Hi All

 

Long story short, trying to convert my electric tailgate on 2016 (MK3) Superb estate (3V5) to gas struts.

 

If someone is able to help, I’d very much like to get the measurements from the centre of each ball connector on their manual tailgate with the estate lid fully open (i.e. just less than the length of the gas strut when fully extended).

 

The ball connectors are moveable, and I’ve made an assumption that the shorter distance is for gas struts and the longer distance is for the electric ones, but the supposedly compatible gas struts I’ve bought seem to sit in the middle of the two holes. They’re just less than 600mm long.

 

I hope that makes sense. 

I'm sure they will work, the difference in open height of the tailgate would be imperceptible.

 

What is the pitch between the two sets of fixings?

Edited 4 October, 20223 yr by J.R.

Out of interest, why would you want to downgrade???

 

Also the ball knuckles are different for electric and manual tailgates.

2 hours ago, J.R. said:

I'm sure they will work, the difference in open height of the tailgate would be imperceptible.

 

What is the pitch between the two sets of fixings?

You’d think so wouldn’t you?

 

Not sure of the exact difference, but attaching the gas strut to the existing ball knuckles (where the electric struts attach) results in a low boot height where I’d be risking my forehead every day, and moving the knuckles to the other position renders them too close together to even clip the gas ones on. I’ve tried pushing them down first, but they’re way too stiff to do by hand. 
 

If I open the boot to its full extent and offer the struts up, they sit somewhere in the middle 

1 hour ago, ApertureS said:

Out of interest, why would you want to downgrade???

 

Also the ball knuckles are different for electric and manual tailgates.

Good to know, thanks. Piece of cake to unscrew the existing knuckles so would be an easy change. Probably…

 

I don’t want to downgrade, but the mechanism is knackered somewhere and I don’t want to spend more money chasing a fix. Tried new battery, exterior handle/lock, struts (aftermarket; managed to send them back for refund thankfully), boot switch on underside for closure. Only thing I haven’t changed is the pull-down motor inside the boot lid above the lock. Nearly £500 down so far without a fix. Not worth chasing any more in my option. Although the gas struts not fitting is making me have second thoughts

2 minutes ago, z00ber said:

Good to know, thanks. Piece of cake to unscrew the existing knuckles so would be an easy change. Probably…

 

I don’t want to downgrade, but the mechanism is knackered somewhere and I don’t want to spend more money chasing a fix. Tried new battery, exterior handle/lock, struts (aftermarket; managed to send them back for refund thankfully), boot switch on underside for closure. Only thing I haven’t changed is the pull-down motor inside the boot lid above the lock. Nearly £500 down so far without a fix. Not worth chasing any more in my option. Although the gas struts not fitting is making me have second thoughts

Whos been playing the parts cannon with your car and have you actually taken it to anyone competent for a diagnosis? Also, whats the actual fault.

 

And might i suggest adding your vehicle and location to your profile so people can help you out more accurately  

28 minutes ago, ApertureS said:

Whos been playing the parts cannon with your car and have you actually taken it to anyone competent for a diagnosis? Also, whats the actual fault.

 

And might i suggest adding your vehicle and location to your profile so people can help you out more accurately  

 

28 minutes ago, ApertureS said:

Whos been playing the parts cannon with your car and have you actually taken it to anyone competent for a diagnosis? Also, whats the actual fault.

 

And might i suggest adding your vehicle and location to your profile so people can help you out more accurately  

Profile done. 
 

Central VW Audi, Ellesmere Port, Wirral. When I phoned around to see if anyone had experience with the fault they seemed to know the score.

The boot started opening by small increments, a bit further with every press of the external boot switch. Then it wouldn’t close or lock properly. After the replacement boot switch it opens properly, locks properly, but won’t close. I have to pull it down. The garage cleared the faults and it worked for them before I collected it, but the fault reoccurred before I drove it away. No further fault codes. Then I tried the replacement struts just in case, same fault. Garage said they’d probably try the closing switch on the underside of the boot next as all microswitches have to be talking together for correct functionality, so I got one from skoda and replaced it myself. No change. When the boot is open and I try and close it, it jerks slightly downward before returning to full height. If I pull it down then it resists me and wants to go back to full height. I’ve unplugged the connectors behind the pillars for now so that I can close it. Very occasionally, if I lock and unlock the car repeatedly it might close for me. Have tried setting the boot height. 
 

Driving me mad

All advice welcome! I’m desperate to get it fixed one way or another 

Parts diagram and item numbers here: LLLParts

Looking up all the possible item 8's (3V9827550 /A/B/C) on autodoc suggests they are all just under 600mm long. 

Do you have item 52 for each side?  Those appear to be part of the gas-strut version, which may well not be present on your car?

 

12 minutes ago, Breezy_Pete said:

Parts diagram and item numbers here: LLLParts

Looking up all the possible item 8's (3V9827550 /A/B/C) on autodoc suggests they are all just under 600mm long. 

Do you have item 52 for each side?  Those appear to be part of the gas-strut version, which may well not be present on your car?

 

You’ve cracked it Pete; item 52 would attach to both screw holes and place the gas strut slap bang in the middle. 
Good website that. 
Any more bright ideas from anyone before I give up on powered struts forever?

2 hours ago, z00ber said:

 

Profile done. 
 

Central VW Audi, Ellesmere Port, Wirral. When I phoned around to see if anyone had experience with the fault they seemed to know the score.

The boot started opening by small increments, a bit further with every press of the external boot switch. Then it wouldn’t close or lock properly. After the replacement boot switch it opens properly, locks properly, but won’t close. I have to pull it down. The garage cleared the faults and it worked for them before I collected it, but the fault reoccurred before I drove it away. No further fault codes. Then I tried the replacement struts just in case, same fault. Garage said they’d probably try the closing switch on the underside of the boot next as all microswitches have to be talking together for correct functionality, so I got one from skoda and replaced it myself. No change. When the boot is open and I try and close it, it jerks slightly downward before returning to full height. If I pull it down then it resists me and wants to go back to full height. I’ve unplugged the connectors behind the pillars for now so that I can close it. Very occasionally, if I lock and unlock the car repeatedly it might close for me. Have tried setting the boot height. 
 

Driving me mad

Wow... for a main dealer that sounds like they havent got a clue what theyre doing! Changing everything because they have no ideas.

 

The first thing you mention of small movements at a time is either a calibration or mismatch signal fault, fairly easy to find with live data. When did the fault first start occuring and under what conditions? Any previous tailgate faults? Has anyone tried a calibration using odis?

10 minutes ago, ApertureS said:

Wow... for a main dealer that sounds like they havent got a clue what theyre doing! Changing everything because they have no ideas.

 

The first thing you mention of small movements at a time is either a calibration or mismatch signal fault, fairly easy to find with live data. When did the fault first start occuring and under what conditions? Any previous tailgate faults? Has anyone tried a calibration using odis?

Not a main dealer actually. I tend to use “specialists” when my cars reach a certain age. Generally with decent results, especially with the VAG group. 

Clearly not on this occasion though. 
I’ll have a chat with Mitchell Skoda tomorrow, they’re normally pretty good if I need to pick a technician’s brain. Perhaps if I describe the new symptoms to them they might try a calibration rather than a £125 diagnostic. 
No previous faults, straight into this nonsense, and no conditions of note as I recall. It’s fairly heavily used; 2 kids & a dog @ >100k miles. 
 

4 hours ago, z00ber said:

You’ve cracked it Pete; item 52 would attach to both screw holes and place the gas strut slap bang in the middle. 
Good website that. 
Any more bright ideas from anyone before I give up on powered struts forever?

I would do exactly as you have done and would dispense with the unnecessary crippling achilles heel system at the very first sign of the slightest problem, I would not have been as patient as you disregarding the time and money spent.

 

I'm sure for someone who really values the system, perhaps with a handicap, then resolving the issue would be worth the grief and money spent, not for me, its just another reason to add to the ever growing list of reasons for me not to buy a newer vehicle.

I know this post was originally in 2022 but it has so helped me now in Jan 2024.

I have a 2016 skoda superb estate with electric struts that stopped working, These cost over £500 each to replace so did not want to go down this road. So I searched around for used ones from scrapyards etc and spent £350 for a used pair, what a waste of money they didn't work. I bought a pair of after market knock offs from ebay at £250 again no joy they wouldn't work but I managed to get a refund thankfully. I decided after loads of messing about to replace them with gas struts from europarts at £78 a pair.

They work perfectly fine but as you said on here the tailgate does not go quite as high as it did with the electric ones and you risk banging your head when using the boot.... Well after reading this post I've sussed it, it is not the number 52 bracket you need it is number 5 Ball stud (5E5827439) !! when you open the tailgate have a look about 4 or 5 inches below where the bottom of the electric struts fit, there is small rubber gromit protecting a threaded hole this hole is where the ball stud fits for the GAS struts Yessssss.

When you fit the bottom bit of the gas strut to this hole once you have screwed in a ball stud... success the tailgate lifts to the proper height, thanks guys hope this helps someone else as it was a proper light bulb moment for me, thank you all

9 minutes ago, Leanardp said:

I have a 2016 skoda superb estate with electric struts that stopped working, These cost over £500 each to replace so did not want to go down this road. So I searched around for used ones from scrapyards etc and spent £350 for a used pair, what a waste of money they didn't work. I bought a pair of after market knock offs from ebay at £250 again no joy they wouldn't work but I managed to get a refund thankfully. I decided after loads of messing about to replace them with gas struts from europarts at £78 a pair.

I mean... after 3 sets of struts from different places of varying quality, did you not think that maybe the struts weren't the fault?

What was diagnosed as the fault and how was it confirmed as faulty?

The car went into VAG at Bolton and they could not find the fault ? one minute it would work and open as usual the next time I tried to close it from tailgate switch it would not work.

It was embarrassing as the car is a taxi so the boot is in use continually and trying to close it manually is difficult especially when customers are sat in the car waiting. that is when I took the decision to just sack it off and replace with Gas struts, its great now.

hope that helps you

13 minutes ago, Leanardp said:

The car went into VAG at Bolton and they could not find the fault ? one minute it would work and open as usual the next time I tried to close it from tailgate switch it would not work.

It was embarrassing as the car is a taxi so the boot is in use continually and trying to close it manually is difficult especially when customers are sat in the car waiting. that is when I took the decision to just sack it off and replace with Gas struts, its great now.

hope that helps you

It is a shame how many people like yourself are finding main dealers completely incompetent and unable to diagnose a fault on their own brand of car.

The tailgate system doesnt throw up many fault codes often so people dont look any further, but the live data has a wealth of knowledge for these modules and even has a live data for 'reason for last stop of tailgate' which can point you in the right direction for so many things!

I agree, they charge an absolute fortune its disgusting but I am taxi driver I do not earn enough money to pay these exorbitant charges so rather than the car be off the road while they try and figure it out it was easier to just fit gas struts and get back out there earning. 

@Leanardp , I apologise for question, my first language is not English. Apart from gas struts, did you have to buy also some ball studs? My car is 2016 hatchback, but I assume it will be similar method to replace electric struts. Thank you.