

[OooOooTheMonkey]

Indeed, but if they conducted this test I would not have had 10 months of frustration.

Maybe, maybe not. Depends how long they test them for. They may even do this test already but the conditions just weren’t right. Who’s knows…

 

[ChrisTravel]

Some people think VW can just click their fingers and the problem can be solved overnight.
Lots of work needed to find why some ate leaking and others are not.
They need to investigate.
The fibre
Weaving
Cloth dying and finishing
Waterproof chemicals
Thread being used
Stitching / machines being used to sew / thread tension.
Design of pop top panels.
Opening and closing mechanisms.
And finaly Miss use by customers.
Yesterday I was in Exmouth and I saw 3 vans with pop tops up in 40 to 50mph winds and it was slinging it down.
1 van had tried to close his top in atrocious conditions and some of his pop top was trapped outside of his roof.
I have also seen 3 vans being driven with roofs open in the last 12 months on my travels.
Are VW responsible if their roofs leaked???

And some people might think VW might have done the first 8 before putting on a customers van....

 

[Rhubarb]

Daft newbie question : is the bellows issue purely Oceans ? or does it impact the Beach too ?

 

[OooOooTheMonkey]

Daft newbie question : is the bellows issue purely Oceans ? or does it impact the Beach too ?

It impacts any of the double layer bellows as far as I know so will affect the Beach too. But the worst place seems to be the panoramic window so depends on how the Beach is spec’d, some will likely be worse than others.

 

[portofinopoll]

You could just call 0800 783 4909 and ask for Adrian. He is the only Adrian. He doesn’t work Fridays.

I called the number above in an effort to speak with Adrian & was put through to a VW Customer Care lady in South Africa, who put me on hold for a while, eventually came back to me advising somebody would get back to me. I hope it is Adrian but not confident?

 

[Paul1]

I called the number above in an effort to speak with Adrian & was put through to a VW Customer Care lady in South Africa, who put me on hold for a while, eventually came back to me advising somebody would get back to me. I hope it is Adrian but not confident?

Same with me. She had no idea who Adrian Burns is or where. Said she has to process fault first before passing it on to person who deals with that particular fault. Is there a direct number for Adrian ?

 

[RockinNRollin]

There's no direct number or email to Adrian (or at least, not one shared externally anyway). If your issue is recorded as the leaking bellows, it should get to him though - might take a week.

 

[Andy C Berks.]

Same with me. She had no idea who Adrian Burns is or where. Said she has to process fault first before passing it on to person who deals with that particular fault. Is there a direct number for Adrian ?

Whenever Adrian calls 0800 783 4909 is always the number that shows up as where he is calling from - he will call you eventually and once he does he is then very good at following up at pre-agreed intervals, usually weekly.
If you haven’t done so already then I would suggest booking your van in with your dealer for investigation and replacement under warranty, as you will need do that anyway, Adrian won’t do that. But what he will do is get on to the dealer once you are booked in and make sure they have ordered the right parts, and hopefully you can agree with him that he tells the dealer to just get on and swap the bellows without needing to do any water testing etc. - assuming you have the 03S variant fitted, which he will admit are acknowledged by VW as a failed part.
I had a call from him yesterday, and even though mine were replaced with 04S last week he is still insisting on calling me again in a weeks time. He seems a lot happier still than he was a few months back, as is increasingly confident that 04S is holding up. He expects to be on this case for a long time to come though, as whilst more and more of us are getting sorted there are still a lot of people out there that won’t have any idea about their bellows potentially leaking, so cases will persist.

 

[juju.smith1971]

You could try sending an email to: executive.office@vwcv.co.uk

The telephone number I have is as above: 0800 7834 909

I have had minimal communication with them as Breeze Poole have been amazing at getting our situation resolved but this is the email address Executive Office responded from. Hope all is resolved soon for you.

 

[CatNap]

Hi,
This seems to the place to ask if the new version of the bellows are being made available to dealers for repairs? Sorry if the information is buried in this very long chain but I could not see it.

Our California was delivered at the end of October and the bellows(03S) leaked within a few days. The dealer promised a repair with the new version of the bellows at the start of January. Unfortunately that did not happen and I cant get any information out of them.

Thanks all
Jim

 

[Sheffield10]

Dealers are able to order the new version of the bellows, but as VW have failed to give it a new part number to make it easily distinguishable from the 03S version, and have also failed to purge their supply chain and warehouse of the old version, dealers are still getting the old version delivered (as well as some new version if they and you are lucky). If you need the standard grey colour the chances of your dealer getting the new version are better. VW Parts UK seem to be washing their hands of the problem and are telling my dealer to contact Germany.

You just need to stick to your guns, 04S later than 09/11/23 is what VW UK have specified as the remedy to the leaky 03S bellows.

 

[CaliforniaCylus]

Hi,
This seems to the place to ask if the new version of the bellows are being made available to dealers for repairs? Sorry if the information is buried in this very long chain but I could not see it.

Our California was delivered at the end of October and the bellows(03S) leaked within a few days. The dealer promised a repair with the new version of the bellows at the start of January. Unfortunately that did not happen and I cant get any information out of them.

Thanks all
Jim

The situation is as follows. First the process.

Report the problem to the dealer and the dealer will raise a warranty request for your vehicle against VW. They may (most likely) or may not need your vehicle to view the fault for themselves prior to raising the warranty request.

I also recommend you send an email to executive.office@vwcv.co.uk.

In the subject line, put your reg number, "Leaking Bellows - Attn: Adrian Burns".

Adrian will pick this up and add you to the list of leaking bellows he is co-ordinating and give you a Case Number.

Regards product availability, bellows manufactured after 9th November 2023 incorporate all the latest changes and seem to be reliable. Late last year, VWCV stated that this version would be given its own part number with availability from January. This proved not to be the case and no new part number was issued ( a long story that one).

So, dealers need to install bellows with version 04S manufactured after 9th November. At the moment when dealers order replacement bellows it is hit and miss if they get ones which meet this criteria.

At our dealership I am still waiting for a correct bellows to arrive but they are trickling through to the dealership. It is hoped VW will solve their logistics problems soon so that when I dealer orders a replacement, they get a recent product.

Who is your dealership please?

 

[markbrown83]

Ready to collect Monday...

 

[OooOooTheMonkey]

I’ve now managed to test our 04S bellows dated 30/10/23 and can confirm no leaks so far…! They’ve not been thoroughly tested but they have been exposed to continuous light to moderate rain for quite a few hours, conditions in which my previously bellows easily leaked, so I’m feeling very hopeful. Disappointingly though these bellows have a rather large stitching hole in the side by the right hand window. Clearly a manufacturing issue where the stitching has been done badly.

 

[CatNap]

Thank you all, that is really helpful. I will certainly contact Adrian. After four months of this and little use from the van in that time I am beginning to give up hope of a resolution.

I spoke to VW Financial Services today and asked them to look into it before I reject the vehicle. Maybe that will help trigger something. The dealer is Eurovans in Crawley, I am not very happy with them to be honest.

 

[RockinNRollin]

I’ve now managed to test our 04S bellows dated 30/10/23 and can confirm no leaks so far…! They’ve not been thoroughly tested but they have been exposed to continuous light to moderate rain for quite a few hours, conditions in which my previously bellows easily leaked, so I’m feeling very hopeful. Disappointingly though these bellows have a rather large stitching hole in the side by the right hand window. Clearly a manufacturing issue where the stitching has been done badly.

View attachment 120117

View attachment 120118

My post 9/11 bellows have a few large-ish stitch holes too, but it doesn't seem to be affecting it so far.