Roof failing repeatedly after corrosion warranty work

[SHedman2401]

After waiting an age to have the roof corrosion on my T5 California repaired under warranty, the roof has repeatedly failed to operate. The first time Inchcape in Manchester took it back in and said that the loom had been badly installed. I used it once for a holiday and now a year later the roof just failed again. It clearly is not locked and now it won't work at all! The vehicle has done 35,000 miles and I am appalled at these failures. I just hope that VW are going to do the right thing here and fix it properly! Any advice on how to handle this welcome.

 

[flying banana]

Reset the panel. Turn It off for 30 seconds and on again. If you can get the roof open i would be looking at the sensors on the end of the rams. If you remove the control panel and undo the emergency roof up bleed screw i reckon you could then externally with some ladders and assistance pull the roof open manually and wedge some wood in there. There is some news in the forum about splicing in some new roof sensors that are made by BMW for their convertible cars. But this all worryingly points to a shoddy repair and maybe they have damaged the wiring. If you could spot the damage it may be an easy fix.
Dont forget the tie down kit before DRIVING !

 

[SHedman2401]

Ok, got the roof working again. I went up when it was open to clean everything and ensure the water drains were clear. However I noticed something strange. On the rear side hinges of the roof, the bottom bushes at the front on each side each had a piece of what looks like fuel line clipped over them. Is this normal? See pictures. I wonder if these are forcing the roof to stay open on occassion? They look very 'non-standard'!

Best Don

 

[westfalia]

Ok, got the roof working again. I went up when it was open to clean everything and ensure the water drains were clear. However I noticed something strange. On the rear side hinges of the roof, the bottom bushes at the front on each side each had a piece of what looks like fuel line clipped over them. Is this normal? See pictures. I wonder if these are forcing the roof to stay open on occassion? They look very 'non-standard'!

Best Don

View attachment 75472

View attachment 75473

They are very much a standard Vw part.
To stop the rattling, wrapped around the middle part of the hinge.

 

[SHedman2401]

I love this forum. Great answers really fast. Thanks so much!!

 

[Vagophile]

They are very much a standard Vw part.

Is that ironic? I thought that they were an aftermarket addition, i.e. a length of split hose to stop rattles.

 

[SHedman2401]

I thought they might be adding some extra space when the roof is closing and messing the sensors up. Can they be removed safely?

 

[westfalia]

Is that ironic? I thought that they were an aftermarket addition, i.e. a length of split hose to stop rattles.

It really is what Vw fitted to stop the rattle on the hinge.
Fitted at the factory, not a dealer thing.

I thought they might be adding some extra space when the roof is closing and messing the sensors up. Can they be removed safely?

Yes you can remove them knowing that if you have extra rattles from the roof
you can put them or similar back in place.

 

[SHedman2401]

OK. Roof started working again and now it is stuck in the open position and displaying 'roof fault' on the control panel.

 

[westfalia]

OK. Roof started working again and now it is stuck in the open position and displaying 'roof fault' on the control panel.

Have you tried the reset again?

 

[westfalia]

As a last resort the roof can be lowered using a screwdriver and releasing
the pressure at the pump, seems like you have an intermittent fault so
it might go down the normal way.

 

[flying banana]

While it's open have a good look at the rams sensors and wiring

 

[westfalia]

Did you see the thread about the roof sensors ?

I'll try and find it. again

 

[westfalia]

This might help you a bit in future, or even some extra info
to give pass on to a good mechanic.

Elevating roof issues, updates

Hi All, In the spirit of learning as we go, here’s my latest pop top roof instalment, just over two years since the last post when it had been fixed. Below is a picture of a cracked roof sensor which is affecting my roof operation. In September 2018, I paid almost £800 to secure a new loom and...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[SHedman2401]

Yes. This time it would not reset. Had to access the hydraulic pressure release valve to get the roof down. Looks terminal.

 

[westfalia]

Yes. This time it would not reset. Had to access the hydraulic pressure release valve to get the roof down. Looks terminal.

Jeez.. Does the control panel still say there is a fault?

 

[SHedman2401]

Could be control panel. Booked in with Inchcape April 7th. They should try that out.

 

[Lambeth Cali]

Sorry to hijack, but you got a warranty roof corrosion fix on a T5? VW agreed to that? After 10 years?

 

[Lambeth Cali]

Can anyone do a wide photo of where the sensors are? Just to show us where they are.
My roof also spat out error 1000 last week but I'm hoping that was a flat battery freaking the control panel out.

 

[SHedman2401]

No, the warranty work was booked a few years ago. Had to wait a year and a half.

 

[cally]

Don ..
You won’t believe this but thank goodness you noticed “something strange“ I’ve had that very irritating rattling noise in and around the drivers door pillar and sliding door for a few years now.
I’ve had all sorts of interior panels off trying to find the source of it but it’s alway alluded me until you noticed the “hose pipe“ bits.
I’ve just checked and mine were missing from both sides and probably because the van has had roof repairs under warranty in the past.
Anyway, a couple of pieces of cut hose pipe and a few minutes later ... problem solved . Our Cally feels like a new van again !! AWSOME

Cheers Cally

 

[soulstyledevon]

Sorry to hear about the O/Ps issue.
Anyone else looking at having their roofs fixed by Volkswagen may want to think again. The roof on my old van had nothing but issues on its return (note, VW sub this work out) and that was the manual Beach version.
I ended up parting with the van a few years back.

Personally, if I experience roof corrosion with the new van, I will get a local body shop to remedy.

 

[Perfectos]

Does anyone know if this is a T5 issue only, i.e missing / should have the rubber hose bushes? Having looked at my T6 I don’t have any. Many thanks

Hi Billylou,

I can confirm a T6 Beach has the plastic tube on the roof mechanism, I believe all T6 have them as standard

 

[Moore288]

Yes - also on my t6 ocean!


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[SHedman2401]

Sorry to hijack, but you got a warranty roof corrosion fix on a T5? VW agreed to that? After 10 years?

No not 10 years. It was booked way back... had to wait 2 years for the work to be done. More like after 4 or 5 years...