Morsels
Lifetime VIP Member
We finally have a conclusion to the problem of our faulty motorised roof. I've posted before on this, but here I'll post the full story. If you're thinking of ordering a 6.1, or have one and the roof doesn't work correctly, hopefully this will allow you to speak to your dealer and make sure they will handle this situation for you should it arise, before spending the cash - or give you ammo should you be suffering from the same issue.
We took delivery of a brand-new 6.1 Ocean in January 2021. The motorised roof did not stay up properly, dropping on average 10cm over several hours uniformly on both sides. This is how it looked:
The canvas flapped in the wind, the roof above felt appreciably lower when in the van, the control panel no longer said "Roof open" and instead said "Roof Intermediate", and the lighting system in the roof stopped working (it is designed to turn off automatically when you lower the roof, so you don't leave it on by mistake). Plus the van looked ridiculous, of course. This all began within 30 minutes of raising the roof, so basically, immediately upon putting up.
What this meant for us was that we would put the roof up at night, yet by the time our 10 and 11 year old kids went to bed up there, it had already dropped enough for the lights not to work, so for them to see what they were doing getting into their sleeping bags, we'd have to put the roof up again. To do this you need to turn the ignition on (which turns the headlights on too), and press the motor button for a few seconds - not fun on a quiet campsite. The roof, of course, then starts to drop again, so should the kids wake in the night for the loo, we'd get woken up because they were in pitch black and the lights had failed again. Of course, any wind, and the whole thing flapped about too. I doubt it would be waterproof either when not tight: We didn't try it. Bottom line: Kids hated sleeping up there.
Now it gets interesting. There is an "auto roof tighten" function, designed to put the roof up again should it slack. To do so, it engages the motor, which is loud, and this was happening twice every single night we risked using the roof. Result: Whole family woken up twice in the night! I spoke to a dealer about this who said this is not designed to be operating several times a day as it did with us, it is designed to tighten the roof should it drop maybe 1cm or 2cm over several days, which would make sense. Who wants a loud motor waking them up twice a night?!
For me, and for anyone I showed it to, this is as clear a warranty fix issue as any you can imagine. Right?
Wrong. VW told us "up to 20cm drop is normal", and that if we wanted the lights to work upstairs at night, we'd have to put the roof up again manually. Bottom line: They wouldn't fix it, as they wouldn't admit anything was wrong.
I had the problem independently diagnosed: A faulty roof pump. Apparently we're not the only ones (in fact, I personally know of a handful of others, we found each other via this very forum).
Despite the cost, and the fact that we shouldn’t be having to do this at all, in order to make the van usable for a family of four which is what we bought it for, I had the roof pump replaced by an independent VW Transporter specialist (Kernow Transporters in Cornwall - thanks Richard and team).
I am happy to report that it is now perfect - doesn't drop a millimetre any more, stays taut, lights work, we never hear the "correction" motor kick in at all. It is now working how every other campervan roof I have ever seen works.
This is what the roof looks like now (this has been up for four days and counting, we're currently happily camping on an extended holiday):
But I am still substantially out of pocket, and really disgruntled with VW.
I am pursuing the garage I bought the van from via the Office of Fair Trading in Gibraltar, where we live, for the cost of the pump replacement, and compensation for the time and extra expense wasted by me in sorting this out for myself, but who knows if I'll succeed? The garage themselves told me they can see it is a fault, and that they can't believe VW won't fix it ("if it was any of our other brands, they'd fix it in an instant"), but that nonetheless they could do nothing for me, because of what VW told them.
So the moral is: If your roof isn't staying up, there IS a fault here, it's not something you should put up with, and it can be fixed. VW is fobbing owners and it seems dealers off - but good luck getting them to admit it.
I love our Cali and I love campervanning, but for me, VW are a dishonourable company, and I would not buy from them again. I'd likewise advise anyone buying a VW 6.1 with a motorised roof to think hard about it, because it is not a cheap repair.
Finally, here is a pic of the sticker on the faulty pump. As I am not alone there's likely a faulty batch, of which this is one, and maybe this will help someone in the future, mechanic, dealer or even VW themselves, who knows...
We took delivery of a brand-new 6.1 Ocean in January 2021. The motorised roof did not stay up properly, dropping on average 10cm over several hours uniformly on both sides. This is how it looked:
The canvas flapped in the wind, the roof above felt appreciably lower when in the van, the control panel no longer said "Roof open" and instead said "Roof Intermediate", and the lighting system in the roof stopped working (it is designed to turn off automatically when you lower the roof, so you don't leave it on by mistake). Plus the van looked ridiculous, of course. This all began within 30 minutes of raising the roof, so basically, immediately upon putting up.
What this meant for us was that we would put the roof up at night, yet by the time our 10 and 11 year old kids went to bed up there, it had already dropped enough for the lights not to work, so for them to see what they were doing getting into their sleeping bags, we'd have to put the roof up again. To do this you need to turn the ignition on (which turns the headlights on too), and press the motor button for a few seconds - not fun on a quiet campsite. The roof, of course, then starts to drop again, so should the kids wake in the night for the loo, we'd get woken up because they were in pitch black and the lights had failed again. Of course, any wind, and the whole thing flapped about too. I doubt it would be waterproof either when not tight: We didn't try it. Bottom line: Kids hated sleeping up there.
Now it gets interesting. There is an "auto roof tighten" function, designed to put the roof up again should it slack. To do so, it engages the motor, which is loud, and this was happening twice every single night we risked using the roof. Result: Whole family woken up twice in the night! I spoke to a dealer about this who said this is not designed to be operating several times a day as it did with us, it is designed to tighten the roof should it drop maybe 1cm or 2cm over several days, which would make sense. Who wants a loud motor waking them up twice a night?!
For me, and for anyone I showed it to, this is as clear a warranty fix issue as any you can imagine. Right?
Wrong. VW told us "up to 20cm drop is normal", and that if we wanted the lights to work upstairs at night, we'd have to put the roof up again manually. Bottom line: They wouldn't fix it, as they wouldn't admit anything was wrong.
I had the problem independently diagnosed: A faulty roof pump. Apparently we're not the only ones (in fact, I personally know of a handful of others, we found each other via this very forum).
Despite the cost, and the fact that we shouldn’t be having to do this at all, in order to make the van usable for a family of four which is what we bought it for, I had the roof pump replaced by an independent VW Transporter specialist (Kernow Transporters in Cornwall - thanks Richard and team).
I am happy to report that it is now perfect - doesn't drop a millimetre any more, stays taut, lights work, we never hear the "correction" motor kick in at all. It is now working how every other campervan roof I have ever seen works.
This is what the roof looks like now (this has been up for four days and counting, we're currently happily camping on an extended holiday):
But I am still substantially out of pocket, and really disgruntled with VW.
I am pursuing the garage I bought the van from via the Office of Fair Trading in Gibraltar, where we live, for the cost of the pump replacement, and compensation for the time and extra expense wasted by me in sorting this out for myself, but who knows if I'll succeed? The garage themselves told me they can see it is a fault, and that they can't believe VW won't fix it ("if it was any of our other brands, they'd fix it in an instant"), but that nonetheless they could do nothing for me, because of what VW told them.
So the moral is: If your roof isn't staying up, there IS a fault here, it's not something you should put up with, and it can be fixed. VW is fobbing owners and it seems dealers off - but good luck getting them to admit it.
I love our Cali and I love campervanning, but for me, VW are a dishonourable company, and I would not buy from them again. I'd likewise advise anyone buying a VW 6.1 with a motorised roof to think hard about it, because it is not a cheap repair.
Finally, here is a pic of the sticker on the faulty pump. As I am not alone there's likely a faulty batch, of which this is one, and maybe this will help someone in the future, mechanic, dealer or even VW themselves, who knows...
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