Protruding water/hook-up outer cover, advice please?

[AlanC]

There's not a cat in hells chance I would let them take the kitchen out to do this job either ..if they are saying that's the case well they need to re design this hook up point as surly with it being plastic it's more prone to being broken also ?? Seems to me that vw should think about these sort of things when designing Californias,
Also
I'm not sure it having a factory towbar fitted, (at birth) would cause this as the van is built first in the vw factory with the towbar being done before it gets turned into a California??
Please correct me if I'm wrong

I think tow bars among other items are fitted by the dealer once the van has been delivered to them.

Alan

 

[Jay20cali]

I think tow bars among other items are fitted by the dealer once the van has been delivered to them.

Alan

If you order it from factory it's fitted at the factory during the build process..
Dealers only fit them if ordered afterwards I'm certain of this, I watched my 11 plate cali come off the car transporter when we bought it new and the detachable towbar is already fitted..on the other hand a fixed towbar would be a dealer fit...

 

[PudnBob]

If you order it from factory it's fitted at the factory during the build process..
Dealers only fit them if ordered afterwards I'm certain of this, I watched my 11 plate cali come off the car transporter when we bought it new and the detachable towbar is already fitted..on the other hand a fixed towbar would be a dealer fit...

Our bike rack came factory fitted

 

[MichaelB]

I'm really glad this got sorted and that your kitchen didn't have to come out.

Just in case someone reads this that does need a kitchen removed for another type of repair don't despair. We have had ours removed twice and you would not be able to tell. No rattles no sign of damage. Just make sure the dealer has trained staff working on the job and you will be fine. In fact our sink drained far better after the work than before and that was not the issue being resolved.

 

[PudnBob]

I'm really glad this got sorted and that your kitchen didn't have to come out.

Just in case someone reads this that does need a kitchen removed for another type of repair don't despair. We have had ours removed twice and you would not be able to tell. No rattles no sign of damage. Just make sure the dealer has trained staff working on the job and you will be fine. In fact our sink drained far better after the work than before and that was not the issue being resolved.

Reassuring.

 

[bigmac77]

Our bike rack came factory fitted

How do you know?

 

[PudnBob]

How do you know?

I assumed...I know....it makes an ass out of.......
Good question, so I have sent a query to the dealer...will get back to you!

 

[bigmac77]

I assumed...I know....it makes an ass out of.......
Good question, so I have sent a query to the dealer...will get back to you!

It doesn't really matter. Was just wondering. As long as the bike rack is put on correctly and holds bikes, who cares.

 

[Zebedee]

Zebedee's kitchen was removed after I brushed against a bollard to allow the body shop room to work. Not only did they take the utmost care if anything it was better after they put it back in!

 

[sbmcd]

Afternoon all

Please see the images below of the exterior water/hook-up panel on my Cali Ocean.

View attachment 25670

View attachment 25671

View attachment 25672

View attachment 25673

As you can see the front half (front as in towards the front of the van) is proud of the bodywork by a good 1/4 inch. As you can also see, an Ikea pencil fits easily in the gap. (there is also a random pin-prick hole that appeared from nowhere on the front of the panel, but I digress...)

Now, this is not a new problem. I noticed this not long after I picked the van up and immediately informed the dealer. The gap has in my view got larger over the last few months. I've done almost 10,000 miles since collecting the van at the end of January this year. There is a pre-drilled hole in the bodywork almost where the ikea pencil is, as if the panel should have a ‘plug’ which slots into the hole. The panel is flat at the rear, no plug or similar.

The dealer has looked at it and told me (or at least the service engineer has) that a) its a warranty issue and b) its not an uncommon fault. He also said it will require a new panel. And, will take 2 days to fix as the kitchen has to be removed

This is a big worry to me as given that the kitchen is installed at the factory by a robot, I fail to see how a dealership can simply just remove it and then plop it back in, so to speak. Now, I have no issue thus far with the dealer, who was happy to fix it straight away (back in June) but I said I’d rather wait until the end of the summer as I had loads of trips booked up. This was deemed to be fine, and they await my call to book it back in.

My other issue is that the van is my daily driver, so I will need a courtesy vehicle whilst its being fixed. Is this reasonable to ask for given thats it’s a warranty issue? And, as the dealership is a 4hr round-trip from me, again, would it be unreasonable to ask that the Cali is collected, a courtesy car delivered and then returned and swapped once fixed?

Anyone else had this problem?

Thanks in advance peeps....

Afternoon all

Please see the images below of the exterior water/hook-up panel on my Cali Ocean.

View attachment 25670

View attachment 25671

View attachment 25672

View attachment 25673

As you can see the front half (front as in towards the front of the van) is proud of the bodywork by a good 1/4 inch. As you can also see, an Ikea pencil fits easily in the gap. (there is also a random pin-prick hole that appeared from nowhere on the front of the panel, but I digress...)

Now, this is not a new problem. I noticed this not long after I picked the van up and immediately informed the dealer. The gap has in my view got larger over the last few months. I've done almost 10,000 miles since collecting the van at the end of January this year. There is a pre-drilled hole in the bodywork almost where the ikea pencil is, as if the panel should have a ‘plug’ which slots into the hole. The panel is flat at the rear, no plug or similar.

The dealer has looked at it and told me (or at least the service engineer has) that a) its a warranty issue and b) its not an uncommon fault. He also said it will require a new panel. And, will take 2 days to fix as the kitchen has to be removed

This is a big worry to me as given that the kitchen is installed at the factory by a robot, I fail to see how a dealership can simply just remove it and then plop it back in, so to speak. Now, I have no issue thus far with the dealer, who was happy to fix it straight away (back in June) but I said I’d rather wait until the end of the summer as I had loads of trips booked up. This was deemed to be fine, and they await my call to book it back in.

My other issue is that the van is my daily driver, so I will need a courtesy vehicle whilst its being fixed. Is this reasonable to ask for given thats it’s a warranty issue? And, as the dealership is a 4hr round-trip from me, again, would it be unreasonable to ask that the Cali is collected, a courtesy car delivered and then returned and swapped once fixed?

Anyone else had this problem?

Thanks in advance peeps....

Same happened to our van, warranty repair, done in an afternoon.

 

[Ksar-el-kebir]

Same happened to our van, warranty repair, done in an afternoon.

When I couldn't get the gas cubby lid off the dealer in Kettering said they'd have to take the kitchen out!
Looked on this site and someone with the same problem said to use a piece of wood and a mallet. That did the trick!
I agree that most VW van dealers don't seem to have a clue about calis.