T5.5 Multifunction controller broken

redhairjon

redhairjon

Lifetime VIP Member
Messages
27
Location
Suffolk
Vehicle
T5 SE 130
Hi all
The adjuster knob which controls the roof, night heater, fridge temperature is broken. It rotates but does not move the function up or down. VW Bury want £700 for the replacement part :eek:

It's a wincing inducing price - and the van is out of warranty (4 yrs old now).

Any forum knowledge on how to replace this more cheaply or do I need to bite the expensive VW bullet. I am currently complaining under good will, poor reliability etc, but I am not too hopeful. The van is also pretty much dead as a camper without the selector working.
 
redhairjon said:
Hi all
The adjuster knob which controls the roof, night heater, fridge temperature is broken. It rotates but does not move the function up or down. VW Bury want £700 for the replacement part :eek:

It's a wincing inducing price - and the van is out of warranty (4 yrs old now).

Any forum knowledge on how to replace this more cheaply or do I need to bite the expensive VW bullet. I am currently complaining under good will, poor reliability etc, but I am not too hopeful. The van is also pretty much dead as a camper without the selector working.
Click to expand...
You can buy a Re-Conditioned Control Panel from the Forum Shop at a significantly cheaper price, Or you can purchase a replacement Control Knob from the Forum Shop for about £30. If you are a VIP member you get a Discount on the purchase AND in the VIP Resources section there are Instructions and photos on how to replace it.
 
Thanks WelshGas - you're an absolute legend.

I've just repurchased VIP membership!!
 
redhairjon said:
Thanks WelshGas - you're an absolute legend.

I've just repurchased VIP membership!!
Click to expand...
Let us know how you get on. I gather if you go for a replacement Control Panel then if you phone the shop they have a buy back programme for your old unit.
 
redhairjon said:
VW Bury want £700 for the replacement part :eek:
Click to expand...

WelshGas said:
you can purchase a replacement Control Knob from the Forum Shop for about £30.
Click to expand...
There really should be a criminal offence for VW's corporate stupidity. After all, they only been supplying faulty knobs (the knob not tge customer) since 2004.
 
2into1 said:
There really should be a criminal offence for VW's corporate stupidity. After all, they only been supplying faulty knobs (the knob not tge customer) since 2004.
Click to expand...
VW just buy these Units in. During the warranty period the manufacturing company will bear the full cost of any repair/replacement and I just wonder how many units have the problem with the control knob outside of warranty compared with the number of Californias on the road. I've had enough problems with control knobs on analogue radios etc: in the past. Yes they could be made more robust but at a cost which probably doesn't warrant it compared with the total number of units sold.
Electronic problems are not that common either, and personally I think the cause of that is condensation/corrosion of connections coupled with low usage.
 
WelshGas said:
Yes they could be made more robust but at a cost which probably doesn't warrant it compared with the total number of units sold.
Click to expand...
What, they couldn't afford to tell the manufacturer to leave a bit thicker plastic inside the splines of the knob? In 15 years of trading?

They simply don't have the ethos to take that tiny step, just as they don't have the ethos to supply and stock spare knobs.

In the 15 years that vw could have written that email to their manufacturer, forums around the world have come up with their own fixes, and guards that prevent the knob being kicked en-route to the upstairs bed. My mate even worked out you could shove a rubber knob from a 20 year old gamma radio cassette unit inside your broken knob to fix it.

If @WelshGas is defending the position where hundreds of customers are paying £1k for a new panel and fitting when a 20p push on part has failed (and still fails after 15 years of sales) then he's dropped down in my estimation.
 
2into1 said:
What, they couldn't afford to tell the manufacturer to leave a bit thicker plastic inside the splines of the knob? In 15 years of trading?

They simply don't have the ethos to take that tiny step, just as they don't have the ethos to supply and stock spare knobs.

In the 15 years that vw could have written that email to their manufacturer, forums around the world have come up with their own fixes, and guards that prevent the knob being kicked en-route to the upstairs bed. My mate even worked out you could shove a rubber knob from a 20 year old gamma radio cassette unit inside your broken knob to fix it.

If @WelshGas is defending the position where hundreds of customers are paying £1k for a new panel and fitting when a 20p push on part has failed (and still fails after 15 years of sales) then he's dropped down in my estimation.
Click to expand...
100’s of Customers. I think that is a slight exaggeration.
Unfortunately that is modern business practice. Replace rather than repair.
Alternator fails - Replace rather than change the diode pack or brushes.
Parking Heater fails - Replace rather than dismantle and Service/Repair.
We live in a throwaway and replace society I’m afraid. Something you’ll just have to get used to I’ afraid.
I’ve repaired dishwasher, tumble dryers and washing machines in the past but the younger generation run them into the ground then look at the economics and realise it is cost effective to just replace.
 
I bet you there has been 30 or so on here over the years. Despite the success of the forum it would be mad to believe more than say 1/3rd of the failures in UK and a tiny portion of the Continental owners had been recorded here. "Hundreds" is a very conservative number when you look worldwide.

I'm not sure if you are now a PR employee for VW in your retirement?

I know all about the economics of repair... I'm a dealer in antique clocks and we can spend thousands restoring just one.
I don't accept that the repeated failure of a 10p part that writes off an £800 panel, that has continued failing for 15 years without modification is acceptable. It would never have been allowed to happen on a Japanese car. Christ, "continual improvement" was old hat 20 years ago when I left manufacturing.
 
2into1 said:
I bet you there has been 30 or so on here over the years. Despite the success of the forum it would be mad to believe more than say 1/3rd of the failures in UK and a tiny portion of the Continental owners had been recorded here. "Hundreds" is a very conservative number when you look worldwide.

I'm not sure if you are now a PR employee for VW in your retirement?

I know all about the economics of repair... I'm a dealer in antique clocks and we can spend thousands restoring just one.
I don't accept that the repeated failure of a 10p part that writes off an £800 panel, that has continued failing for 15 years without modification is acceptable. It would never have been allowed to happen on a Japanese car. Christ, "continual improvement" was old hat 20 years ago when I left manufacturing.
Click to expand...
I don’t think you can compare spending thousands on repairing an antique clock, which has an inherent value because of its age with replacing a knob on the Control Panel. If it was such a common problem then it would be easy to get it repaired, but it isn’t. Likewise if there is an electronic fault. Who do you go to. Only one company I know of that is based on the continent for this “ common “ problem, and repairing Control Panels is not even their main business.
Within warranty the units are just swapped out at cost to the manufacturer. Outside warranty the number that fail probably don’t warrant the manufacturer setting up a repair system. Fortunately the Forum Shop has now got a system in place.
Repairing modern electronic devices is rarely done commercially nowadays, just replace is the modern mantra and VW and whoever manufactures the Control Panel is no different. I wish it was different but it isn’t- That’s the modern world.

Q. Why would you spend thousands on repairing an antique clock? Certainly not for its time keeping abilities. If you just wanted a timepiece you could get a far more accurate modern timepiece, for a fraction of the cost.

Oh, and continual improvement and longevity is no longer the mantra of modern business. They don’t want things to last for ever or be easily repaired. They want to sell a replacement. VW are no different, as are virtually all manufacturers .

If you don’t agree with my comments that’s fine, but there is no need to get personal and certainly no need for some of your comments.
Maybe you’re on a retainer from Mercedes.:eek:
 
WelshGas said:
but there is no need to get personal and certainly no need for some of your comments.
Maybe you’re on a retainer from Mercedes.:eek:
Click to expand...
Don’t be such snowflake welshgas. Look back and you’ll see you started the argument at post #7. Since then I’ve said that you’ve gone down in my estimation (you have) and joked that you are a PR guy for VW, which you’ve returned with interest.
Let’s save everyone’s time and leave it there.
 
2into1 said:
Don’t be such snowflake welshgas. Look back and you’ll see you started the argument at post #7. Since then I’ve said that you’ve gone down in my estimation (you have) and joked that you are a PR guy for VW, which you’ve returned with interest.
Let’s save everyone’s time and leave it there.
Click to expand...
Certainly Not a member of the Snowflake Generation. I just say it as it is.
 
WelshGas said:
Forum Shop
Replacement Knob
vwcaliforniaclub.com

Genuine VW California Replacement Central Control Panel Knob & Fascia Kit

Genuine VW California Replacement Central Control Panel Knob & Fascia Kit, included is a replacement knob and a replacement fascia.
vwcaliforniaclub.com vwcaliforniaclub.com

Replacement Control Panel

Genuine VW T5 / T6 California Control Panel Unit – CampervanBits

vwcaliforniaclub.com vwcaliforniaclub.com
Click to expand...
I recently did the control knob repair. There's information in the download section on how to do it, but I think it's not detailed enough. To get the control panel out, there's two retaining clips left and right at the bottom, just put a thin screwdriver in one at a time and move the bottom outwards, now what the download doesn't say is there's two clips on the top about 30mm in from each side. With the bottom partially out, put your thin screwdriver in from the front (as this can't really be done from the rear) and work the clips down to bring the unit out. Having got the unit on a table, break the seal to open the unit. Please be careful you don't strain the contact strips. The rest of the download detail is correct, but you have to adjust the retaining screws to get the knob to work properly. Best of luck though, I found this quite difficult and tricky!
 
Geesvw said:
I recently did the control knob repair. There's information in the download section on how to do it, but I think it's not detailed enough. To get the control panel out, there's two retaining clips left and right at the bottom, just put a thin screwdriver in one at a time and move the bottom outwards, now what the download doesn't say is there's two clips on the top about 30mm in from each side. With the bottom partially out, put your thin screwdriver in from the front (as this can't really be done from the rear) and work the clips down to bring the unit out. Having got the unit on a table, break the seal to open the unit. Please be careful you don't strain the contact strips. The rest of the download detail is correct, but you have to adjust the retaining screws to get the knob to work properly. Best of luck though, I found this quite difficult and tricky!
Click to expand...


Not need to take mine out but best to use a non-sharp item to undo those clips .
It's been mentiond long time ago in sevral exitsing thread there are clips that are hard to loosen.
vwcaliforniaclub.com

Cali technical tips&tricks

What a fantastic report :) They also said the main problem with engine is due to grandaddy driving styles of "us" cali owners. Deadly for the DPF (diesel particle filter). Several times they insisted we need to get our engines to the higher revs in order to burn out stuck particles and clear...
vwcaliforniaclub.com vwcaliforniaclub.com
 
If anyone has managed to read this far through the arguments (!), it's important that I highlight the other route for control panel fixes - VW now supply a replacement front panel instead of a complete new panel - about £150 instead of £800! Had it done by SMC in Yeovil 18 months ago. Also have a spare knob and instructions in the glove box for future emergency repair!!
 
FyfettBoy said:
If anyone has managed to read this far through the arguments (!), it's important that I highlight the other route for control panel fixes - VW now supply a replacement front panel instead of a complete new panel - about £150 instead of £800! Had it done by SMC in Yeovil 18 months ago. Also have a spare knob and instructions in the glove box for future emergency repair!!
Click to expand...
Do you happen to have a Part Number for this Replacement?
 
FyfettBoy said:
it's important that I highlight the other route for control panel fixes - VW now supply a replacement front panel instead of a complete new panel - about £150 instead of £800!
Click to expand...
FyfettBoy's post is informative but relates to this change happening more than 18 months ago. Whatever logical improvements VW have finally made, it doesn't seem to have reached VW Bury (assuming St Edmunds) who proposed the £800 to the OP only last week.

We should remember that there are two common faults with that panel.... 1)the splines on the back of the knob breaking and 2)the display becoming illegible over time. Perhaps that is where the difference lies?
 
2into1 said:
FyfettBoy's post is informative but relates to this change happening more than 18 months ago. Whatever logical improvements VW have finally made, it doesn't seem to have reached VW Bury (assuming St Edmunds) who proposed the £800 to the OP only last week.

We should remember that there are two common faults with that panel.... 1)the splines on the back of the knob breaking and 2)the display becoming illegible over time. Perhaps that is where the difference lies?
Click to expand...
If it is a Complete Replacement Front Panel then that could mean replacement of the Control Knob and buttons + the screen.
We really need more information and a Part Number.
 
7E7 998 453. Its a replacement for the plastik front and the knob. You can google the part number.
 
WelshGas said:
If it is a Complete Replacement Front Panel then that could mean replacement of the Control Knob and buttons + the screen.
We really need more information and a Part Number.
Click to expand...
With respect to this point, the part is the plastic fascia of the panel, including the knob and plastic buttons. So it does not help if your display is broken, but does properly fix the broken splines issue (which is where I thought this thread started?).
 
FyfettBoy said:
Part number is 7E7-998-453 "Repair Set". Still got the box and the old fascia.
Click to expand...
So I wonder why the Numpties at the OP's Dealership didn't know about this Kit?
 
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