Hi Fellow Enthusiast,

I’m a newbie to the forum. I have a 2001 XK8, with 33,000 miles and it’s in fantastic shape. I have had the usual problems, replaced the Convertible Top Latch Hydraulic Cylinder Hoses. Used the kit the first time and it failed after a couple of months. I Decided to tackle the original type hoses, big job, it works fine. Headrests don’t work and I have a slow coolant leak. I read some comments on the forum and will attempt these shortcomings later.

My immediate problem is the Message Center. I get a warning message “HOOD NOT LATCHED”. I opened and closed the hood several times and the fault still appeared. I referred to the Driver’s Handbook, which instructed me to press the clear button to remove the comment. If the fault appears after the ignition was switched off and on again the message center is working fine. I examined the two latches and they look and work fine. I considered removing the latches to locate the micro switch but thought I might wind up with an alignment problem. Any suggestions before I attempted this fix or take it to a dealer.

Thanks.

Martin

 

I can't tell from your post, but you do realize "HOOD NOT LATCHED" refers to the convertible roof, not what we Americans refer to as the hood which would be referred to as the bonnet in the message center. I had this fault one time and stopped the car and opened and shut the bonnet several times before I realized my mistake and found the top not quite latched.

Did this message appear about the time you did the hydraulic lines for the top? I'm not sure what can trigger this message, but hopefully one of our more knowledgeable techs can shed some light.

 

The times that I had this happen to me was also due to the front latch. It was binding as the top was coming up which triggered the message. A few shots of WD-40 on the moving parts of the latch is the solution.

Doug

 

Well on my 99 xk8 with the engine hood open it says on my message center “Hood Open" If you want to check the roof latch, take the allen wrench from the trunk pump area and unlock / lock the roof and see if the error-codes clears or generate another code. You may need to run the roof operation several times electronically without the use of the allen key for a proper sequence of events to clear the error if it is the roof latch. If the fault does not clear you may want to check the roof switches and see if one of them is not damaged or out of adjustment or just a lead fell off.

 

Thanks for the fast responses.

I installed the hydraulic lines a month ago, but the fault appeared 3 days ago. The vehicle was garaged for this time period with he top in the down position. With the information you guys supplied, I raised the top and the fault message went out. I plan to lubercate the latching divice to fix the problem. If this doen't work I'll check the micro switches.

Thanks again,

Martin

 

You need to know that WD-40 stands for water displacement and that it was the 40th try to make. It will clean but its lubricating qualities fall short of what you need. I am a big fan of Pennzoil 705 white grease. It has a high melting point and it water resistant. It exceeds most lubrication qualities with 1 exception made by corning.

http://www.pennzoil.com/documents/Mu...e%20Grease.pdf

 

Hi Guys,

I finally got a chance to work on the Jag. Inspecting the Hydraulic, I noticed the reservoir was low on fluid. This must have happend when exercising the system. It blead air from the lines lowering the fluid level. I added the additional fluid and this cleared up the latching problem.

Thanks,

Martin