Skyline Aurora Pop-Top opening on motorway?
- Thread starter Creamytash
- Start date
Not sure I'd ever be comfortable driving at speed if that happened to me.
Mine opens but only on the right side. Not user error, totally fastened down so the roof is pulled tight. It happened on motorway. Luckily I heard it so pulled over immediately. I have now have to put a ratchet strap around the handle of the poptop to the handle at drivers side where you get in the cab. Coming back from Scotland at weekend it was terrible. Perhaps every 4 mins it would pop off the catch. I’ve really lost confidence in it. Definitely not user error., I pull the roof down from outside and feel the cam pulling it tight to roof. It’s also strange that is didn’t happen from the beginning when first fitted.It’s like the roof has moved back? I’m now trying to get a thicker bar cut and put inplace on the roof. No way would I now drive without my botch of the ratchet straps in place. Fuming after near 4K for the lwb version.
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Entirely possible the roof moves relative to the van. My Reimo tended to move forwards as the hinges slide on their bolts. Again this Skyline design relies on a few little bolts not allowing any movement, and if it shifts by 10mm the result is catastrophic.
Just wanted to post hear as I popped into skyline hq today to have a insolation inspected which was done by CJL as it was starting to creak a bit and they were great they identified the the insolation wasn't done correctly and it was unsafe and incised that they correct all the faults and two hours later I drove away with a safe pop top and they done all this work free of charge so if you are in there area and have any concerns I recommend popping into see them I did ring first just to check it was ok I might have just been lucky but feel alot safer now
Cheers paint
One more photo
Cheers paint
One more photo
If the roof had moved backwards the cam would engage MORE with the bars so that's not it.
Take some pics of the cam in the locked position relative to the bars as close as you can get them together when taking a pic from the side to see how far the cam overlaps the bar.
Does the cam turn all the way into place? If the roof has moved back, then it might be that the cam can’t rotate fully into place, and the sloping part is touching the bar, which might encourage it to rotate with vibration.
This is an interesting photo, when did you get your roof fitted ? Mine is in just now because the front cams were squeaking, indicating some sort of movement. The cams sent to replace the ones I have are these ones pictured. Notice there are normally 3 screws holding the cam lock to the roof, but in this design the cam is tightened in a manner that basically sandwiches it against the roof with wavy washer underneath. So even in this thread 3 different cam designs. The skyline videos on fitting still show the drilling of 3 holes and fitting of cams that way.One more photo
My converter who is fitting the new cams are concerned about the cam overlap with the bar on the pop top. So are fitting a wider bar to ensure better overlap. Only thing is they only have mild steel instead of stainless so I'll monitor it for any bending!
The roof was fitted 12 months ago by converter but one of the cams worked lose so I pop it into skyline in Somerset and they fitted the new ones in October been good ever since
Ah that makes sense. Mine was also fitted 12 months ago but now in for the new cam locks.
Hamblos
New Member
I recently started having issues with the closure of my Skyline Aurora roof, which was fitted by an approved installer in 2021. The closure just wasn’t as effective as it had been, and was visibly worse on one side than the other.
I was pleased to see that Skyline offers a 5 year return to base warranty, made an appointment and took the van in. They quickly surmised that the installer had not deadbolted the mechanism to the van body, which had resulted in the entire roof moving forward, which in turn reduced their contact with the latches. It took them 15 minutes to refit it properly and completely restore my faith in the roof and its secure closure.
I agree with previous contributors in this thread that the design and latches are entirely fit for purpose and that any failures are likely the result of inadequate installation or user error.
I was pleased to see that Skyline offers a 5 year return to base warranty, made an appointment and took the van in. They quickly surmised that the installer had not deadbolted the mechanism to the van body, which had resulted in the entire roof moving forward, which in turn reduced their contact with the latches. It took them 15 minutes to refit it properly and completely restore my faith in the roof and its secure closure.
I agree with previous contributors in this thread that the design and latches are entirely fit for purpose and that any failures are likely the result of inadequate installation or user error.
So they have pulled the roof back on the hinges to get more lever over the flat roof brackets which suggests the measurements are wrong, in way of front roof mount to back, if you watch the mechanic fitting the aurora on you tube, he marks it out with a tape measure then, before marking his cut lines, he brings it back 10 mm
A Skyline heading north on M6 this morning was lifting on the drivers side. Not sure what the international sign language for “your poptop’s not shut mate” is.
Oh sh*t - Oh sh*t.
It probably wasn't a Skyline but we were on our way home from Yorkshire a few weeks ago and somewhere on the M6 passed a Transit camper with something like a fist size gap at the front - the noise must have been horrendous. My wife was driving so I pointed at the roof but I don't know whether he realised what I was doing or not.
Does anyone know how to tighten the catches ? One side of mine has some slight movement and causes a creak as the pop top moves up and down ever so slightly, i can feel it if I put my finger in the key hole when driving. I'm assuming it'll be key on the inside and screw driver /socket on the outside?
Reach out to Skyline. Customer service is pretty good.
While I'm very glad to say I can't join the "Our Aurora opened on the motorway" club, the locking mechanism got very loose on one side after only a few uses!
We had our aurora fitted earlier this year and the first few times we used it it was fine. I could feel the cams pulling the roof down and compressing the rubber seal. On the first long trip including fast motorways and bumpy C roads when we came to put the roof down after a couple of days on site, the passenger side was fine but the drivers side wasn't. First thing I noticed was that it was very difficult to turn the key and it was making a grating sound when it turned. Upon opening the roof a bit I could see that the grating noise was the cam rubbing hard on the GRP and it had made a mark. When in the locked position that side of the roof was quite loose and I could get my fingers in underneath the rubber seal. I'm sure this wasn't the case when the top was new so something had changed.
The next thing I noticed was that the two locking catches seemed to be different heights, with the passenger one significantly lower than the drivers side. The catch seemed to be tightly mounted and although it looked like the height could be adjusted by screwing the whole assembly up / down it seemed very firmly fixed in the position it was set.
It certainly looked that the two locking mechanisms were at different heights with more threads showing on the drivers side than the passenger side one. I can't be absolutely certain that they weren't like that originally but I'm fairly sure they weren't.
As we were on a trip and many miles from the fitter we took it to the nearest Skyline approved dealer and they looked at it and said that it hadn't been adjusted correctly when it was fitted and needed to be adjusted. They said that because this involved removing the headlining etc it wasn't something they could do on the spot but assured us that we could continue our trip because the cam was under the bar it wouldn't open. I wasn't happy with that assurance as there was so much play in it so I took off my belt and used it to strap that side of the roof down.
When we got back, we took it to the original fitter and he said that something had bent. I think it was the locking cam (but could have been the bar attached to the GRP). He took it quite seriously and said he'd fit a stronger one and get in touch with all the other aurora owners and suggest they popped back to have the improved part fitted.
I will try and find out more about the mod and exactly what was bent but from what I remember, both the bar and the cam seemed very rigid and wouldn't bend easily. The cams obviously come with a bend in and I'm not sure if the steel is heat treated but I don't think it's just plain mild steel and must be about 4mm thick.
We had our aurora fitted earlier this year and the first few times we used it it was fine. I could feel the cams pulling the roof down and compressing the rubber seal. On the first long trip including fast motorways and bumpy C roads when we came to put the roof down after a couple of days on site, the passenger side was fine but the drivers side wasn't. First thing I noticed was that it was very difficult to turn the key and it was making a grating sound when it turned. Upon opening the roof a bit I could see that the grating noise was the cam rubbing hard on the GRP and it had made a mark. When in the locked position that side of the roof was quite loose and I could get my fingers in underneath the rubber seal. I'm sure this wasn't the case when the top was new so something had changed.
The next thing I noticed was that the two locking catches seemed to be different heights, with the passenger one significantly lower than the drivers side. The catch seemed to be tightly mounted and although it looked like the height could be adjusted by screwing the whole assembly up / down it seemed very firmly fixed in the position it was set.
It certainly looked that the two locking mechanisms were at different heights with more threads showing on the drivers side than the passenger side one. I can't be absolutely certain that they weren't like that originally but I'm fairly sure they weren't.
As we were on a trip and many miles from the fitter we took it to the nearest Skyline approved dealer and they looked at it and said that it hadn't been adjusted correctly when it was fitted and needed to be adjusted. They said that because this involved removing the headlining etc it wasn't something they could do on the spot but assured us that we could continue our trip because the cam was under the bar it wouldn't open. I wasn't happy with that assurance as there was so much play in it so I took off my belt and used it to strap that side of the roof down.
When we got back, we took it to the original fitter and he said that something had bent. I think it was the locking cam (but could have been the bar attached to the GRP). He took it quite seriously and said he'd fit a stronger one and get in touch with all the other aurora owners and suggest they popped back to have the improved part fitted.
I will try and find out more about the mod and exactly what was bent but from what I remember, both the bar and the cam seemed very rigid and wouldn't bend easily. The cams obviously come with a bend in and I'm not sure if the steel is heat treated but I don't think it's just plain mild steel and must be about 4mm thick.
