T5 California - 2009 SE - Hydraulic roof strut sinking...

[Mike Frost]

Dear all,

Working through our autumn snag list - We've experienced, over the last 12 months-odd, that after raising the pop up roof, sometime between the 2nd and 4th day, the driver's side of the roof begins to sag. The (very) intermittent automatic 'retensioning' of the roof sometimes fixes it, but more often not. If we lower the roof most of the way down, and then raise all the way, to the end of the purging cycle, when the tick appears on the screen, it's fixed again, but only for so long.

As the roof raises all the way every time, I'm not thinking that it's a pump issue, or indeed a hydraulic fluid level issue. Rather, I suspect that a washer/seal within the slave ram has compromised integrity, and that over time, the fluid is bleeding past it, allowing the roof to sag.

Am I (probably) on the money here, and if so is there a fix, short of replacement of the slave ram unit?

Or, is this an early warning sign for a catastrophic failure of the system, requiring expenditure of gazillions to fix?

As ever, I would be deeply grateful for any advice from the extensive knowledge pool on this very erudite forum!

Best,

Mike

 

[Hotel California]

Lots of post of people having thesame issue , mine starts to have this also after 8y .
Some threads on DIY repairs if you do a forum search . If it’s not that much dropping i would live with it , raise fully before lowering and you will do fine.

 

[lifeflower123]

Dear all,

Working through our autumn snag list - We've experienced, over the last 12 months-odd, that after raising the pop up roof, sometime between the 2nd and 4th day, the driver's side of the roof begins to sag. The (very) intermittent automatic 'retensioning' of the roof sometimes fixes it, but more often not. If we lower the roof most of the way down, and then raise all the way, to the end of the purging cycle, when the tick appears on the screen, it's fixed again, but only for so long.

As the roof raises all the way every time, I'm not thinking that it's a pump issue, or indeed a hydraulic fluid level issue. Rather, I suspect that a washer/seal within the slave ram has compromised integrity, and that over time, the fluid is bleeding past it, allowing the roof to sag.

Am I (probably) on the money here, and if so is there a fix, short of replacement of the slave ram unit?

Or, is this an early warning sign for a catastrophic failure of the system, requiring expenditure of gazillions to fix?

As ever, I would be deeply grateful for any advice from the extensive knowledge pool on this very erudite forum!

Best,

Mike

Hello. Did you resolve the issue. I have the same problem and not sure what to do. Thank you

 

[Mike Frost]

Hi Lifeflower123 (?) I had a long telephone conversation with a California roof expert down in Cornwall. He was very helpful and informative. He could replace the offending parts, after correct diagnosis, at a cost of £700+. He also said that, given the frequency and severity of our problem, we could probably live with it, given that we'd need 1, possibly 2 nights accommodation locally, while he had the van, which would bring the total bearer to what VW charge.


So, we're living with it; we've been In the EU for 17 days now, and it's only happened once.

Good luck!

 

[Mike Frost]

Also, we've seen reports on here that heat affects the hydraulic fluid; we've been in Austria, Slovenia and now Croatia and the very hot weather didn't affect the roof hydraulics at all, but a couple of cool damp days and down it sagged so, still a mystery, but one that we live with.