I was about to tackle the manual latch conversion described many times on the forum and ran across Reverend Sam's recommendation of a resistor in the power circuit which, hopefully, would allow me to retain the automatic latching of the top. I know that disconnecting the latch hoses seems to be pretty effective in preventing the "Green Shower", but has anyone had a hose failure after the resistor solution?
It would be nice to retain the automatic latching feature as long as it could reduce or even eliminate the hose failure (which I doubt, given that the issue is pressure driven).

Thanks.

 

Owners here have reported the green shower after both the resistor approach and the pressure-relief approach. The general consensus seems to be that once Father Time and Summer Heat have combined to cook your hoses enough, you'll get the green shower regardless of what steps you took as prevention. Perhaps these tactics can delay the inevitable, but it appears that sooner or later all of us ragtop owners have to deal with it....

 

Thanks Jon,

The hoses were replaced by a previous owner in 2002, so you can imagine my anxiety every time I raise or lower the top. Guess I'll go with the manual latch approach; peace of mind trumps mild inconvenience every time!

 

Smart move. I've been trying to convince my wife to agree to the manual top solution when the green shower finally decides to strike her car. She adamantly refuses. She expects to always have the convenience of pressing a button to drop or close the top. I hope to eventually change her mind....

So she always parks in the shade and her ragtop stays up 95% of the time. It's too hot and humid here in the summers, anyway. Late September through mid-November is by far the best top-down weather here....

 

And you know, of course, that the Green Shower will strike on a beautiful, cool day when she's wearing an expensive dress and decides to put the top down. And if you're smart, you won't say "I told you so" (which is exclusively a woman's perogative).

 

I pretty much agree with Jon89. What little survey data we have indicates that a resistor or relief valve lessens the failure rate of the stock hoses, but certainly not to zero.

My prior car, an '01, did make it through without a failure (original hoses, resistor in place last 4 years or so) but maybe I was just lucky.

Current car, an '03, runs with both manual latch and a resistor, the latter under the "couldn't hurt" theory ... and ram hoses sometimes fail too, but way, way less often than latch hoses.

(My conclusion from studying the testing standards for plastic hoses like ours is that peak pressure, pressure rate-of-change, and temperature are all factors in failure rates. From reports here, it sure seems like temperature is the biggest culprit in our cars.

 

Exactly. That's exactly what happened to me. It took effort to get hydraulic fluid out of my outfit.

 

I won't be saying "I told you so". That's way too meek and wishy-washy. I'll be saying something like "If you weren't so freaking stubborn and ignorant about the subject, you would have listened to me years ago...."

Whether or not I'll live to see the sun rise the next morning remains in question....

 

I hope she's not a fan of Lorena Bobbitt.

 

If my SO told me so I'd be not thrilled with them, but I wouldn't get that mean! I can clean my dresses/pants/whatever or get dry cleaning.

My last car had a completely manual top with no electrics or hydraulics, just me pushing on latches and such. I preferred that setup to the one button hydraulic setup on my XKR. I'd prefer the XKR had a full manual top but I'm ok with my manual latch conversion.

 

Not sure but I think some of the after mod leaks were actually the latch cylinder leaking, not the hoses.

 

I managed to complete the manual latch conversion without incident and the top functions perfectly (thank you forum members). If someone made a hex wrench that snapped in and stayed in the socket with the handle covered in the same color material as the headliner, you could just leave it in place in the horizontal position.

Be careful what you wish for in a manual top. I had a 1987 Mercedes 560SL with a manual top (the only way they came) and putting up the top involved releasing and lifting a hatch behind the front seats and pulling the folded top assembly up of the storage compartment, closing the hatch, securing the rear of the top on two brackets, and finally the front of the top with two handles. And if you got caught when it started to rain, you were pretty well soaked by the time you got back in the car. Pretty decent car in every other respect.

 

So did they ever fix the issue or are we all probed to the green shower?

 

Installing a pressure reduction on your system will only prolong the life of an already stressed system. I know of no hose failures of newly installed hoses installed with a pressure reduction system installed. Yes heat and pressure are a problem but you need to know the existing hoses were under rated for this application. You can find additional information on the system on my page.

 

My latch hoses on my 2005 failed recently even with the pressure reducer valve installed. I chose to go the manual latch route until I am inclined to replace the hoses. It works fine.

If your hoses were replaced by the PO, perhaps you can find a part number or other identification on them to better gauge whether you're eventually going to "get green" or not.

 

Given the year they were replaced (2002 under warranty), it's reasonable to assume that the same generation of hoses were used. Approximately 28,000 miles have passed since then, and the car was garaged and apparently lightly used, which puts the odds somewhat in my favor. All that said, if and when I sell the car I'll re-install the hoses back on the pump and the next owner can "roll the dice" should he or she choose to.

I'm frankly more concerned with the chain tensioners (scheduled to be replaced in a week or so) and the transmission which will be serviced at the same time. After that, I'll have done pretty much all I can do to head off two of the (known) major issues with the XK8 and I intend to enjoy it to the extent possible.

 

It's my understanding that it's only the hoses above the windshield,true?
Also can't we replace the hoses with braided steel or all steel lines and be done with it?

 

Bump.

 

You can read all about the hoses and test that have been performed I also have a braided hose available.

Link JagRepair.com - Jaguar Repair Information Resource