You say your door windows do not drop. What about rear quarter windows?

I once had a "latch cover" stuck to the latch when it opened to receive the top. Hole thing completely stuck in an almost closed but not latched position. Depressurised the system, wresteled the top open a little bit, opened the latch by the allen key, got the "latch cover" down, wresteled the top down to the latch, closed the latch manually pulling the top down to correct position. Put pressure back on and everything worked normal.

WARNING Keep your fingers away from the latch. It will close suddenly and cut your fingers.

 

I am a little confused with all the posts so help me understand your situation. Are you able to operate the roof in any direction?

 

You say that the windows do not drop when you electrically try to close the roof. When you close the roof is it that it closes half way and stops or does it stop just short of the latch? I am assuming that the latch is up and ready to receive the roof correct? Are you able to open the roof electrically at this point?

 

Do you get the chime or anything else suggesting the switch is operating ?
If not your suggestion of a duff switch could be correct.
I've not been there but I imagine you have to remove the J gate surround (there's a Rev Sam video in the 'How-To's).

I confess to being at a loss as to why the hood is so firmly stuck.

Re JTIS - I'm running it under XP, so are lots of others. You have to be obsesssive about the installation instructions.
If you're really stuck and can't find the answer with searches then I'd start a seperate thread and someone will help you out.

 

I would think if it were the switch it would give you an intermittent operation and not do the same thing every time. Is it stalling near or at the same spot every time?

If you want additional information on the roof operation you can get it quickly from my page. I will provide a link to the TSB on roof operation.

Link http://jagrepair.com/images/TSB/XK8/501-11am.pdf

I am leaning towards your roof being confused but the pressure thing has me a little confused but I will try to help.

 

Join the club, Gus. If you're confused we're done for !
All I can assume is the lift ram has gone over-centre for some reason and the top is locked mechanically not hydraulically.

 

I am thinking the ice scrapper is jammed in the roof mechanism preventing full travel.

 

To summarize
I have attached a photo showing the position of the hood - I cannot move it.
The windows work OK the rear windows are down
The pump works both ways bit there is no power to it when the hood switch is pressed.
I have tried to manually Thrust it down but its stuck!
First priority is to get it latched down so I can drive it but really a convertible is u/s if you cant take the hood off!

I have been into a Jag specialist today and he suggested that it would be necessary to depressurise the system,presumably by draining and refilling.I said that there was no power from the switch which he thought was due to micro switch being tripped as the hood was not fully latched.He said it would be about £300.

 

The top refusing to move back manually might be this ...

Even with the pump petcock open, if the main (as opposed to latch) solenoid is in the ON state (ON means permit flow in the extend-rams direction, but not in the retract-rams direction) it won't be possible to open the top.

Could the main solenoid somehow be stuck in the ON state? To test for this, we need to be sure there is no power available to this solenoid, assuring that it is OFF. Ignition switch set to off might be enough, but this system is screwy; I'd pull a fuse to be sure.

 

Judging from your picture it looks like the latch has closed before catching the hook on the hood. Now the hook is resting on the top side of the latch preventing the hood to close completely.
I had the same problem as described in an earlier post.
After turning the petcock on the pump FULLY anti clockwise, I used the allen key to force the latch open. I had to use considerable force. Suddely, after having managed to open the latch a bit, the top smacked down in fully closed position. Closed the latch manually, opened the petcock, and all back to normal.
The problem was caused by the latch "cover" as described earlier. I had lubricated the latch mechanism with WD40 which is not very smart as the WD40 tends to get sticky after a while. Cleaned everything with alcohol.

I emphasize that this it not an approved procedure. It worked in my case, but I have no idea what you may damage. Do it on your own risk.

 

Yes, that's my interpretation too.
The hood mechanism has clicked to over-centre so it is mechanically locked.
I don't think the dealer knows what he's talking about (unless Gus's jammed on solenoid is a possibility)

 

When you open the petcock the system should be depressurized the reason that the roof is not opening is 1 – the latch has a hold of it and you need to open the latch with the allen wrench and 2 – the rams are over center and the roof is locked. Both the latch and the rams will move with the petcock open. If for any reason that the latch does not operate it might be because your system is clogged. As for the button not operating the roof that is a possibility and can be identified by pulling the switch and testing it however I believe that the system is confused and that is why it is not responding. To fix this get the roof open (all the way back), close the latch manually and have your rear windows down then do a hard reset at the battery and close the petcock now you are ready to try it again. When you do this watch what is taking place the windows drop, the latch opens and the roof begins to close the latch will grab it and lock and the rear windows will go up. When you do this do not let up on the button until it is done. At times the roof will seem to stall do not let that fool you just keep the finger on the button. I should mention do this with the engine running.

 

Here is a test demonstrating that opening the petcock does not in all cases depressurize the system.

- Start with the top open.
- Press the "Roof" switch on the console in the raise-top direction.
- After the top has risen about 1/2 way to the "over the top" position release the Roof switch.
(the top hovers .... supported by hydraulic pressure)
- Open the petcock.
(the top does NOT fall back; it is still supported by hydraulic pressure)
- Turn off the ignition key.
(The top falls back to the open position; the pressure is gone)

The only explanation I can find for this is that the open petcock does not remove the pressure, but shutting off the ignition switches the main solenoid from ON (allowing flow in the "extend rams" direction) to OFF (allowing flow in the "retract rams" direction). This is exactly how the Jaguar docs say this valve should act.

This same behavior could account for Johnrobxk8's top not being willing to manually move toward open position.

We do not yet fully understand this monster. edit: I meant the top system, not Johnrobxk8 ;-)

 

This picture (from another thread where someone has a car with the latch disabled)

shows the two ports for the latch.
The others are for the lift rams.
Cracking those with the ignition off would show if there was hydraulic pressure in the lift rams.

 

Be very careful.

The Vanos system in the BMW M5 engine has high hydraulic pressures and they warn that the oil jet resulting from opening the system under pressure can slice your arm off.

 

Thanks Steve
I had decided not to take any linkages off!
Still pondering
John

 

You'll be OK cracking the hose unions - the pump isn't running so any pressure will dissipate very quickly.
The important thing with hydraulics is not to try to stop leaks by putting your finger over them.
The pressure can penetrate your skin and cause nasty injuries but that isn't the case here.

Have you tried Oyster's suggestion (I mentioned the same a while back) of giving the Allen key on the top latch some grief?

If that doesn't work try putting a cord round the knuckle of the ram joint and pulling to give you more purchase unlocking the ram.
You can unlock one side at a time of course but make sure both are unlocked before pushing the hood back.
Have you sorted JTIS yet?

 

Steve,

This particular horse may be on life support, but I'm going to whack him again anyway ...

By experiment ... having the petcock open does not guarantee that hydraulics won't resist the top moving in either direction. Post #33 above is an example of that: with main valve in the ON state, the top cannot be moved backwards manually, even with the petcock open.

If we assure no electrical power available to the main valve, and we're sure the top is not captured by the latch, then however confused the system, the top should move back manually ... since only an ON-state main valve should be able to resist it. If it still won't move, then I think we've narrowed it to a stuck main valve or something stuck mechanically. Confusion in the electrical bits cannot explain such behavior.

What say you?

 

I agree. I think it is the mechanical 'toggle' lock.
I can't 'un-toggle' the ram without a great deal of heaving and straining.

 

John.

I would like to have three more pictures. Taken close up from the front of the car at the point where the hood meets the top frame. One in the middle where the latch is located and two more from the sides where the locking pins are located.