1990 XJS Top will not go up

After sitting a while I reconnected the battery and waited about a day. I tried the convertible top and it will not go up. The dash light for brake is on and the handbrake is engaged. Do I need to have the car running? I looked at the pump and there is no hydraulic leaks, Any suggestions and pictures of the locations to work on or look at? Where are the top fuses and or relays?

I may have posted this question before but cannot find it, Sorry.

Thanks

I think the shifter needs to be in park, too. Of course, I suspect that’s where you have it.

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Yes it has to be in park with the handbrake on, unless it’s had the ground wire mod done. Is it making any noise at all when you try it?

It is not making any noise. It is in Park, and the handbrake on, the car is running. Also when I activate the top mechanism only the driver window goes up or down, the passenger window only goes up and down with the window switch. I found out that the handbrake is frozen and I had difficulty in moving the vehicle. My next step is to work on adjusting the handbrake or work on it at the IRS. Then clean and check the relays where the top pump is located. How do you add fluid if needed? I see the full and low level markers but cannot tell how much fluid is in there.

Thanks.

Bill

Bill,
There is a lot of helpful information about the convertible top in the “Drivers Handbook” owners manual that came with your car, the Jaguar XJ-S Repair Operations Manual (ROM), and the red Jaguar XJ-S Convertible S-61 Manual. Do you have any of these documents?
I was fortunate to get the Drivers Handbook with our car and I picked up my hard copies of the other two documents on eBay. All three have been very helpful to me while dealing with convertible top and rear window questions and issues.
If your convertible top hydraulic pump is not working after the advice already given, check the 30A fuse located near the six top and rear window relays on the right side of the stowage compartment. Check the archives for the numerous posts about rear window problems and how people resolved them. I bypassed the automatic window control about 12 years ago and added two new switches at the end of the console, one for each rear window. I got tired of one or both windows failing to go up or down. I posted pictures and instructions many times on Jav-Lovers and they are in the archives.

Paul

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