Hi All,
I am having problems with my soft top on my xk8.
Sometimes my dash red light comes on and says the hod is not shut, but it is, Also the quarter lights seem to go up and down when they feel like it, if I open the door with the key still in the ignition, the quarter light sometimes open and will not go back up or when if I remove the key the same happens. I have tried opening hood and re shutting, sometimes this works but not always, I also, when i stop, have opened my driving window and this seems to confuse and stop the quarter light opening!
I have tried over ruling the micro switch in the screen head for the hood lock but this appears to make no difference.
I have tried cleaning the relays but again no change.
Any suggestions.
David

 

Are you confusing the hood with the bonnet?

 

sorry, i am in England with an english jag, the hood not shut refers to the roof, soft top! Checked the owners manual, yes Hood is the soft top on an english car.

 

Do a hard reset first.

Gus
www.jagrepair.com

 

Sorry, American here. Still learning English, what is a quarter light?

 

The small triangular windows in the rear.

 

Hi All,
love it we speak the same language, love the same cars but we call everything different names. Feel sorry for the software engineers having to program each countries dash systems
My XK8, a soft top, which I have had from new in 1998 , done 110000 english miles, started playing up last year, I had a problem with brake servo, but was able to sort out by finding a new but slightly different servo model and getting the throttle/accelerator pedal adjusted. I now seem to be having electrical glitches, one is the liquid crystal display on speedo is very hard to read, but most problem is the intermitent electrical faults. I had problem with the tilt switch( anti theft device) behind the throttle pedal, but that solved with new switch as water had run in through screen seal and dripped on switch. However now the small side rear windows, (I call a quarter light) keeps going up and down at any random time. I cant find any logic. I have reset the up and down window on my main door windows to no avail, isolated the hood micro switch, cleaned and looked at all relays and fuses. The red light comes on the dash ( instrument cluster) and the message, when I can read it says hood, (soft top) not locked. I have tried opening the hood and re shutting, sometimes this works, but not always, and even then suddenly after some time the quarters( small rear windows ) suddenly open at any road speed. Once open they seem not to respond even if I stop the car. it can take up to 10 minutes switching on and off, opening roof or what ever before it starts to work again.
i also now get the quarters (Triangular windows) opening when i park up and remove the key or open the door. I can fool the system by opening the main side windows before i turn off, but would like to sort the problem. Gus by hard reset, do you mean the up and down setting on the door windows, if so done that! no good, or is there another hard reset.
By the way I know it is not an XK8 but really pleased with the new Fpace we now have!
Thanks
David

 

Back in 1980 is when I bought my first English project car. A 1962 Sunbeam Alpine convertible. Rebuilt the engine, stripped it down to bare metal and repainted, new interior and top. That is when I first learned the British terms, such as bonnet, boot, windscreen spanner and that ugly cuss word, "Lucas" Difficult to find reliable replacement electronic parts when your car has a positive ground. Sold the Sunbeam and bought a Tiger. Also restored a 67 Austin Healey 3000, and 65 Jag E-type, both having Lucas problems. It seems today, the main complaint about Jags are still the electrical components.

 

The attached link will explain the hard reset procedure. When you do this have the roof open and the latch parked (closed) then do the hard reset. Also you will need to reset the windows.

Link JagRepair.com - Jaguar Repair Information Resource

 

Thanks Gus, it is evening here and Misses is getting fed up with me playing with cars, so will try tomorrow.
MiragePro I bet you wish you kept your Healey 3000, reasonable condition is worth over £60,000 now here and likely to rise steeply. I am trying to buy a mk1 at the moment, which is a genuine barn find, off the road for 40 years, and they still want over £20 thou

 

Back then it was more about the restoration and working on those cars rather then seeing them as an investment. I sold the Healey so I could purchase the E-type. After the E-type, which I was always having to work on to keep it running, I started on German cars. I bet a lot of folks on here have the same stories. I kept my Tiger until 2000 when I sold it when moving from Seattle down to California. That one I made a few dollars on.

 

It scares the crap out of me to connect the earth to the positive battery terminal ...would this not cause a short circuit ?

 

The Sunbeam Alpine was originally designed with a positive ground. The positive cable was attached to the frame of the car, and the negative was attached to the positive side of the starter. I am not sure if there were any other British cars that used the same system. I changed the whole system over to a negative ground in order to install a radio. Had to re-polarize the starter, installed a ford generator with a new voltage regulator. I also installed a new coil. I was able to get rid of the majority of the Lucas Items. The hardest part was trying to get the windshield wipers to work.

 

The battery must be disconnected! If you disconnect the negative battery terminal and touch it to the positive, the battery is out of the circuit.

 

Thanks Gus,
tried that this morning, unfortunately now the quarters don't go up or down at the moment. but everything else seems ok
i see your other comments on hydraulics on soft tops so think i might change the hydraulic fluid as although the fluid is ok it appears to be right on the bottom of reservoir level.
any other thoughts, but till then will have to drive with quarters open all the time!

Miragepro...On positive earth, i believe jag changed to neg with the introduction of the 4.2 about 1965 in the e type, when Alternators became popular. Apart from that most english classic sports cars before 1966 used positive earth.

 

So the top goes up and the latch grabs the roof and locks the roof down? Also is the fluid in the pump tank a green or brown in color?

When the roof is opened or closed the SLCM module operate the windows. See the attached link it will explain the total operation..

Link http://jagrepair.com/images/AutoRepa...s/501-11AM.pdf

I would first check your window relays and fuses.

 

Does this same procedure work for a 2008 XK?

 

The 2008 version is a completely different animal. What do your mates in that forum have to say about it?

 

Haven’t found anything yet. Still searching threads

 

I would like to insert my 10 pennies worth, When I left school in Jollly Olde England at the age of not quite 16, I started an apprenticeship as an Electrical Technician with George Wimpey one of the worlds largest Civil Engineering Companies at their Overhaul Depot. That was in 1963. I can't remember if everything was still Pos. Ground but an awful lot of vehicles I worked on were. The only difficulty we had was fitting a Neg Grnd. Radio. We would cut a big hole in the dash, then behind or in front of the hole screw a piece of ply wood, cut holes in the plywood for the Vol. and Tuning shafts and another elongated hole to see the tuning window. There, an insulated Radio, apart from the "Ariel", that was fitted through a hole in the "wing" close to the "bonnet" or the "boot lid" we would just make sure the nut under the "Wing" holding the "Ariel" in place had a fibre washer or something insulating the "Ariel' from the body. That did not do much to stop the "interference" caused by the "Dynamo" and Spark plugs etc. The one and only Speaker was thrown on the carpet, and we had noise.
I don't think I have ever heard anyone ask why the Brit's decided to use Pos. Grnd. The reason I seem to remember was that some one figured that the corrosion around Battery Terminals was less if the vehicle was Positively Grounded, and current flowed in the opposite direction ??? Maybe it was the Father of Darkness, Joseph Lucas. Any way it looks as if we were overruled by the rest of the world again. Hence Neg. Grnd.
In 1981 I came to the USA and worked for a British Dealership, as a Jag Mechanic. I had never heard what a bad reputation Lucas had, until I came here. Apart from the Lucas Electronic Distributors fitted to every British Car, that caused every British Car to come to a stop, usually while on a freeway on a hot day. If the owners waited 20 minutes the car would restart, or the Vehicles were towed into the Dealership where another distributor exactly the same would be fitted under the 5 year 50,000 mile emission warranty, that one would last about 6 months before it too died in the same way. Also the newer plastic switches were a bit wobbly, and fell apart a lot. BUT this was nothing, compared to the JUNK fitted to the 1999 XK8 with 80,000 miles that I was silly enough to purchase nearly 2 years ago. Since it failed its Bi annual smog last Oct. with all Zero's out of the tail pipe, but 2 monitors Inc. I have driven 1300 miles $270 in Premium Gas, 75 hours driving with average speed down to 15 mph and mpg. down from 24 to 16. and just waiting for a Cop to get behind me, thinking I am a Drunk, doing stupid S--- like coming to a stop on the freeway and impound the bloody car. even though I have paid my Registration. While I am going through this my Interior Lights fill up with Green stuff that I just paid $25 for, my "quarter Windows" go down will not go up, and "Bonnet" not closed message, I am not about to disconnect the Battery to deal with this, and start over with another $270 of premium. I cannot wash the car, and it is going to rain even in San Diego sometime, while the crooks reach in through open windows and steal my scan tool! "Bonnet" Allen Wrench, and "Drive Cycle Instructions". OK I didn't intend to VENT, but I did and I feel better now, so in 6 hours, when my ECT is the same as my IAT I can go and drive around in circles around San Diego again. Just to hear you need to drive it some MORE. I hope some of you "Coppers" read this, because if it ends up getting impounded I will leave it there.