I'd love to be able to drive this thing for a couple of weeks without something else breaking.

I went to put the top down, the left rear window went down normally but I heard the dreaded crunching/grinding sound from the right. Sigh.

I have the excellent write-up from jagrepair.com and the Jag workshop manual. I started disassembly yesterday and have removed the speaker enclosure and brace. I can see part of the regulator and a cable hanging where it shouldn't be. I wish I'd have knows this a few weeks ago when I had it apart. Anyway, I have two questions for the gurus who have done this before.

1. Any helpful hints beyond what jagrepair.com says?

2. The jagrepair.com instructions say to disconnect power, open the valve on the roof motor, and manually pull the roof up part way. Is there a reason it should be done this way? I may need to leave the car in a condition where it can be started and moved, if I can't finish the job in one session. Would it cause problems if I just left things connected and moved the roof part-way up under its own power?

I see kits on Amazon that replace the cables and the center wheel. Anybody use those? I won't know if that's the problem until the regulator is out. I found an eBay service that will rehab the regulator using all metal wheels and so forth, for $229USD. That's cheaper than a used one around here, and almost a third the cost of a new one. Anybody gone that route?

TIA

 

More Rube Goldberg techno

rothwell did an excellent write-up of his repair. It might give you a few more pointers:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...8/#post1710384

 

I tried the replacement wire cables that a customer got for his car.(used the same plastic pulleys/guides)
I installed them and the window worked for a while and then failed again.
We opted for a used part and years later it still operates normally.

Maybe the all metal parts will work?

 

Very helpful. Thanks. I saw a video on YT but it was a bit vague. The stills help a lot.

 

That's kind of what I was afraid of. The metal parts one with the lifetime warranty is looking better. We'll know more after I get the thing out.

 

Designing these mechanisms with plastic gears was a crime. Good luck with the all-metal kit and keep us posted....

 

I got a refurbished regulator from Florida, around $230, I think.
Once you replace the regulator, you send the old one back to them, or there is an additional charge.
The one I received had new cables, pulleys etc.
Good service, they supply for many car types.
It's been fine for the past 2+ years.

It's quite a fiddly job, requires some patience.
Great directions on here.
You need to raise the top part way to give access at one point, and you can't do that with the motor.
But most of the time, the roof will be down out of the way.
My advice is to buy a telescopic magnetic tool, for when you inevitably drop some little part into the window cavity.

Good luck.

 

And that's what prompted the question. As an experiment, after the speaker was out, I started the car and pressed the up button for the roof. When it was about half-way up, and the mounting bolts were exposed, I released the button. The roof stopped. After a few seconds I pressed the down button and the roof went down. So, if the roof behaves in this manner, is it necessary to do it manually? Is there something I'm missing?

That service sounds very similar to the one I was looking at. You send them your regulator and they refurb it and send it back in 2 days. Same price. I think they're in Arizona.

 

I guess I was wrong then.
I was thinking you had to hold the button till the movement was completed.
Either way, it's just to move the frame for access.