Roof corrosian and later calis

suf · Jul 19, 2022

Hello, First time back on this site for a number of years. We are ex cali owners having bought a new van 2011, we kept for 7 years and sold it in 2018, fantastic vehicle.
Our was a 2 litre, 140 psi with manual gear box, it never missed a beat in 7 years ownership. We still miss it.
However I do have a couple of queries 're later vans. Back then folks were having issues with the twin turbo 180 engines, uneven wear in the cycliners I believe and expensive to rectify. Is this still a problem ?
Second question, did VW ever get to the bottom of roof corrosion issues, if so what year please?
We were not aware of the corrosion issue until at a calli rally someone did a survey, we had it, probably around 2013.
No big issue, VW wisked it back in a VW workshop and the whole roof was replaced. Fantastic job but costly for VW, I believe the repair was modified at some later date, cost savings etc so maybe not so good.there were many complaints at the time in particular those who hadn't bought new.
So the question is do new calls have the same problems if not when was it rectified please ?
Hopefully you are all as helpful as those on this site now as your predecessors.
The van is for my son and family, I am suggesting a 140/150 bmp with single turbo and manual but I know little of the later vans.
Regards

flying banana · Jul 19, 2022

to avoid roof corrosion amazingly you need to go 2016 onwards. they fixed the cap issue but some vans had rust bubbling up under the roof seal on the pop top until some special 'tape' was fitted which up to now seems to have fixed it. mines a 2016 plate ocean and all is good up there

Ch1pbutty · Jul 19, 2022

flying banana said:
to avoid roof corrosion amazingly you need to go 2016 onwards. they fixed the cap issue but some vans had rust bubbling up under the roof seal on the pop top until some special 'tape' was fitted which up to now seems to have fixed it. mines a 2016 plate ocean and all is good up there

VW obtained advice from Blue Peter and double sided tape was deeemed as the most effective fix.

flying banana · Jul 19, 2022

Ch1pbutty said:
VW obtained advice from Blue Peter and double sided tape was deeemed as the most effective fix.

but is it working ? seems to be, they know their stuff on blue peter

suf · Jul 19, 2022

Thanks for the updates, the problem was caused by dissimilar metals (steel and aluminium? ) not being correctly isolated from one another during manufacturing. The result was pretty bad but if owners can get access to the area of concern tape of some sort could resolve the problem. We have never seen our old cali since selling via this site so I don't know if it was a permanent solution, I would hope so. I haven't scanned this site completely but glancing through I don't seem complain owners.

WelshGas · Jul 19, 2022

suf said:
Thanks for the updates, the problem was caused by dissimilar metals (steel and aluminium? ) not being correctly isolated from one another during manufacturing. The result was pretty bad but if owners can get access to the area of concern tape of some sort could resolve the problem. We have never seen our old cali since selling via this site so I don't know if it was a permanent solution, I would hope so. I haven't scanned this site completely but glancing through I don't seem complain owners.

In answer to your question.
Front panel over windscreen. The Alloy is supposed to have been changed MY 2015 , so mid 2014 onwards.
Elevating roof edges, galvanic corrosion, ? Fixed with tape on edges from 2019. All Californias post 2010 subject to a Workshop Action to repair the edge corrosion and apply the tape.
As regards the 180 engine 2010/2011 known problem recognised by VW who have a TPI relating to affected engines.
Post 2012 some engines have excessive oil consumption and there is a theory this is due to corrosion of the EGR cooler. It happens in some enginesband the EGR might be the cause but no one knows why only some engines are affected. There are also some T6 199/204 engines reporting similar problems.
NB my 2014 180, has no roof corrosion, has covered 115,000 miles and uses no oil between annual oil changes.

flying banana · Jul 19, 2022

WelshGas said:
In answer to your question.
Front panel over windscreen. The Alloy is supposed to have been changed MY 2015 , so mid 2014 onwards.
Elevating roof edges, galvanic corrosion, ? Fixed with tape on edges from 2019. All Californias post 2010 subject to a Workshop Action to repair the edge corrosion and apply the tape.
As regards the 180 engine 2010/2011 known problem recognised by VW who have a TPI relating to affected engines.
Post 2012 some engines have excessive oil consumption and there is a theory this is due to corrosion of the EGR cooler. It happens in some enginesband the EGR might be the cause but no one knows why only some engines are affected. There are also some T6 199/204 engines reporting similar problems.
NB my 2014 180, has no roof corrosion, has covered 115,000 miles and uses no oil between annual oil changes.

What happened to the hot thread? Did they delete it? Some tough guys on there

SusiBus · Jul 19, 2022

suf said:
Hello, First time back on this site for a number of years. We are ex cali owners having bought a new van 2011, we kept for 7 years and sold it in 2018, fantastic vehicle.
Our was a 2 litre, 140 psi with manual gear box, it never missed a beat in 7 years ownership. We still miss it.
However I do have a couple of queries 're later vans. Back then folks were having issues with the twin turbo 180 engines, uneven wear in the cycliners I believe and expensive to rectify. Is this still a problem ?
Second question, did VW ever get to the bottom of roof corrosion issues, if so what year please?
We were not aware of the corrosion issue until at a calli rally someone did a survey, we had it, probably around 2013.
No big issue, VW wisked it back in a VW workshop and the whole roof was replaced. Fantastic job but costly for VW, I believe the repair was modified at some later date, cost savings etc so maybe not so good.there were many complaints at the time in particular those who hadn't bought new.
So the question is do new calls have the same problems if not when was it rectified please ?
Hopefully you are all as helpful as those on this site now as your predecessors.
The van is for my son and family, I am suggesting a 140/150 bmp with single turbo and manual but I know little of the later vans.
Regards

It was l.
When we pointed out to VW UK that there was problem with roof corrosion, they denied it. We carried out a visual inspection of 89 of the 100+ Cali's attending COTF, way back in May 2013 at Blackbirds Farm, Henfield. Of those, some unknowingly, like yourself, 55 showed signs of roof corrosion. One of the affected vehicles was only 6 weeks old ! We sent them a list of the affected vehicles registration numbers. The rest as they say is history. A very painful history for some owners, and certainly a very painful and costly history for VW.

suf · Jul 20, 2022

Thank you all for the updates, I have now found and read other topics 're roof problem.
Welshgas, thanks for the engine update. My son has a 2019 caravell witch I assume has a similar engine to the California and that runs fine, though a bit thirsty but a nice drive.

SusiBus · Jul 20, 2022

I do have doubts, that the elevating roof fix of isolating the roof, from the seal, with a piece of tape, is a really long solution. Surely wear will take place over the years, and give the opportunity for the two dissimilar metals to touch each other.
The answer seems to keep an eye on it, and clean under the rubber occasionally. If corrosion starts to occur, do a little local repair, probably won't be seen because it'll be under the seal, and belt and braces, change the seal.

Perfectos · Jul 20, 2022

There are still instances of roof corrosion on all Calis, starting on the pop top roof edge, the steel reinforcing in the roof seal causes the issue and will continue to cause the issue through P**s Poor Design.

the tape has merely slowed the issue (in most instances get VW past the 3 year warranty period)

VW do not systematically check the seal at service, they merely respond to customers Whom check & find the issues within warranty. Outside warranty you have to pay for a new seal. (Im currently on 4 seals 4 years!)

Keith Smith · Jul 20, 2022

I had a 2016 from new, at 3 years old I took the seal off and had corrosion on all four edges. I now have a 2019 and they have fitted tape to 3 edges so I have no expectation that they have permanently fixed this issue. It seems a lottery as to which vehicle gets corrosion and which doesn’t. My thought is that perhaps they are made by different suppliers and some are better than others, but only VW could investigate this and they don’t seem to care.