Roof nightmare

[amdby]

Argh, came to close the roof, one side went down slower than the other, before clunking into place. Got home and raised the roof for drying and checking, one side goes up, other doesn't! Praying that it's a dodgy strut or something, but fearing an expensive repair. Anyone here had anything similar? Now the roof won't close properly and local van centre can't look at it for 2 weeks

 

[westfalia]

Have you tried raising it again?

If you want to try and sort it yourself you will end up having to remove
the control panel to access the roof pump.
Its worth being familiar with that anyway, just in case you ever have to do an
emergency closure of the roof.

If it will go up then i would suggest once up do the emergency closing and then see how much oil
is in the reservoir.
For a start but i don't know if you want to tackle it yourself.

If you use the search function - top right- there are many posts about hydraulic rams
and roof pumps.

 

[amdby]

Thanks, I don't trust myself not to make it worse... I daren't touch it now, it looked like the roof was going to bend. Panic attack time for me! Have covered the van with a tarpaulin and hoping that the van centre will take a look soon..no free service slots for 2 weeks, not a great end to the summer

 

[westfalia]

If you press the roof close button it should fold back down and no need for
a tarp, have you tried Vw Preston?
or one that gets mentioned often on here is Claridges near southport.
Surely theres someone who can look at it sooner??

 

[amdby]

Thanks, I want vw Liverpool to look at it, because this is the first time we've used the roof since they did some anti corrosion work on it earlier in the year. Roof close button seems to think roof is closed but there's still a 2cm gap at the front....i don't want to drive any distance like this. It's very annoying though, as we haven't been able to get away until now

 

[westfalia]

Thanks, I want vw Liverpool to look at it, because this is the first time we've used the roof since they did some anti corrosion work on it earlier in the year. Roof close button seems to think roof is closed but there's still a 2cm gap at the front....i don't want to drive any distance like this. It's very annoying though, as we haven't been able to get away until now

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,

Sounds like they could have tampered with the hydraulic system
and when finishing up not bled the air through properly therefore
leaving it short on oil, or, nipped a hydraulic pipe when putting things
back together.

 

[Hotel California]

Reading this i think the roof was down on one side and you did not noticed , lowerd the roof resulting in a gap on one side .
Before lowering the roof one always need to check if it's still level , if it's unlevel always raise it up fully until the sound and then lower fully.

 

[westfalia]

Hopefully its an easy fix.

Please post any results back up here.

 

[T6 CFO]

Reading this i think the roof was down on one side and you did not noticed , lowerd the roof resulting in a gap on one side .
Before lowering the roof one always need to check if it's still level , if it's unlevel always raise it up fully until the sound and then lower fully.

Sounds like a good tip to always raise the roof prior to lowering it.


Mike

 

[Velma's Dad]

Sounds like a good tip to always raise the roof prior to lowering it.


Mike

An even better tip is to buy a Coast next time (with a manual roof). That's what I'll be doing, if I can. The electro-hydraulic roof with its attendant potential to fail at just the wrong moment is one of the worse features of the SE/Ocean, IMO.

 

[westfalia]

An even better tip is to buy a Coast next time (with a manual roof). That's what I'll be doing, if I can. The electro-hydraulic roof with its attendant potential to fail at just the wrong moment is one of the worse features of the SE/Ocean, IMO.

You're not wrong about most things but i think you could
be right there.

 

[jts46]

Just had mine repaired, total cost , including some repairs to engine leak and gaiter replacement
£5,300

 

[Velma's Dad]

Just had mine repaired, total cost , including some repairs to engine leak and gaiter replacement
£5,300

Ouch. Feeling your pain.

 

[WelshGas]

£500/year for the convenience. Seems reasonable.

 

[jts46]

£500/year for the convenience. Seems reasonable.

At £355 per year very reasonable, if i live for another 16yrs it will be very, very reasonable.

 

[Camperfamily]

£500/year for the convenience. Seems reasonable.

I was thinking the same actually

 

[WelshGas]

I was thinking the same actually

And @jts46, in his post above , said it was even cheaper/year.

 

[crookrise]

Had something similar after corrosion repair...
A £15 piece of plastic retaining the ram had snapped. Trouble was we were in France when it happened. Lowered roof using the emergency lowering procedure. Fairly easy and painless. Drove home and fixed it myself, they are not as complex as you think.

 

[amdby]

Thanks, I'm literally praying that it is something like this, rather than the £5300 repair that someone mentioned above!

 

[Hotel California]

@amdby , show us some pictures ?

 

[amdby]

Sorry, I can't : I've left the van at vw Liverpool now, and simply told them that it needs to be stored under cover until they can look at it.

 

[Mark Masters]

Argh, came to close the roof, one side went down slower than the other, before clunking into place. Got home and raised the roof for drying and checking, one side goes up, other doesn't! Praying that it's a dodgy strut or something, but fearing an expensive repair. Anyone here had anything similar? Now the roof won't close properly and local van centre can't look at it for 2 weeks

We had a similar problem with our T6 Ocean while in Morocco. One side started to slowly drop. When I pushed the button to raise again it wouldn't hold in position and started to drop again. Lowered the roof by me pushing against while my wife operated the button. Once down slept downstairs until we got Barcelona where the VW dealer repaired under warranty. The left side strut had failed and was replaced. While mechanical things can always go wrong we wouldn't be without the electric roof. We previously had a VW Vanagon T3 that we travelled from the bottom of Argentina to Canada in and it had a manual roof that was rather heavy and too much for my wife. Which is OK if I am around but should I be disabled for whatever reason the manual roof would be a problem.

 

[Dorchest]

We had a similar problem with our T6 Ocean while in Morocco. One side started to slowly drop. When I pushed the button to raise again it wouldn't hold in position and started to drop again. Lowered the roof by me pushing against while my wife operated the button. Once down slept downstairs until we got Barcelona where the VW dealer repaired under warranty. The left side strut had failed and was replaced. While mechanical things can always go wrong we wouldn't be without the electric roof. We previously had a VW Vanagon T3 that we travelled from the bottom of Argentina to Canada in and it had a manual roof that was rather heavy and too much for my wife. Which is OK if I am around but should I be disabled for whatever reason the manual roof would be a problem.

Wow Peter - Argentina to Canada - what an adventure - Top Banana!

Out of interest - why South to North?

 

[Dorchest]

I always try to fix the Cali myself by searching for info online and watching YouTube videos showing how. Not only do you get to know the vehicle better but I’ve saved thousands over the years. I’ve got to replace the bottom bracket on the sliding door next week. The part cost me £7 on Ebay (copy of VW part with good reviews from previous purchasers) and my time. Luckily, I had a set of the special screwdriver bits that car companies use to try to prevent us fixing our own vehicles. There’s plenty of good quality videos showing how to do it online. VW said it would be about £300.

 

[Chris Hardern]

We spent a breezy and rainy night in mid Wales on Monday and in the morning noticed that the right side had lowered but we hadn't heard it drop. Raised it up and so far all has seemed OK. It was in for roof repairs in December and we haven't used it much this year (has anyone??).