Convertible roof stuck open with gap between window and roof and rear windows down
 

Problem: I was closing the car's roof with the key and closure stopped before fully finished. Result was roof was down on front window seat but not latched and back windows not up. That is, a gap was open between roof and window and the side window where down and the system was not doing anything but giving a very slight clicking noise. System motor stopped responding. Would neither open nor close with key or button. Dash light said latch open. No signs of electrical issue.

First time so had not closed manually. Happened in parking lot of coffee shop so drove 1 mile to work. Then 5 miles home, after. Troubleshoot it next day.

Found and checked all relevant fuses. Not the issue. New battery. Not the issue. Found and read posts on line breaks. Not the issue. Found and followed to the letter the manual closure process. Would not close. Eventually realized the roof had closed on the latch. That is the latch must not have fully deployed up when I first went to close it and the roof came down on it partially open and pushed it shut. Hence I had the gap between the roof and the window. I'd say that would be the telltale of this happening, a 10 cm gap.

I opened the roof gap further by brut force enough so the latch could rise and with the manual Allen wrench got it to rise and the roof to properly seat. System worked fine since. (The roof is rather heavy.)

It was a scare having it stuck open. It was of course a rainy day and glad I had car cover while at work to keep rain out open creak at window seal and open back windows.

Any ideas on what I might have messed up with my brut force fix or what caused the problem. Also any thoughts about dealing with getting stuck with the top down when out and about. I fear being at the airport and getting a surprise by having the roof fail to secure.

This can happen when the state of the electronics somehow gets out of sync with the state of the mechanism. Usual causes are:

-Starting and stopping mid-cycle manually with the console button or keyswitch
-Physical interference with the moving top
-Low battery
-Low fluid
-Partially open manual override petcock on pump
-Faulty microswitch in header

Chances are the brute force fix did not do any damage.

Hi.


Had a somewhat similar problem. When the latch came up to grip the roof hook, the "latchcover" followed up. This made it impossible for the latch to grip the hook. It did this after using some WD40 that tends to get sticky after a while.
Cleaned it, and no problems for years.

2015 S Coupe w/ aluminum roof and both the roof and strip are body-colored silver.

I have the same problem. There was no (apparent) stopping mid-cycle, no physical interference with the moving top, battery is good, fluid is full, not sure what is meant by "Partially open manual override petcock on pump) and the microswitch....?

BUT, can someone give some further information about how to correct these issues?

Check out the website that forum member Gus maintains - JagRepair.com - Jaguar Repair Information Resource. Lots of pertinent information regarding convertible top operation and repair....