Maybe i am missing something. I have tried to raise the headrests on my '06 with no luck. WHen I move the driver's seat forward, I can hear the h.r. motor operating on return, buy do not see any movement. Same on the passenger seat.
I thought the rests were supposed to be able to be raised, manually a small amount, but i can get no movement from mine. No release, movement, etc.
Are the at a fixed height??

 

They could be at a fixed height if you don't repair them... Recent postings summarizing your options.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...repair-225201/

This is apparently inexplicably common across the year range, I've fixed all six of my seats (01-02) that were initially nonfunctional. I've never sat in an XK8 with functional headrests on any car I've looked at.

If you want to move them manually, you can pull them out of the nylon mount with a short sharp upward pull. Put it back manually with a similar movement downward. With old polymers, wouldn't necessarily do this a lot.

Note: this applies to the 'classic seat' with headrest. After writing all of this, it's not clear this applies to your situation...

 

Hi Sam,

Inoperative motorized headrests are among the most common malfunctions in X100s. The problem is the cable that connects the motor to the headrest gear mechanism. The sheath of the cable is too long relative to the metal core. Over time the metal cable settles further downward into the motor shaft so the upper end of the cable falls out of the gear housing, so the motor runs, the cable spins, but the headrest doesn't move. Jaguar's solution is to remove a 12mm section of the cable sheath so the cable itself can once again extend to both the motor shaft and headrest gear housing. Here's a link to the Technical Service Bulletin:

Jaguar TSB X100 Headrest Repair

Our memer Reverend Sam created a video to show a slightly modified repair technique:


Cheers,

Don

 

Good info. Thx. Next project.

 

Yeah this was one of the typical trifecta of common things that I dealt with shortly after acquiring my 2005 XKR back in 2008. The other two were leaking of the convertible hydraulic hose at the latch and failure of the hydraulic motor for the convertible top. I did the headrest fix 2 or 3 times at the driver's seat (the usual fix with heatshrink tubing will eventually fail). The other pita are the instrument panel bulbs. I replaced one of them a few years ago and now another needs replacement. I have been too lazy to go through the hassle of replacing another bulb but will eventually get around to it.

Doug

 

I've had good success using 2 layers of heatshrink tubing over the repair. One of our members reinforced the repair with a section of acid brush handle. I think our member Reverend Sam figured out a way to remove the metal end fitting, shorten the cable sheath, then reinstall the metal fitting so there was no seam in the sheath.

This is a good reason to replace all of the bulbs while you have the instrument cluster out.

Cheers,

Don

 

 

Hello to all. I've just attempted the headrest repair on my 2004 xkr. I used the method of removing the end cap of the cable case and shortened the case by 14mm. Before the repair the headrest motor was working ..but no up and down movement. I got everything back together but now no motor. Any suggestions? Please. Fuse perhaps?

 

Try adhesive 3x heatshrink as mentioned in the thread below, it seems unlikely this will fail by either fatigue torquing at the repair or pulling out of either side of the tubing. It has similar properties to the original sheath when shrunk. Different strategy here than with usual heat shrink. One is left with a relatively large cross section annular bridge between the two sheath halves with the size suggested and it is adhered to both sides for as long as you'd like up and down the sheath. One could do the whole sheath with it if desired, but the heat gun part would be less convenient than for the typical 10 or so cm (4-5 inches).

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...repair-225201/

 

The motor can be very quiet. 1. Is anything else working (e.g. forward-back, lumbar, etc)? 2. The motor can be pretty quiet without anything in it, are you sure the cable is in the motor(i.e. the end is seated and the top bracket is on top of it)? 3. Are you sure you reconnected the motor (if you disconnected it, that is not necessary to perform the repair, but is, I think, in the video)? 4. Are you sure the end cap is still connected to the cable sheath?

 

Thanks for the reply "crbass". The switches on the seat base work. The upper backrest switch for the headrest does not activate up/down movement after the repair. When working its very audible. I had the back of the seat open and disconnected the yellow motor plug. It was put back together before recovering the seat. The cable was put into the motor and reclamped down. This is the passenger seat.

 

So, if power is going to the seat (since the forward/back and other functions work), the two strongest possibilities are 1. Some problem with the cable going into the motor. 2. Some problem with the power going into the motor. I suppose that it is possible that the motor is broken, but seems unlikely to me.

If you're doing this on the car, you can easily expose the motor again, see if the sheath has separated from the sheath end. If not, remove the cable from the motor again, take the cable completely out of the sheath and put it into the motor, actuate the headrest and see if it spins. If it's not one of these (i.e. the motor doesn't work and the cable sheath is still attached), it could be several things, but these seem like the most obvious.

 

Hi hnh375,

The headrests are controlled by their own separate module, which is in the seat back and looks like the photo below, so your seat adjustments may work fine but the the head rest might not if, for example, one of the electrical connectors at the module was dislodged. From a quick glance at the schematic, it appears that the head restraint control module and the driver's seat switch pack share the same fuse, F8 (10A) in the left hand fuse box, so if your seat switches are working, it's probably not a blown fuse.



Cheers,

Don

 

Thanks Don. I'll check again and return my findings. I did not take the cable all the way out . Do you need remove seat cover up very high to see where the upper end of the cable goes? ..Never saw instructions for complete r/r of the cable. I will check connections to module too. If I get this sorted drivers side is next. Richard.

 

Hi Richard,

The upper end of the cable fits into the drive mechanism which is mounted just below the headrest. Here's a photo:



The headrest rods straddle the metal plate. You can see that as the cable turns, the worm gear rotates and moves the white plastic adjusting plate (at right in photo). The photo doesn't make it clear, but the headrest rods sit on the movable adjusting plate. Here's the parts diagram showing the orientation of the the assembly in the seat:




Cheers,

Don

 

If it was me, I'd focus on why the motor does not appear to be moving anything since you only worked on the motory end. The cable comes all the way out easily, and inserts back in easily. Once you have the motor working, if it's still not moving anything, then go to the mechanism.

There is a failure mode in the headrest mechanism that involves the little reedy plastic gears stripping, but it's not quiet after it happens.

 

The next time I need to go through this I will use one of the "mechanical" splice solutions that were posted over the years. In fact one of the guys who had a write-up on a press-fit/lock gizmo was kind enough to send me a couple and I have them ready to go if and when.

Found it--post #17 here https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...est-faq-69635/

Doug

 

Solved for now. I removed / rolled up seat cover again and checked cable and connectors. .....jiggled all connections I could see. Tried switches on seat bottom side controls. All seem to work. the up/down control raised the headrest. Hoorah! Before recover ( roll down leather seat cover) I leaned seat back and tested the seat back release lever . That now works also. Great! Put all back together. Still good. Motor for headrest up/down not as noisy either. Thanks to all your suggestions. Driver seat next. All motors working but no headrest up/down.

 

I do have the "classic seat" in that is had a separate headrest, mounted on 2 posts inserted into the polymer mounts. I have tried 'jerking' it up, as well a gently,but firmly lifting the 2 headrests with no luck. I did spray some penetrating oil around the mounts to see if that would help. Still no luck in moving the rests up from the fully lowered position. Do not want to use a metal 'wrecking bar' to force it. It feels as though it needs a latch lock release .

 

Unless someone has modified something (unlikely), the connection is chromed steel in nylon, no general role here for penetrating oil. You should be able to release it by pulling up. Diagram of the headrest

https://parts.jaguarlandroverclassic.../brand/jaguar/

Picture of the headrest with the little slots at the bottom.

https://www.ebay.com/i/323722593862?...SABEgJwi_D_BwE

Picture of the seating locations for the headrest in the mechanism - nylon 'wings' on the side of the mechanism

Picture shamelessly stolen from another thread.