Water/Hook-up external panel removal

[veg_frenzy]

Has anyone removed or know of instructions of how to remove the external water/hook-up panel on the T5 California SE? Sadly, I need to have some bodywork done after an someone's door smashed into our van and the repairer says the panel needs to be removed to effect an appropriate paint job. Many thanks.

 

[Loz]

I had a look through all the manuals but there doesn't seem to be a section on this particular part..

I bet a paintless dent removal (PDR) man could do that without removing it..

 

[Hotel California]

Have you thought about looking under the flap of the hoop-up plug and from inside behind the wardrobe....

If you remove these four .....

There are some more screws once you take off the plastic cover...

 

[veg_frenzy]

Thx Hotel. I did see these 4 screws, but was wondering if there were others behind/elsewhere. I'd also probably have to remove the pipe clamp on the water inlet as well, to release the water pipe. No sure how well these are sealed (e.g. just pipe clip or sealed in some way).

 

[panadero]

Text is in German, but drawings could be helpfull.....

 

[veg_frenzy]

Text is in German, but drawings could be helpfull.....

View attachment 22827

Thanks Pandero. Anything more with regard to the fill external trim and/or the decoupling of the water fill pipe. Thanks.

 

[Andy]

Be careful not drop anything into the panel void behind it. Is a real pain to get anything out. I dropped a spanner & went fishing with a magnet on string to get it out.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[Loz]

I was flushing the water tank this morning so I took a photo of mine for you;
It clearly shows there are some nuts (circled in green) that would need to be undone from the inside to remove, which is the same as Wim's, so I would think that is a non starter..

 

[Hotel California]

I was flushing the water tank this morning so I took a photo of mine for you;
It clearly shows there are some nuts (circled in green) that would need to be undone from the inside to remove, which is the same as Wim's, so I would think that is a non starter..
View attachment 22835

There's no problem losening that tube ...
I even changed the original tube to a better one.
I did it when my Cali was one year old , i also took the whole panel off from the outside . It was 4 y ago can't remember in detail how it went.
I do remember that i filled the watertank and the connection on the tube you point out at was faulty ....leaking water so water was standing in the rear coming out under the wardrobe....
Also the tube letting air out was faulty.
It was my first ever DIY Cali-fix !
See this old tread
https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/fresh-watertank-leaking.4663/#post-40846

 

[veg_frenzy]

Thx all. It looks very tight to manage in my van. I have no confidence I could even get any tool onto the jubilee clip or that bolt. As its' likely to be an insurance case, I think I will let the experts manage it.

 

[Andy]

I was flushing the water tank this morning so I took a photo of mine for you;
It clearly shows there are some nuts (circled in green) that would need to be undone from the inside to remove, which is the same as Wim's, so I would think that is a non starter..
View attachment 22835

@Loz it is very doable for competent diy person. I did it to replace the filler/hookup panel. Not fun getting a spanner on the nuts & need to be careful not to drop anything inside the body void.

 

[rod_vw]

If you look at the seal around the edge of the frame where it fits to the bodywork you may see that it isn't continuous. Don't worry about a missing portion on the bottom edge all the new ones that I have had are the same so I assume that is how they should be.
As you see from my avatar I use a Cali input fitment on my self-builds.

Rod

 

[AlanC]

If you remove the panel at the back of the wardrobe the two self tapping nuts and the jubilee clip are easier to access. The panel is held in place with 3 (from memory) self tapping screws that are recessed in the panel.

The jubilee clip can be loosened with a long flat head screwdriver.

The power socket is accessed from outside the van. It is held in place with 4 Torx screws and retains the back edge of the panel. The cable can be unplugged easily, and the earth can be either unbolted from the body, or removed from the back of the plug.

As Andy has said, don't drop anything while doing this job, they will be lost forever in the bowels of the van.

Alan

 

[thehorse]

@AlanC , @rod_vw

I've removed the wardrobe panel, so have reasonable access, but struggling to unclip the power connector underneath the 240V hookup plug. I did wonder if I should unscew the 4 screws/2 nuts and pull the water/electric unit out, then unclip the power connector but the hole looks too tight for the connector to pass through.

Any advice?

Thanks!

 

[flying banana]

a small quarter inch drive socket set will give you loads of flexible access to those nuts and enable a 90 degree access to the pipe clip

 

[thehorse]

With the back wardrobe panel off access is no issue to the nuts/jubilee clips. I was having problems working out how to disconnect the electrics.

 

[WelshGas]

With the back wardrobe panel off access is no issue to the nuts/jubilee clips. I was having problems working out how to disconnect the electrics.

Does this help

http://www.oemepc.com/vw/part_singl...937/subcategory/937090/part_id/3707145/lang/e

It looks like a click-on plug.

 

[thehorse]

Thanks Welshgas.

Still can't seem to undo it, so will see if I can pull the panel out a bit then unplug.

 

[AlanC]

@AlanC , @rod_vw

I've removed the wardrobe panel, so have reasonable access, but struggling to unclip the power connector underneath the 240V hookup plug. I did wonder if I should unscew the 4 screws/2 nuts and pull the water/electric unit out, then unclip the power connector but the hole looks too tight for the connector to pass through.

Any advice?

Thanks!

The electric socket can be pulled out on it's own once you have unscrewed the 4 torx screws. The hole cut into the van behind the socket is large enough to get your hand through, so the cable should pull through easily. The cable is shrouded in a foam cover to prevent rattles but there is a two pole in-line plug which will disconnect the socket from the rest of the van's wiring. You will need to squeeze the retaining clips either side of the in-line plug. This plug will only fit together one way so you won't have any polarity problems reassembling it.

There is also a separate earth cable which is bolted to a part of the van's body behind the socket. That is a fiddle to unbolt as you can't see it easily. Has to be done by feel. The hook-up socket will then be free.

You have seen the water pipe and the jubilee clips that hold it. But to remove the whole panel you will need to remove the 2 self cutting nuts beside the water inlet, access via the wardrobe back. Don't drop them though!

Hope that helps.

Alan

 

[fordyski100]

I recently needed to remove my water filler panel . Having read all of the above i can confirm it is possible , but take your time . One thing i didn't quite understand properly from previous instructions was removal of the of rear panel in the wardrobe . To clarify for anyone else doing this , you need to lift up the sliding plastic window blind (the one that slides into the cupboard ) which with a little bit of wiggling then lifts out . Then the grey panel that this slides on will require removing (3 grey plasic trim lugs which if you have not got the correct tool for , just put a self tapping screw in the centre and pull gently with a pair of pliers and they will pop out leaving them ready to be replaced later using same fixings ) Then pull forward or remove panel (easier to pull forward if you have a safe fitted ) This then leaves access to the 2 what look like nuts on the back of the outside cover , but are in fact plastic clips that hold the cover in place . I kept trying different sockets as i couldnt quite see them properly until realised exactly what these were . Be very careful not to drop these as you will never get those out .
The rest of the procedure is straight forward .
Undo 4 torx screws holding electric socket in place , wiggle this and cable out of hole . I then removed white clip on cover on back of socket and unscrewed 3 electrical cables from the back of unit . I could have unclipped the white connecting socket , but then undoing the earth wire from the body of the van looked extremely difficult to do without dropping the nut into the body of the van so it was much easier to remove wiring from socket. You will need to loosen the jubilee clips from the pipe onto water tank . I actually found it easier to undo the one on the water tank . Pull off breather pipe as well.
Then you can gently remove the face plate which should come away with the pipe .

One word of caution here . If the solid plastic piece that connects to the water tank and the cover comes off , don't panic as you have not broken it . This is actually just silicon sealed to the main body of the cover . Simply clean up remove all old glue / silicon and re glue/silicon with a good quality waterproof sealant . I used a black gasket sealant .

Its very unlikely you will ever need to do this but having had to do it myself and struggling to understand which panel or shelf i needed to remove in the cupboard i thought i would make this clearer as it really does make it easier .
As mentioned by others though .....Do not drop anything into the void of the van ! Fill it with cloth 1st !

Hope this all helps someone else one day .