T6.1 ocean roof sagging- VW answer

[Skidmark67]

Took my T6.1 in for warranty work 10 days ago. Aux heater not working correctly and roof lowering itself, especially in warm weather.
The heater requires a new pump, which could take a while, they have none!
The roof , whilst at the dealer, lowered itself by 100mm over 5 days. They contacted VW Germany. The reply was 'it is within its required tolerance of 200mm droppage!' Sounds alot to me, thats 8" that it is allowed to drop before faulty! I don't think it should drop at all. Anybody else been told this?

 

[dspuk]

Been discussed many times. Search Is your friend.

 

[Tim&carolsvan]

ours is in now for sagging on drivers side this is the third time they are looking into it its only 6 months old according to the manual its should reset after 10 hours then check every 5 hours so there is no reasonable tolerance for sagging its ok on passenger side

 

[Andyhcfc]

Took my T6.1 in for warranty work 10 days ago. Aux heater not working correctly and roof lowering itself, especially in warm weather.
The heater requires a new pump, which could take a while, they have none!
The roof , whilst at the dealer, lowered itself by 100mm over 5 days. They contacted VW Germany. The reply was 'it is within its required tolerance of 200mm droppage!' Sounds alot to me, thats 8" that it is allowed to drop before faulty! I don't think it should drop at all. Anybody else been told this?

Hi, I have the same problem with my van and am on the train home after dropping it off at Eurovans Crawley to look at, it again, this morning. I also agree it should not drop at all, stopped the upstairs light from working, and who entitled VW to say the tolerance is 200mm!!! It certainly doesn't state that in the online sales pitch!

I could rant more, as this has been going on for a while and I am fed up with VW and their avoidance techniques. There was some hope in July when the roof reinflated itself in the night, but it's sagging again now, and not just in hot weather, hence the trip to Eurovans this morning.

There is a lot of chatter on here about the problem but sadly, no silver bullet. Worth a read though. Good luck

 

[subthree]

Maybe someone needs to take them to the Small Claims Court.

 

[subthree]

Maybe someone needs to take them to the Small Claims Court.

Or whatever the most appropriate Court is!

 

[PaulBastowski]

I had problems with sagging roof this summer while I was vacationing in Poland. The sag was more then 200mm at one stage and I thought the roof would break or fall apart. Still, once the sun disappeared behind the cloud, I was able to raise the roof and then lower it all the way down.

Stay with me for this story, because there are things to learn here.

I called around 5 different VW dealers and only one was able to see me on a Saturday that actually sold VW Californias. I drove an hour to Zielona Gora and found my way to the dealer there. They had new T 6.1 Calis for sale there and also mechanics who could look at mine that day. But, as it turned out, the mechanics manager was able to help me out and the solution was quite surprisingly easy.

He told me to open and close the roof 10 times, with a 15 minute cooldown pause after the first 5 times.

He added that new Calis in their showroom have the same sagging roof problem at times and this is the same and only fix they do. It always works. He added that it all depends on the temperature when the hydraulic system was filled with oil. Mine was filled recently when it was around 18 deg C and on the day it sagged the temperature was around 30 deg C.

He also asked me if I recently drove over very shaky roads, because apparently that can result on bubbles in the oil somehow. I said "You mean like here in Poland?" ... and we all had a good laugh.

I did as he said, raised and lowered the roof 10 times, and that permanently fixed the problem.

Now, will you ever see your roof sag? Yes, definitely, but it should only be a few centimeters at most. You fix it by slightly lowering the roof a little and then raising it all the way up again.

On my Cali 2013 SE the roof controller would attempt to auto-fix the problem once in a while all by itself in the middle of the night. How do I know? Because it woke me and my wife up in the middle of the night and gave us quite a scare

The story is long enough. I hope you can fix it by doing what the Mechanics manager recommended.

 

[66tim99]

Aux heater not working correctly

How did that manifest itself? What did you notice please?

 

[rod_vw]

Took my T6.1 in for warranty work 10 days ago. Aux heater not working correctly and roof lowering itself, especially in warm weather.
The heater requires a new pump, which could take a while, they have none!
The roof , whilst at the dealer, lowered itself by 100mm over 5 days. They contacted VW Germany. The reply was 'it is within its required tolerance of 200mm droppage!' Sounds alot to me, thats 8" that it is allowed to drop before faulty! I don't think it should drop at all. Anybody else been told this?

Isn't the pump a standard Eberspacher or Webasto part which ever item is fitted to your camper?
If it is stir them up and tell them winter is coming and you need the heater working. Having had problems with an auxiliary heater years ago and the dealer didn't know if it was an original item! When they did get their heads around it they couldn't fix it. They ended up sending me to an Eberspacher specialist who knew exactly what was wrong and fixed it with a new sensor and the dealer paid the bill.

 

[tobydogplaystation]

Been discussed many times. Search Is your friend.

We are currently away for our first trip in a new Ocean. We have had 30 deg in France , and found the roof sags a few cm’s over night. If i lower the roof a little then put up again all is ok. During the night we have had some quite loud noises which I thought was the metal cooling but could have been the mechanism adjusting. A bit disappointed that the roof Sags but hopefully this is all that happens and i can correct it in the morning with a lower and raise. Generally very pleased with the performance compared with my previous t5 home conversion .

 

[dspuk]

We are currently away for our first trip in a new Ocean. We have had 30 deg in France , and found the roof sags a few cm’s over night. If i lower the roof a little then put up again all is ok. During the night we have had some quite loud noises which I thought was the metal cooling but could have been the mechanism adjusting. A bit disappointed that the roof Sags but hopefully this is all that happens and i can correct it in the morning with a lower and raise. Generally very pleased with the performance compared with my previous t5 home conversion .

You likely wanted to reply to the OP, not me.

 

[tobydogplaystation]

I had problems with sagging roof this summer while I was vacationing in Poland. The sag was more then 200mm at one stage and I thought the roof would break or fall apart. Still, once the sun disappeared behind the cloud, I was able to raise the roof and then lower it all the way down.

Stay with me for this story, because there are things to learn here.

I called around 5 different VW dealers and only one was able to see me on a Saturday that actually sold VW Californias. I drove an hour to Zielona Gora and found my way to the dealer there. They had new T 6.1 Calis for sale there and also mechanics who could look at mine that day. But, as it turned out, the mechanics manager was able to help me out and the solution was quite surprisingly easy.

He told me to open and close the roof 10 times, with a 15 minute cooldown pause after the first 5 times.

He added that new Calis in their showroom have the same sagging roof problem at times and this is the same and only fix they do. It always works. He added that it all depends on the temperature when the hydraulic system was filled with oil. Mine was filled recently when it was around 18 deg C and on the day it sagged the temperature was around 30 deg C.

He also asked me if I recently drove over very shaky roads, because apparently that can result on bubbles in the oil somehow. I said "You mean like here in Poland?" ... and we all had a good laugh.

I did as he said, raised and lowered the roof 10 times, and that permanently fixed the problem.

Now, will you ever see your roof sag? Yes, definitely, but it should only be a few centimeters at most. You fix it by slightly lowering the roof a little and then raising it all the way up again.

On my Cali 2013 SE the roof controller would attempt to auto-fix the problem once in a while all by itself in the middle of the night. How do I know? Because it woke me and my wife up in the middle of the night and gave us quite a scare

The story is long enough. I hope you can fix it by doing what the Mechanics manager recommended.

tobydogplaystation said:
We are currently away for our first trip in a new Ocean. We have had 30 deg in France , and found the roof sags a few cm’s over night. If i lower the roof a little then put up again all is ok. During the night we have had some quite loud noises which I thought was the metal cooling but could have been the mechanism adjusting. A bit disappointed that the roof Sags but hopefully this is all that happens and i can correct it in the morning with a lower and raise. Generally very pleased with the performance compared with my previous t5 home conversion .

 

[ALTYGEZZER555]

Took my T6.1 in for warranty work 10 days ago. Aux heater not working correctly and roof lowering itself, especially in warm weather.
The heater requires a new pump, which could take a while, they have none!
The roof , whilst at the dealer, lowered itself by 100mm over 5 days. They contacted VW Germany. The reply was 'it is within its required tolerance of 200mm droppage!' Sounds alot to me, thats 8" that it is allowed to drop before faulty! I don't think it should drop at all. Anybody else been told this?

Hi, I have the same problem on my new Cali Ocean. It's been back to the dealer twice (a full 7 days both times) but not sorted. Just been to France this month in hot weather and repeatedly had to re-raise it. Three times we were woken up during the early hours when self-raising kicked in! The sides sag considerably. I have contacted the dealership again but got a rather negative response that VW probably won't okay new struts but to take in and they will have another look at it. Does not sound very hopeful.

 

[yossarian]

I had problems with sagging roof this summer while I was vacationing in Poland. The sag was more then 200mm at one stage and I thought the roof would break or fall apart. Still, once the sun disappeared behind the cloud, I was able to raise the roof and then lower it all the way down.

Stay with me for this story, because there are things to learn here.

I called around 5 different VW dealers and only one was able to see me on a Saturday that actually sold VW Californias. I drove an hour to Zielona Gora and found my way to the dealer there. They had new T 6.1 Calis for sale there and also mechanics who could look at mine that day. But, as it turned out, the mechanics manager was able to help me out and the solution was quite surprisingly easy.

He told me to open and close the roof 10 times, with a 15 minute cooldown pause after the first 5 times.

He added that new Calis in their showroom have the same sagging roof problem at times and this is the same and only fix they do. It always works. He added that it all depends on the temperature when the hydraulic system was filled with oil. Mine was filled recently when it was around 18 deg C and on the day it sagged the temperature was around 30 deg C.

He also asked me if I recently drove over very shaky roads, because apparently that can result on bubbles in the oil somehow. I said "You mean like here in Poland?" ... and we all had a good laugh.

I did as he said, raised and lowered the roof 10 times, and that permanently fixed the problem.

Now, will you ever see your roof sag? Yes, definitely, but it should only be a few centimeters at most. You fix it by slightly lowering the roof a little and then raising it all the way up again.

On my Cali 2013 SE the roof controller would attempt to auto-fix the problem once in a while all by itself in the middle of the night. How do I know? Because it woke me and my wife up in the middle of the night and gave us quite a scare

The story is long enough. I hope you can fix it by doing what the Mechanics manager recommended.

Assuming you have a T6.1 (not according to your profile) there is a Volkswagen TPI that is similar to what this dealer had you do.

Transaction No.: 2010030/8
Release date 21-Mar-2023

 

[SusiBus]

I had problems with sagging roof this summer while I was vacationing in Poland. The sag was more then 200mm at one stage and I thought the roof would break or fall apart. Still, once the sun disappeared behind the cloud, I was able to raise the roof and then lower it all the way down.

Stay with me for this story, because there are things to learn here.

I called around 5 different VW dealers and only one was able to see me on a Saturday that actually sold VW Californias. I drove an hour to Zielona Gora and found my way to the dealer there. They had new T 6.1 Calis for sale there and also mechanics who could look at mine that day. But, as it turned out, the mechanics manager was able to help me out and the solution was quite surprisingly easy.

He told me to open and close the roof 10 times, with a 15 minute cooldown pause after the first 5 times.

He added that new Calis in their showroom have the same sagging roof problem at times and this is the same and only fix they do. It always works. He added that it all depends on the temperature when the hydraulic system was filled with oil. Mine was filled recently when it was around 18 deg C and on the day it sagged the temperature was around 30 deg C.

He also asked me if I recently drove over very shaky roads, because apparently that can result on bubbles in the oil somehow. I said "You mean like here in Poland?" ... and we all had a good laugh.

I did as he said, raised and lowered the roof 10 times, and that permanently fixed the problem.

Now, will you ever see your roof sag? Yes, definitely, but it should only be a few centimeters at most. You fix it by slightly lowering the roof a little and then raising it all the way up again.

On my Cali 2013 SE the roof controller would attempt to auto-fix the problem once in a while all by itself in the middle of the night. How do I know? Because it woke me and my wife up in the middle of the night and gave us quite a scare

The story is long enough. I hope you can fix it by doing what the Mechanics manager recommended.

Now that sounds like hopeful good advice. It will be interesting to hear if any other owners use this cure successfully.

 

[Skidmark67]

Isn't the pump a standard Eberspacher or Webasto part which ever item is fitted to your camper?
If it is stir them up and tell them winter is coming and you need the heater working. Having had problems with an auxiliary heater years ago and the dealer didn't know if it was an original item! When they did get their heads around it they couldn't fix it. They ended up sending me to an Eberspacher specialist who knew exactly what was wrong and fixed it with a new sensor and the dealer paid the bill.

Can you remember who the eberspacher specialist was? I might take it to them. Thanks

 

[flying banana]

I had problems with sagging roof this summer while I was vacationing in Poland. The sag was more then 200mm at one stage and I thought the roof would break or fall apart. Still, once the sun disappeared behind the cloud, I was able to raise the roof and then lower it all the way down.

Stay with me for this story, because there are things to learn here.

I called around 5 different VW dealers and only one was able to see me on a Saturday that actually sold VW Californias. I drove an hour to Zielona Gora and found my way to the dealer there. They had new T 6.1 Calis for sale there and also mechanics who could look at mine that day. But, as it turned out, the mechanics manager was able to help me out and the solution was quite surprisingly easy.

He told me to open and close the roof 10 times, with a 15 minute cooldown pause after the first 5 times.

He added that new Calis in their showroom have the same sagging roof problem at times and this is the same and only fix they do. It always works. He added that it all depends on the temperature when the hydraulic system was filled with oil. Mine was filled recently when it was around 18 deg C and on the day it sagged the temperature was around 30 deg C.

He also asked me if I recently drove over very shaky roads, because apparently that can result on bubbles in the oil somehow. I said "You mean like here in Poland?" ... and we all had a good laugh.

I did as he said, raised and lowered the roof 10 times, and that permanently fixed the problem.

Now, will you ever see your roof sag? Yes, definitely, but it should only be a few centimeters at most. You fix it by slightly lowering the roof a little and then raising it all the way up again.

On my Cali 2013 SE the roof controller would attempt to auto-fix the problem once in a while all by itself in the middle of the night. How do I know? Because it woke me and my wife up in the middle of the night and gave us quite a scare

The story is long enough. I hope you can fix it by doing what the Mechanics manager recommended.

what a load of rubbish. it depends on the temperature of when the roof was built and filled with oil ? utter garbage,never heard anything so stupid.they have changed rams and 1600 quid hydraulic pumps but this is the issue ? rubbish

 

[rod_vw]

Can you remember who the eberspacher specialist was? I might take it to them. Thanks

Mine went to Carwoods in Crystal Drive, Smethwick but there are many Eberspacher suppliers/repairers as these heaters are fitted to thousands of HGVs etc. plus many marine applications, canal boats etc.
Currently I would use Bowers at Stoke on Trent for supply of parts or repairs nowadays.

 

[PaulBastowski]

what a load of rubbish. it depends on the temperature of when the roof was built and filled with oil ? utter garbage,never heard anything so stupid.they have changed rams and 1600 quid hydraulic pumps but this is the issue ? rubbish

Well, whether you agree or not with his reasons the solution worked perfectly

 

[dayslikethis]

I had problems with sagging roof this summer while I was vacationing in Poland. The sag was more then 200mm at one stage and I thought the roof would break or fall apart. Still, once the sun disappeared behind the cloud, I was able to raise the roof and then lower it all the way down.

Stay with me for this story, because there are things to learn here.

I called around 5 different VW dealers and only one was able to see me on a Saturday that actually sold VW Californias. I drove an hour to Zielona Gora and found my way to the dealer there. They had new T 6.1 Calis for sale there and also mechanics who could look at mine that day. But, as it turned out, the mechanics manager was able to help me out and the solution was quite surprisingly easy.

He told me to open and close the roof 10 times, with a 15 minute cooldown pause after the first 5 times.

He added that new Calis in their showroom have the same sagging roof problem at times and this is the same and only fix they do. It always works. He added that it all depends on the temperature when the hydraulic system was filled with oil. Mine was filled recently when it was around 18 deg C and on the day it sagged the temperature was around 30 deg C.

He also asked me if I recently drove over very shaky roads, because apparently that can result on bubbles in the oil somehow. I said "You mean like here in Poland?" ... and we all had a good laugh.

I did as he said, raised and lowered the roof 10 times, and that permanently fixed the problem.

Now, will you ever see your roof sag? Yes, definitely, but it should only be a few centimeters at most. You fix it by slightly lowering the roof a little and then raising it all the way up again.

On my Cali 2013 SE the roof controller would attempt to auto-fix the problem once in a while all by itself in the middle of the night. How do I know? Because it woke me and my wife up in the middle of the night and gave us quite a scare

The story is long enough. I hope you can fix it by doing what the Mechanics manager recommended.

Just done this and fingers crossed it seems to have cured my roof sag. . Thank you