So, it's happened. Green pools now appearing my interior lights. Has anyone tried fixing the latch hose rather than tearing the entire car apart? Thinking in-line field connectors like those from Valvehalla.com or Hydraulic Hoses.com or phparker.com?

I have only had the car two months and just about everything is failing! It's becoming a real money pit...

Thank you.

 

Jaguar themselves supplied a kit to replace the latch hoses with a short hose that spliced into the original hose in the footwell in an attempt to save money on warranty repairs. It didn't work.

If you want to save money, you can convert the roof latch into manual operation. Try this thread for details:-

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...eration-89085/

 

If I bought a set of hoses could a regular decent local independent shop do this for a reasonable cost? (Thought I poll here before asking them.)
Or just how difficult is it do yourself? I have lots of tools and am mechanically minded, but by no means a car pro. Lawn tractors and a golf cart are more my level!

 

Thank you but I would like it working. I am that way with things... they should work!

 

Wayne (cjd777) and I replaced his 2000 XK8's rear hydraulic lines back in March/April 2015. He ordered the new lines from Top Hydraulics and also sent them his rams for them to refurbish. We worked in tandem, Wayne on one side of the car and me on the other side. Not a bad DIY job, it just takes a while because you wind up removing nearly 100 parts so you must make room to store them in proper order for the reassembly. We took pictures and took good handwritten notes along the way because reassembly was a full three weeks after disassembly so there would have been a lot to remember without our notes. I really enjoyed the job because I was working in tandem with Wayne and learned a great deal along the way....

After we finished, we did a complete start-to-finish write-up of the job along with a few photos. It is probably still posted somewhere here on the XK8 forum....

 

I actually removed a 'failed' set of Jaguar short repair hoses that start at the 'A' pillar and continue to the hydraulic cylinder.
I still have them somewhere. It was a failed experiment and I would not suggest trying that repair.

 

I've often wondered about whether the new hoses could be routed under the car, rather than through it. It would certainly save on removing so much of the interior.

 

Way too susceptible to damage, IMO
WJ

 

You'd obviously run the hoses inside tubes to protect them. The brake lines are under the car and they survive.

 

I think this is worth exploring. The one issue I see is the length of the hoses might be a little short going on the undercarriage and then up through the trunk, etc.

 

Thank you. I am in contact with Wayne re: strut mounts already. I'll ask if he has the notes (or knows where they are on here)!

 

I was thinking if the hoses can run diagonally then maybe they would be long enough, or even get longer ones made up. Just an idea, like the many other shortcuts people have come up with over the years to make maintenance easier.

 

Imagine how much simpler this job could be? We would just need to expose the latch area and the A-Pillar, drill hole through floor board (other options?), pick suitable route on undercarriage (using a protective sleeve of some sort) and up through the trunk. We would need to seal up the drilled holes of course. We could even abandon the existing lines in place. Just a thought. Like our genius guys who developed solutions for our shock mounts there are surely members here who could develop a great solution. Again, just thinking outside the box.

 

I like this idea. Other important things run under the car, so a suitable protective conduit must be available. Conversion to standard fittings would be great too (unless I am wrong, I understand that they are a bit weird).

 

This job requires a place to put all the parts so you don't knock or fall over them.
The latch area would be the hard part and some very good writeups on that and the hidden screws under the rubber.
The rest is just taking parts off and keeping in trays or cups with a label. Keep each side in place.
Few tools required, seat bolt removal, the right fluid and the one little piece on the bottom of the passenger side ram that needs to be put in a safe until used. Sorry, it's very small and hard to get another one. Well, it was at the time we did mine.
You can always call if you get in a questionable situation.
Cleaning all the black outer hose crumbles all over the car is a pain.

 

Thanks Wayne. This car is quite the project... Will do this with my wife assisting. We are both quite orderly and methodical. I am determined to put this car right. I still cannot figure out the remotes...

 

Search the XK8 forum using "XK8 convertible hydraulic hoses and rams replacement" as your search phrase. You should be able to find the how-to write-up that Wayne and I did back in April 2015....

 

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...cement-140688/

Here's the link.

 

Thank you. Excellent.