I have been having a problem with my XK soft top for a while now. It works fine and opens and closes OK, but there is a heck of a metallic grinding noise coming from the drivers side when it untensions / tensions. (RHD). I finally pinpointed this to the latching mechanism inside the headliner at the front of the roof where it meets the screen, and the solution was quite simple, When opening the roof to work on the mechanism, I was advised to raise it, then close it but just after the tonneau cover closes at the back and before the front of the roof drops down and locks in place, release the switch to stop it closing completely.
The top will be open at the front allowing access to the mechanism at the front where the latch motor and tensioning latches sit. Dont worry, the roof will close OK when the button is pressed again, ie no need for the dreaded reset procedure!! I removed the plastic / fibre glass cover by undoing several torq screws and unclipping it with some gentle pursuasion, it will come away in one piece.
I then greased all the worm gears and any metal to metal parts with lithium grease and some WD40. You can observe the mechanism working before replacing the cover and after a few cycles of roof up and down, the noise has gone. RESULT!. Hopefully this may assist anyone else out there looking for a solution to a noisy mechanism which I was unable to find on the web. I would think that routine maintenance of the roof is essential on these units but its never been suggested or mentioned to me and the car is now 15 years old.

 

My 2014 is making a bit of noise in the same area. I had it in for warranty work last year and asked them to look at it. They said they greased the mechanical parts. The noise is back. Thanks for the suggestion and sharing your experience. I'll add this to my winter maintenance list if I don't get a chance to get it done before.