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Why does it always happen during the night?

MrsW said:
3rd night on site and as I snuggled under my duvet I noticed one corner of the roof very slightly sagging. At 2.10am it decided to rectify itself.

No matter how many times this has happened it still makes us jump out of our skin o_O
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Switch the Ignition On/Off late evening. The roof auto check won’t take place for 10 hrs.
 
In 9 years of Cali ownership, with a T5, T6 and a T6.1 we've never suffered roof sag. That's done it !
 
SusiBus said:
In 9 years of Cali ownership, with a T5, T6 and a T6.1 we've never suffered roof sag. That's done it !
Click to expand...
I was thinking about saying the same thing but thought maybe I just kept missing it. I have Never experienced the re-pressurising roof check on mine either. 3 years and counting. No issues at all apart from drunken awning damage.
 
Happened to us once during the lovely Easter we had a couple of years ago, nice hot days, chilly nights. When it started, in that semi dreamy moment, I could only think of the Star Wars compactor scene... It took a long while for either of us to get back to sleep. Thank you for the advice on spotting and correcting.
 
And if you all notice, it doesn't require the Ignition On or the Engine running.
 
SusiBus said:
In 9 years of Cali ownership, with a T5, T6 and a T6.1 we've never suffered roof sag. That's done it !
Click to expand...
It also depends a bit on what type of campervanner you are. We are the travelling kind, hardly ever longer than 2 nights in one spot, and then it doesn’t happen. But if you are the stationary type, say 5 days or longer in one spot with the roof up all the time, then you will have it happen to you moreoften.
 
When opening the roof on our T6.1 Ocean, we get the usual message about available height clearance and when we proceed to open it we get the same message a second time. This is all before it’s actually started to open. It then opens perfectly and closes just fine. Is this normal? Don’t remember it doing this when we first had the van.
 
By the time my van arrives I will have forgotten all of this and it will terrify me! Is it (and stuff like locking the van when sleeping in it) well explained in the manual?
 
bob_summers said:
By the time my van arrives I will have forgotten all of this and it will terrify me! Is it (and stuff like locking the van when sleeping in it) well explained in the manual?
Click to expand...
Answer, No.
When sleeping in the van, just use the Button on the Drivers door.
It locks the van, normally with no Deadlocks/Safelock ( VW‘s name for Deadlocks ), and disables the Interior Alarm Sensors.
 
I’ve just developed this problem on our T5 SE. The first overnight stay this year and I woke up to find that the bellows had sagged and the roof had dropped 10 cm on the drivers side. I did lift the roof just before going to bed. Came home the following day and opened and closed the roof multiple times but the problem keeps happening and after 30 mins the roof has dropped on the driver side again and the bellows has sagged. After reading multiple posts on this site I suspect the strut on that side has developed a leak. Has anybody tried replacing a defective strut themselves without resorting to a main agent ?
Any advice would be most welcome.
 
bvddobb said:
Ha, ha, ha! Next newbie quizz question: how to disable the alarm when on a ferry (totally off topic!).
Click to expand...
When on a ferry
Turn off the interior monitoring (the button in the pillar behind the drivers seat) making sure the drivers door is the last one shut. This could be the passenger door if yours is a left hand drive Cali. I’m not sure on that, sorry.

Personally I’ve only tried to check the user manual once, before my head spun so badly I thought I might end up in a geostationary orbit. So far, I’ve found - Everything you need to know about Calis (but were afraid to ask) is on this forum!
 
Adam Jenkins said:
I’ve just developed this problem on our T5 SE. The first overnight stay this year and I woke up to find that the bellows had sagged and the roof had dropped 10 cm on the drivers side. I did lift the roof just before going to bed. Came home the following day and opened and closed the roof multiple times but the problem keeps happening and after 30 mins the roof has dropped on the driver side again and the bellows has sagged. After reading multiple posts on this site I suspect the strut on that side has developed a leak. Has anybody tried replacing a defective strut themselves without resorting to a main agent ?
Any advice would be most welcome.
Click to expand...
This sounds like a leak, indeed! Sorry, no experience here…
 
MrsW said:
3rd night on site and as I snuggled under my duvet I noticed one corner of the roof very slightly sagging. At 2.10am it decided to rectify itself.

No matter how many times this has happened it still makes us jump out of our skin o_O
Click to expand...
So it’s not the gin then? Explains it now.
 
bvddobb said:
Ha, ha, ha! Next newbie quizz question: how to disable the alarm when on a ferry (totally off topic!).
Click to expand...
Copied this from historical posting:

Disable Cali Movement Sensor:
1 - ignition on drivers door open, all other doors closed 2 - switch ignition off and remove key
3 - activate alarm switches (from red to yellow).
4 - shut drivers door
5 - lock van with one press of key fob
All above to be completed within 30 secs after removing key from ignition.
 
Adam Jenkins said:
I’ve just developed this problem on our T5 SE. The first overnight stay this year and I woke up to find that the bellows had sagged and the roof had dropped 10 cm on the drivers side. I did lift the roof just before going to bed. Came home the following day and opened and closed the roof multiple times but the problem keeps happening and after 30 mins the roof has dropped on the driver side again and the bellows has sagged. After reading multiple posts on this site I suspect the strut on that side has developed a leak. Has anybody tried replacing a defective strut themselves without resorting to a main agent ?
Any advice would be most welcome.
Click to expand...
Take a look at this post ...
Post in thread 'Changing roof elevating jack ( roof dropping on one side )' https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/thread...ack-roof-dropping-on-one-side.7172/post-63286
 
Thanks KGCali
Looks like several people have tried to replace a strut and had to seek the help of a main agent in the end.
I think, I’ll take the California back to the seller, SMG Tonbridge and ask them to diagnose and quote for the repair. Clearly, there can be several things which may cause the roof to lower on one side.
 
altvic said:
Copied this from historical posting:

Disable Cali Movement Sensor:
1 - ignition on drivers door open, all other doors closed 2 - switch ignition off and remove key
3 - activate alarm switches (from red to yellow).
4 - shut drivers door
5 - lock van with one press of key fob
All above to be completed within 30 secs after removing key from ignition.
Click to expand...
Or on a T6.1 just press the key fob twice.
 
SusiBus said:
In 9 years of Cali ownership, with a T5, T6 and a T6.1 we've never suffered roof sag. That's done it !
Click to expand...
I had done 7 years until last night without a sag.
Now on our 3rd week away in the new van we need to re-raise the roof about every four hours. At least there is a warning, the interior roof lights automatically go out if the roof has dropped badly.
We are up by Skye at the moment and not home for another week. It would be a bit of a squash all three of us + the dog on the downstairs bed.
 
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