Roof Hyd problems

[Westous]

Please could anyone offer new advise reference the following:

I have just had my California roof looked at by Bristol VW Van centre.. The problem that I had was that the roof was lowering unevenly. One side was 6 inches higher than the other. They charged me £470 for 10 hours labour and said they had transferred the Hyd jacks from one side to the other and said it was better. But marginally I thought yesterday.

Today however the problem is identical as it always was, but the fault had transferred to the opposite side. So which Hudyaulic ram is correct? High or low?

Can anyone help? And is this correct what Bristol have charged me. It is still not repaired

I find it difficult to inderstand who can be trusted, VW UK or VW local garages. The customer care for both seems poor at times. With my money paid and no clear path ahead other than more money. I hesitated paying as I asked for proof that it was fixed. I the roof up and down once and it seemed very marginally better. Next day the same as before. My camper van has now hit a low in my mind as its just one thing after another. What are your thoughts?

Many thanks. Si

 

[Max-Felix]

Forget VW UK techs who can change oil, fit a cam belt or replace your clutch.

But know nothing really about hydraulic roof systems, compressor fridges, Eberspacher diesel heaters, etc, etc.

Find a specialist hydraulics engineer who deals with this sort of thing every day for commercial customers.

But in the meantime of course you have paid to have something fixed that is not fixed. You are entitled to expect them to now rectify it and probably have to give them another go but don't pay any more. If after that it is not properly fixed then I'd look to other avenues.

 

[WelshGas]

Please could anyone offer new advise reference the following:

I have just had my California roof looked at by Bristol VW Van centre.. The problem that I had was that the roof was lowering unevenly. One side was 6 inches higher than the other. They charged me £470 for 10 hours labour and said they had transferred the Hyd jacks from one side to the other and said it was better. But marginally I thought yesterday.

Today however the problem is identical as it always was, but the fault had transferred to the opposite side. So which Hudyaulic ram is correct? High or low?

Can anyone help? And is this correct what Bristol have charged me. It is still not repaired

I find it difficult to inderstand who can be trusted, VW UK or VW local garages. The customer care for both seems poor at times. With my money paid and no clear path ahead other than more money. I hesitated paying as I asked for proof that it was fixed. I the roof up and down once and it seemed very marginally better. Next day the same as before. My camper van has now hit a low in my mind as its just one thing after another. What are your thoughts?

Many thanks. Si

You say it was marginally better when shown after the supposed - Repair.

I'm sorry but it should lower virtually level at all times. I would take it back and demonstrate its function to the Service Manage and if he persists that it's function is as intended by VW would he please put it in writing . When VW carry out any work it should have a warranty for a period of time and so they should be happy to confirm the repair in writing.
No further labour charges should be paid - just parts at most.

For a marginal improvement, if it was my vehicle, it would still be at the garage.

 

[westfalia]

Maybe try raising and lowering the roof 4 or 5 times.
It could be air in the system.

 

[Hotel California]

It's clear that there's no point giving tips how to solve this .
This needs to be sorted out by VW

 

[westfalia]

Well, clearly, VW haven´t got a f****** clue so i thought
trying to purge the system might help.

 

[Hotel California]

Well, clearly, VW haven´t got a f****** clue so i thought
trying to purge the system might help.

I know but if he has been in at his dealer and things done (huge bill ) and the problem is still there he needs to go back and have them sort it out .
Seems it's not a one time fault that can be erased by raising the roof few times , placing the Cali on level ground or resetting controlpanel as those things can help indeed but not in this case it seems.

 

[AlanC]

Heritage in Bristol are a Leisure vehicle centre, so should have a trained Cali tech available. If the height difference has changed sides, it is clearly a problem with that ram.

I would take it back and insist that they look at it again. Is your van still under warranty or just out? Given this is a major failure I would push for some good will.

Alan

 

[frenchie]

if I am correct, the system uses a single pump to work the ramps. to things come to mine, first air in the system, but this could be over looked now as you state that the ramps have been swapped to the each others side, so it looks like a fault on one side only. this may be due to that sides stop position being moved. as I said I have not played around with the system, if the pump works on two stop settings per side it may be out of adjustment, if however it works on a single pressure stop then it maybe the pump at fault. H Bristol are nothing but a set of cowboys, go to a hydraulic company, but get the location of the vans pump first and make sure they have excess to it. F

 

[frenchie]

hi gain, just looked up the system and it uses two sensors or stop switches each side, if the roof is opening ok, but stops on the way down uneven it looks like it could be the lower sensor on that one side at fault. there is a further sensor which controls the pump. its unlikely to be this, I am sorry I don't have anymore details on the system to help out more. F