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Roof bowed and cracked

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Derrens1

Member
My 2022 Marco Polo has suffered a ‘bowed’ roof. About a 1/3 of the way back on left and right the roof has spread wider and I longer closes into the channel but instead sits on top.

There are large cracks on the front of the roof which I suspect are due to the closure mechanism pulling down on the roof causing stress cracking.

Mercedes technical have confirmed the roof needs replacing.

Anyone else seen this issue?

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Sadly it appears to be a thing yes. Out of interest when you raise and lower the roof do you have the bed connected or not?

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Are you out of warranty already? It is common for the roof to crack on the side where the hinge mechanism is ending. In German forums some owners got it successfully repaired by boat build/repair shops. Some even started specializing on repairing Marco Polo roofs. If you are within the extended warranty then just let them replace it, it will probably be like 10k job
 
j200george said:
Sadly it appears to be a thing yes. Out of interest when you raise and lower the roof do you have the bed connected or not?

Check the search function here for more stories on the fb page.
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Hi. We have always disconnected the bed. That was the advice given by the supplying dealer.
 
quicky said:
Are you out of warranty already? It is common for the roof to crack on the side where the hinge mechanism is ending. In German forums some owners got it successfully repaired by boat build/repair shops. Some even started specializing on repairing Marco Polo roofs. If you are within the extended warranty then just let them replace it, it will probably be like 10k job
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I have the extended warranty but they say it does not cover bodywork.
 
Derrens1 said:
Hi. We have always disconnected the bed. That was the advice given by the supplying dealer.
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That’s interesting. I’ve been doing it wrong all these years! Pretty sure it didn’t like the movement without the counter weight beneath it when I tried this before at the start.

So effectively you only hook the upstairs bed to the roof when you need the additional living room head space?

To raise the roof you unhook the bed straps and operate it. To lower the roof you unhook the straps put the bed in the horizontal position and operate it.

Only hope now I don’t get a cracked roof!

Everyone else doing this? What a plum.
 
I’m in a year long case with Mercedes about this exact issue on my 2019 Marco Polo Horizon. I had a roof replaced due to the crack and then <2 years later its happened again.

Their current argument/delay tactic is that this must be an external factor that I have caused: so finding other examples like yours helps support the likely cause is a known design/manufacturing defect.

@Derrens1 I’ll privately message you.
 
screechxl said:
I’m in a year long case with Mercedes about this exact issue on my 2019 Marco Polo Horizon. I had a roof replaced due to the crack and then <2 years later its happened again.

Their current argument/delay tactic is that this must be an external factor that I have caused: so finding other examples like yours helps support the likely cause is a known design/manufacturing defect.

@Derrens1 I’ll privately message you.
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Do you also detach the bed when raising and lowering the roof?
 
Hi @j200george.

No it’s designed specifically to raise with it (hence the eyelets) and it wasn’t mentioned to me by the dealership. It weighs next to nothing and is very unlikely the cause IMO. If it is then MB have even more questions to answer.

My belief is that the issue is caused by the tension imparted by the big black retaining clamps that you close to hold the roof down.
 
screechxl said:
Hi @j200george.

No it’s designed specifically to raise with it (hence the eyelets) and it wasn’t mentioned to me by the dealership. It weighs next to nothing and is very unlikely the cause IMO. If it is then MB have even more questions to answer.

My belief is that the issue is caused by the tension imparted by the big black retaining clamps that you close to hold the roof down.
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The horizon is different from the MP which has a motor which drives the roof up and down. Wish it didn’t though, it’s just added complexity more ongoing cost and worry when it fails.
 
screechxl said:
Searching forum it looks like the full MP electric roof has another cracking issue on the side (another design flaw).
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What is extra frustrating is the lack of any way of contacting westfalia directly. They do the conversions and all components but there is a clear firewall between the user and the manufacturer.

I haven’t heard of horizon roofs failing like this before. I had assumed that the MP roof failures were in essence down to the motors not synching left and right of the roof or the roof sticking to the seals in some way.

If this happens to me, god forbid I think I’d be looking to a boat builder or other camper conversion company for advice rather than Mercedes who basically deny, deflect and charge like the light brigade. (Especially out of warranty).
 
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