I provided formal intro on newbie board & thought I would jump on where I will be most active. This forum has been very helpful. Hopefully 10 years of ownership and some of my experiences will be an aid to others.

My upcoming project is the "dreaded convertible top issue". Unlike many of the green-shower post on this and other forums. mine began at the rear lift cylinders. I replaced drivers side, convertible top worked fine for a month, then passenger side began leaking. When I went to replace, I found the lift cylinder hose connector had been plugged and a different connector drilled and mated to the hose. My only guess is that hose connection was broken when warranty repair on my passenger side rear quarter window was completed. Only a guess! By the time the leak started & I confronted dealership, Jag was out of warranty. Dealership would only offer $1400 worth of help!

While monitoring the pressure reduction fixes, I elected to raise/lower top by hand without any issue. Any feedback on purchasing single hose/connector for rear hydraulic lift cylinder or must the whole replacement kit be used? I'm not cheap but don't look forward to tearing up everything to headliner where hose looks good & pressure reduction seems a good fix.

 

I think replacing the hoses on the hydraulic rams would be much easier that replacing the hoses for the latch. You don't have to remove the entire interior of the car. I was looking in that area the other day when I was installing an internal antenna, and the hoses looked like they'd be pretty easy to access.

 

Hey, are you in Southern Pines right now, or New York? If you're in Southern Pines I'd be glad to come over on a Saturday or Sunday, help you change out the hoses, and make a video.

 

Sam thanks. I find your videos helpful. I won't be in SoPines until early October. I'm deciding on whether to drive Jag as an extra vehicle. If so, I will definitely let you know before leaving.

Rears are have to much easier. Any idea regards purchase of single hose & fitting or am I wasting time and should just buy the Jag kit? Along with help from a couple Jag forums, I've tried to source out hose & fitting without any success. The fitting & coupler that was put on by whoever, looks like marine hydraulics.

 

This is one of the reasons why we were not able to make a replacement hose for the lifts. Replacing the rams are not as time consuming as the roof latch hoses but are a pain to do. The hoses and connectors for the rams and roof hoses are metric and the only set of hoses are the factory set.

 

Thanks Gus. What I thought, but wanted to ask anyways.

The car was a RAV out of Jaguar North America, MahWah NJ purchased with 4k miles. This vehicle came with the green hydraulic fluid and what I found out at a later date, when changing out thermostat & water pump, the newer impeller. Both were Jag changes after this cars build date and not on the Master Tech work order. They had the car for a year before I bought it. I'm not sure if the passenger side lift cylinder was changed at the dealership I mentioned earlier or if Jag NA was playing around with a different fix. When I work on hydraulics I'll post pictures of cylinder. I'm interested to see if anyone else has seen this swap out of connectors.

 

I personally I have not replaced a ram/lift but I do have one taken apart. If you do replace it I would like to have the lift in my hands to see one again. It sounds like you got your hands a great car.

 

I have both the old driver side and new passenger side lift cylinders. When the issue occurred there was more chatter regards red fluid problems not pressure. I spent a fair amount of time analyzing source & it appeared to be leaking at the ram area not the hose connection. I assumed there was some breakdown internally, maybe washers. Either way, when I get through this change over, I'd be happy to send you one of the replaced lift cylinders.

I'm still on the fence whether to do the fix. Hand raising/lowering the top is pretty fast & easy. Only extra step is raising the rear quarter windows but, ReverandSams toggle switch easily fixes that step. The only reason I'm considering job now is pressure reduction seems to have fixed problems. I didn't want to install kit or pay a Jag dealer for installation & have the problem reoccur 2-3 years later.

 

I can take either ram but I would prefer the right ram. The reason is that I need to see the switch setup on it. I am not in a rush just want to satisfy myself.