Hi all -
Sorry for the new thread but looking for advice ASAP (what happens when you're in the country and your XKR is your only vehicle and you have a Dr's appt...)
So a few days ago I, too, got the "HOOD NOT LATCHED" error warning. The top was down. I could cycle the top all the way up to within a few inches of closing, and it would stop. But it would cycle back into the fully closed, top-down position. (So I could at least drive on sunny days)
Bought a tender/maintainer. Left it on all night. This morning, same issues.
So I decided to chance a hard reset-- but in order to do that, I had to move the top to the "almost closed" position to get access to the battery. Performed the hard reset-- and now the top won't move AT ALL from the "almost closed" position (see photo). If I could at least get the top to close those last few inches, I could leave it for a while (even thought the rear windows are down).
Any way to do that? Any thoughts? I read the "manual operation of top" in the manual, but it seems like that's only for when the top is all the way down to begin with?
Thanks!

(ONE CLUE, MAYBE: There are the two "flaps",about 3X5 inches, on either side of the tonneau cover that slide open to bring the top up and slide closed when the top's down to cover the "hole" that would be there otherwise. The one on the passenger side has not slid closed in about a year. It's like it's stuck down in there. I figured, so what? Top has worked fine until this. Could that have something to do with it?)

 

Keep holding the top button for up to a couple of minutes and see if the top eventually closes. Without the windows being reset, the top will always pause for a while before completing the cycle.

After the battery low or a battery disconnect you MUST reset both front windows for the top to work properly. Note that the reset sometimes does not 'take' and you may have to repeat it several times.

 

I feel your pain. I'm struggling through a similar predicament myself at the moment! https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...orking-231814/

 

I'll give it a shot right now.

 

Can you run me though the reset one more time? I get differing descriptions in other threads. Start with windows up or down, etc. I started with them down, pulled up and held, pushed down and held

 

Your procedure is fine, just make sure you hold for about 5 seconds. And you also may need to repeat it a few times.

 

Cool. Well,it got me back to where I was before: top is 95% operational. It opens all the way, cover goes down. And it will close, to within an inch or two from latching, but at that point it just freezes. So I'm back to having a top-down-only car (heading to the Doc in a sec!). A few things:
- I noticed on another thread that someone had success with leaving the battery disconnected for at least ten minutes (my disconnect was probably a minute or two, all in), and manually closing the top during that time using that allen key and cranking it closed, then firing it up. I am going to start with the fifteen-minute disconnect and see if that helps.
- does it make sense to also pull the fuse at that time, or will that not make a difference (I can't imagine that it would)?
- then there's the pics I've attached. One is of the "flap" on the driver's side, closed as it should be. The other is the flap on the passenger side. If you look closely at the bottom photo, you can see that the little cable (which I assume pulls it shut, it's got a little orange tab on it) has broken-- but again, this is been like this for about a year and I've opened and closed the top dozens of times without incident.

 

When it freezes you have tried to continue to hold the button to no avail?

 

Yep. Both ways (open and close), clocking it for at least 60 seconds each time.

 

Put the top fully down again.

Remove fuse F8 between the rear seats for 15 seconds and try again.

If it still does not work then use the hex tool supplied in the vehicle to crank the header bolt (pop out the interior colored plastic insert on the front of the header on the interior for access) counterclockwise and try again from the fully top down position..

 

Will do. One 360-degree rotation, something like that?

 

If I recall correctly there is no stop, so you can do a few rotations. If you do run into a stop, do not force it.

 

MAN this is getting frustrating/interesting.
Sooo..... tried the fuse pull. Nope. Did a few counter-clockwise cranks of the header bolt (and,naturally, the little tabs on that oval-shaped thingy that hid it snapped off...), fired it up.... the top got to the two-inch-from-closed point.... and it stopped. This time, would not go back down.
So, I figured,screw it. Shut the car off, did one 360-degree counterclockwise turn to open the fluid cylinder in back, got back in, and pulled on that top crossbar. Got a LOT of resistance (and I don't trust anything plastic in our cars) so I went full Green Acres and found the only weight I could find that wouldn't harm the top. Once inside I STILL had to pull down on the crossbar, but got it to just about closed, and used the little allen wrech and just started turning clockwise, and it grabbed!
(FYI to all reading: once it grabbed, I still had to turn it about 20 clockwise rotations to really get that top in place firmly). Seems to have worked, so I now have a car with a closed top, at least. Though the rear windows are still down.

QUESTIONS:
- NOW WHAT? I have not restarted the car.
- Do I try a long-time battery disconnect now?
- I assume I now retighten the hex bolt by the fluid reservoir before attempting to lower the top-- yes?
- any other tips before I fire it up?

 

The top close button should now close the rear windows. F8 removal/re-installation resets the top electronic module, so I am not sure if a full battery disconnect will buy anything further (but if you do it, the windows need to be reset again).

pk4144, you should probably check you fluid reservoir level also.

Note that the top fully down with the tonneau closed (whether done automatically or manaully ) is the reset position for the top, so that should always be your starting point when all else fails.

 

Following...good luck.

 

Now what: The advice I got at this point was to hook the car up to an SDD tool. I don't have any alternatives for you at this point, unless I can fix my own problem... having the SDD is nice.
Battery disconnect: any more than a few minutes probably won't make much difference to resetting components
Retighten hex bolt: Yes.... I don't know what that step isn't mentioned in the documentation!
Other tips: keep calm I'm in the same position where I can manually get the top up but can't get the rear quarter windows to close.

 

I think his windows won't close because the system thinks the hood is not latched. Getting the roof to close is the only way to get those rear windows up AFAIK (I'm hoping to be corrected!)... but his stops short of closing the roof, so no window close. Alternatively, if he manually closes the roof, the system will still think the roof is not latched as it has to start from the safe roof open position, and not be able to close the windows.

 

Electrically speaking, merely disconnecting a battery lead won't necessarily wipe the volatile memory as it would slowly lose power. A Hard Reset where you touch the positive to some sort of ground point (the negative cable?) instantly drains all stray voltage, thus wiping and volatile memory. Of course, this also is dependent upon the states of numerous relays and such.

 

Same problem in Wellington Florida, replaced the battery a few days ago, did not reset windows, instructions not clear in Service Manual, says to raise windows two time and clicks two times. Does not say to lower the windows between times. and can I reset the windows with the top down or partially raised ? Have had the car a few years, experience, need to follow Jaguar instructions closely, even if they are not clear to a lay person. Thanks in advance for the help and suggestions.

 

If I recall, there was another thread where the cable that runs along the edge of the top, had gotten out of its normal position, preventing the top from closing. It was at the point where it crossed one of the fold joints, about at the front seat position.