Well I guess it had to happen sooner or later.

The latch hoses were replaced by the PO 5 or 6 years ago according to the service records I got with the car.

When I bought the car 1 1/2 years ago I installed the resistor on the pump as a precaution.

Two weeks ago I removed the resistor for several reasons, 1 the top was very slow and 2 I was having some weird issues with the window memory when raising the top and wanted to eliminate the resistor as an issue possibly putting to high a load on an older battery.

Well I've had no more weird window issues and have enjoyed the top moving at a quicker pace.

Yesterday I noticed a single drop of fluid on the sonic sensor grill on the windshield header. Not the dreaded hose failure!

Took the header apart today and the hoses are fine, dry as a bone but the latch is slightly leaking .

So I reattached the resistor hoping to buy myself a little time and will be removing the latch to send to Top Hydraulics in the next few weeks.

Very happy it's only the latch and not the hoses.

 

Jandreu,

As you said, much better the latch than the hoses leaking. I would not go so far as to say removing the resistor brought about the leak; it's one of those things we can never know for sure. But if you don't like the slower top operation that goes with the resistor being there, you might want to replace it with some other form of hose protection (the hoses you have are probably not so bullet-proof as what's available now).

Two FYIs on having the resistor in the pump circuit:
- it reduces, rather than increases, the current drain on the battery.
- it could not cause an issue with rear window operation since the pump and the windows are never operating at the same time.

Good luck with the fixes.

 

I do not believe your removal of the resistor caused your latch leak. It would have occurred regardless of any measures you took to prevent it. As several long-time Jaguar master techs have told me, there are only two types of XK8 convertible top systems: Those that have failed, and those that will fail....