I used regular heat shrink tube with Gorilla Tape. Worked pretty well so far...knock on wood...

 

Thank you very much for the fantastic video. I was able to fix both in about an hour. Used the shrink tubes for marine environment and it was brilliant. I also reattached the white straps. Wanted to leave things as close to original as possible.

 

I just wanted to bump this fantastic thread back to the top for any other newbies out there like myself.

A great video by the Rev, only two things I'd like to add. They may have been mentioned, but maybe I missed them.

1. On my 2001 at least, one end of the shaft has a longer square section on one end. It needs to go towards the motor or else the assembly will not go back together. (I did not notice this on dis-assembly and slightly panicked when it would not go back )

2. The white strips of cloth should be tied or secured back. It helps suck the leather covering back into the form of the grooves in the foam seat.


Again, thanks a ton to the Reverend for a very useful and helpful video!!


Rich

2001 XKR Silverstone Convertible
2008 Lincoln Navigator
2003 Chevy Ext Cab 4x4
1933 Buick Victoria Coupe
(2) 1981 Yamaha Townie scooters

 

I may be misunderstanding what you are saying but you should not need to remove the cable at all. Just disconnect the end that goes into the motor and leave the other end to the headrest intact.

Doug

 

Doug,

I cut the sheath using a tubing cutter and did not want to nick the cable so I removed it while I made the cuts. Didn't notice the difference when I removed it.

 

Hey Rev.. did both side this weekend. It was pretty easy thanks to your videos.
Thanks again!!!

 

To prevent doing this fix over and over again.
Use some proper heatshrink tubing with internal glue. from Hellerman for example.
Then it last forever. the hellerman tube is thicker and will last.

 

JoChem: I guess I should have read all the latest threads before I made the repair. I guess I can't understand what forces would be present to pull apart the sheath?? My thinking is, is that it is set up like a speedo cable, or a brake cable. However, I'll bet I completely cycled the the headrest 50 times or so, while looking right at the cable repair area.

 

Good work Rev Sam.

I'm glad I have an older car because I cannot afford to have the props your garage has to work on a later model......fireplace, carpet, grand piano in black no less, a camera person.

The closest to this repair I had to do was the cable replacement for the seat back. I think I used a throttle cable off a John Deere mower, because the length matched and the barrel on the end was correct.

 

Sam
I just purchased a 2003 XK8 myself and neither headrest moves. Under warranty I took it to a repair shop and they were going to purchase new motors but said that would take several weeks as they had to be special ordered from the UK. I pointed them to the videos that you have on the forum and they re-checked and confirmed that fix will work on my vehicle so that has saved a lot of money and time! THANKS so much for this help.

 

Just did the passenger seat, BIG THANK YOU for the video it made the whole process very simple. As others have mentioned, the TSB was informative but vague at best; monkey see, monkey do here!

I was going to use the heat shrink, but found the 5/16" fitting (minus the inserts) at Lordco at the eleventh hour! Wrapped the repair in red duct tape and now head rest is fully operational!

Once again, THANK YOU Reverend Sam

P.S. Kudos out to Mike also for the compression fitting idea!

 

Did the fix last weekend on both seats. Passenger seat now works perfectly. Thanks! Drivers side now goes up and down with the normal seat controls but the motor does not start when i flip the seatback switch. I tried looking for connections to clean but havent found them. Any thoughts?

 

Can you clarify your problem? Which motor does not work now on the driver's seat, the headrest when you fold the seat back or the seatback tilt position?

 

I have just purchased a 2003 XK8 with a limited 3 month warranty. I noticed the headrests were not working and took it into the shop. After seeing this video, I passed the information on to the shop who did the same fix and now all works like a champ. They and I are very grateful for the level of expertise and cooperation on this forum. THANK YOU!

 

Thanks a million !!!! I've not attempted this repair yet, but your video is straight foreward & I hope I'll not have any issues!

Tommyzr
2005 Platinum/Black XK8

 

I am still a newbie to this forum, but I have an idea on this headrest repair issue. It seems like quite a few of these repairs require second and third repairs largely due to the cable housing splice. My own headrests also require repairs, and I was going to look at having the inner cable made 12mm longer, rather than cut the housing. My local speedo repair shop makes us cables all the time. I haven't seen one of these Jag cables yet, but if it's a standard size cable (.150"), why not try it??Your thoughts?

 

Check out this version using compression fittings...this looks very solid: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...est-faq-69635/

 

I'm curious why the cable sheath is the right length early on and then gets too long? Is it biological? When I bought the car, the headrests worked fine, now neither does. The problem seems sort of illogical.

 

I agree with WhiteXKR on this issue. I did the repair on my 03 XKR and used the heat shrink method, as the compression fittings fix was not around then. The heat shrink repair is still holding up, but I hardly ever use the headrests. I purchased a set of the compression fitting and will use them when the heat shrink ones fail. I recommend taking out the seats to do this repair as it makes it a lot easier. Check out Rev Sam's video before you start, but remember if you use the compression fittings, you have to cut off a little more of the plastic tube. There is a thread by Mike on how much more you need to reduce the tube length.

Bill N
03 XKR

 

I uploaded a WHOLE NEW VIDEO in HD! I took those two grainy videos off of the first post. The new video is much more clear and concise.


OK, OK... maybe it's not concise. I tend to ramble. But at least it's more clear. :-)