Posted here once before about a year ago, when the top of the Jaguar XK8 got out of sequence on Halloween. I had no idea about that wrench by the pump, and that did the trick - just had to re-latch

A couple of days ago I was at the In and Out burger drive through with two passengers, and went to put the top down. The next thing I know, green oil starts pouring out of the headliner, smoke is coming out, etc.. It was the infamous hydraulic line.

The Jag was purchased two years ago by my cousin who moved to Costa Rica about over a year ago. The car has been pretty much a nightmare from the beginning.

When she owned the car, Hornburg Jaguar replaced all sorts of stuff: control arm bushings, engine management relays, fuel system, coil packs, injectors, spark plugs, power steering hose, belts, swaybar endlink bushings, fuel pump, filter, ring-sealing, sender...

Total was around $7500 in repairs at that point.

When I got the car, the transmission had just broken the day before, and would bang when accelerating from a stop. Had that replaced also at a cost of about $4500. After that the check engine light came on, and it turned out that the oxygen sensors had to be replaced. That was another $700.

With over 12K invested within the first year or so of ownership, the car was going strong other than a few occasional issues..

Now that the hydraulic line bursted, I knew that another expensive repair was in the future. I contacted my cousin and told her that she either needed to sell the car or figure something out because there were more issues with it that needed to be fixed, and I couldn't keep paying to fix them.

She wound up making me an offer that I could not refuse...

So... here I am!!

A little info about myself: I am a BMW expert - I work with Powerchip on ECU tuning for BMW/Medcedes/Audi/Porsche, and also do BMW custom module programming. For more info, click here:
BMW E90/E92 Custom Coding Possiblities!! - BMW M3 Forum (E90 E92) (I am Mike@PC)

I have a 2008 M3 V8 6 Speed and a 1990 BMW & series that is currently undergoing a full restoration with a custom 3.5L Turbo motor. This Jag is my first British car, and although it's quirky, when it works I really like the car.

It still does have a bunch of present issues, but I will make a post on it in the correct section and link from here.

I hope to become an active part of the community. Gus is an absolute godsend and took the time to help me over the phone collapse the convertible, and put it back, and after that helped with getting the back windows to rise again. Thank you so much Gus!!! He is surely a wealth of information and a stand up individual from what I gathered on the phone.

Well, there is my introduction. I will be making a post later with some present concerns with the car. And the check engine light came on today, off I go to read the codes!

Mike Benvo

 

Welcome to the forum Mike,

Once you get all the ****les sorted you will love the Jag.

 

Mike, welcome to the forum. You have been through the wringer with that car. I hope you get the latest issue fixed and you're troubles cease and you get to enjoy the Jag. experience.

 

Thank you Norri and Nevette! Love the XKR - really starting to grow on me. Glad to find that they fixed the hydraulic line problem in the 07's!

If anyone has advise on these issues, please post:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...corcism-52788/

 

This is my official welcome Mike, and man...I almost didn't reply to your linked thread. That's alot at once, may want to break them up next time, so you receive more replies...and the viewer doesn't feel like the list is too overwhelming to take on that day...pass it by, and may never return, even if they have something worth contributing in one or more areas. Its always recommended to keep a thread topic limited to one or two 'items' so as not to muddy the info and possibly get conflicting info.

Enjoy the forums, and we're happy to welcome you to the gen1 xk8 family!

 

Good point.. is there a way to edit the post?

 

Hello Mike and welcome to jaguarforums.com. I know that you are anxious to get started and we are anxious to meet you and talk about your car. We have a baseline / criteria that must be met before full access can be granted. Please enjoy the forum and be patient once the baseline has been satisfied full access will be granted. Please continue to post and accept my welcome to the forum.

Oh one other thing you need to put your car details in your signature. I am speaking of the Year, Make & Model. Without it you may not get the input you are looking for.

Please take a moment and read the information provided to you explaining the rules. Be patient and enjoy the site.

 

Hi mike welcome to the site my friend
Some great guys / DIY'ers and top techs here all friendly and willing to help if able.

There's also more than a few laughs and plenty going on in the Off Topic sections + the regional areas, so check them out.

I've manually upgraded you to full forum access so you can immediately enjoy all the benefits this site has to offer, enjoy.

 

Thank you guys so much for the warm welcome and sorry for the slow reply.

I appreciate the manual upgrade so I can PM and download attachments.

I look forward to being active on here... I am going to make a quick post in my other thread with some pictures from todays hydraulic lines swap - what a pain in the rear end!

Thanks again everyone!!

 

While I'm happy you got the lines changed and have dealt with the green slime, don't grin just yet. I bought a beautiful mint condition 2002 XKR (60K miles) about 8 months ago, and one day top wouldn't go up, and I noticed fluid running down driver side rocker panel. I took it in to a shop that works on all of my cars and he sent to a shop that specializes in replacing high pressure hydraulic hoses for convertibles and other applications. The leak stopped and I thought all was well.....for a few days. Then it started "raining" through the mesh in front of the rear view mirror. I then replaced the actuator, but it kept leaking small amounts continuously. It has now been back in the shop at least 12 times and it alternates leaking from the hoses, the fittings, the actuator, and wherever else it can find a path. It's just a tiny amount, and I'm able to drive the car without getting showered, but it drives me nuts that it can't be fixed correctly the first, second, third.....tenth time. Tomorrow, it goes in for a final attempt or I have threatened to shoot my mechanic and the hydraulic hose shop supplier. Other than that, what a fun, beautiful, stylish, quick, terrific car to drive.

Hope you have better luck with yours, it sounds like you could use a break.

 

Wow.. that sounds like a reoccuring nightmare!

The lines were replaced as of three hours ago... Put the top down and up 5 times and it worked great with no leaks..

I would find a new mechanic! Check out the pictures of the leaky lines here: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...88/#post335306

If it was raining through the mesh (which is exactly what happened to me), chances are your line broke in the exact same place...

 

Hi Mike, and welcome to the forum. As you know, great group here, always willing to help. So, my '02 was "showering", not raining out of the upper console mesh. Pulled it all apart (Thanks Gus!) and found new stainless hoses that were not leaking. The seal on the latch actuator failed. Am waiting for parts to put it all back together. Hope that's the end of it......

 

The sad part about this is that the latch cost about the same as the hose.

 

Thanks for sharing. Did you look at the hoses and see if they were swelled up at all, even slightly? Particularly within 2 inches of the fitting?

I'm trying to picture the seal at the latch actuator but it doesn't come to mind...

I can't imagine going through all of this again to fix the latch... The tread-plate that says Jaguar on it has to pretty much be destroyed to get it off... and the amount of labor is quite a bit. I don't know why they didn't design it to snap or clip in. Instead you have to buy more parts to replace .... Ahh that's the reason! Silly British.

I hope that's the end of it for you too!

Gus, can you comment on the propensity of the latch failing? Any statistics on that in comparison with the hyd lines failing?

 

I have information on my page relating to the latch and ram failures and yes it is all part of the pressure developed by the pump. The 1600psi was tested and found to be excessive, with the pressure relief valve installed the pump maintains the quality of operation and bypasses the excessive pressure back into the pump.

Hydraulic System evaluation Body

Pressure Relief Valve JAGUAR ROOF HYDRAULIC PRESSURE RELIEF VALVE