Hood/Latch Woes

[Stephen Pollard]

I swapped the hood on my 97 with a nicer replacement, and now the whole thing sits about 3/4 of an inch high in the front. From what I can tell, it's latched all the way, although it does move down when you push on it. The secondary safety catch is not engaged, and it unlatches with the interior handle as normal.

I've been through the threads about hood latches sticking or breaking... no help there.

I measured the distance between the bottom of the hood catch and the inside top. My old hood is about 3/4 of an inch shorter.

Were there variations in the hood and latch and I have incompatible parts? Tried searching for part #s too but only ended up with one number for the whole generation.

Will post pictures this afternoon.

I'm thinking maybe there was some post-collision rework and somebody just made it up. Not looking forward to hacking up good parts.

 

[chipskittles]

I have a similar problem where the replacement hood from a donor does not match up side to side. I have chalked it up to some out of sight core support tweaking and I deal with it. You can adjust it to a point up and down, side to side, but not 3/4 of an inch. Sounds like yours will need the same kind of adjustment mine does. What was supposed to take an hour tops to swap hoods has turned into just another project. Previous accident damage sucks.

 

[someotherguy]

The latch itself has adjustment slots built in. You loosen the forward-facing bolts, snug them back down to where they will move when you shove it but stay in place once you have it where you want it - so you can do the final re-tighten.

Obviously you want to be really careful while working with this adjustment as you don't want to get the hood so tight that you have trouble popping it back open.

Don't overlook the setting of the adjustment bumpers at either front corner of the hood, too.

Richard

 

[Bob L]

I just measured my hood, If you put a tape measure from the rod on the hood that engages the latch it is 11/2" to the bottom side of the outer panel. My truck is a 98 and the hood came from a 96. If the secondary latch is not working why? is it interfering with the hood closing? If still not finding the problem remove the latch and see if the hood fits without it. In body work it is best to fit the panels to the truck then install and fit latches to the panels. Oil on latches makes a big difference also make sure they are lubed with something better than wd-40

 

[Stephen Pollard]

I'll try those measurements. The secondary latch is not engaging since the main latch is holding the hood in the closed position. When opening with the release handle, the secondary catches as it should. I only mentioned it to say its free of any obstructions and not causing the issue.

I'll try removing the latch to see if the hood sits flush with the rest of the bodywork and to see if I can lower it.

What I needed to know (and think I do now) is that there's only one latch and one hood, and the parts I have are modified not the wrong ones.

 

[someotherguy]

You may be misunderstanding the function of the secondary latch. It's just a safety. When the hood is fully closed, it's not actively holding it from opening. The main latch holds the hood closed; the secondary holds it when it's "popped"

Richard

 

[Stephen Pollard]

No, I know what it's there for. I was surprised at first to see it only caught once the first latch was released and the spring pushed up on the hood- totally separate from the main latch. I'm used to my VW which needlessly overcomplicates things...

 

[Bob L]

It is normal to have to adjust the latch with hood changes. You want to make sure the bar on the hood is lining up with the latch opening and not making the hood move rt. or left to close. The adjustment allows up and down movement but going up on one side and down on other will move latch side to side some. When you take the latch out to check to see if hood closes all the way check side gaps at the same time and move hood at hinges to align gaps before reinstalling latch.
Moving the rt. side of the hood back will move the front to the rt. Moving the left back will do the opposite. Make small adjustments you will get it in time.