My driver's side hood latch releases whenever I go over a bump in the road. Hood closes fine and stays closed when driving...until the railroad tracks/pot-hole.

Is there a way to adjust these things, or do I need to replace?

Thanks in advance,

D. Ocean
Miami, FLA

 

First determine if one the cable is too tight between the latches. It should take at least 1" of movement to release, if less than that the cable needs to be payed out. If that isn't it then the latch itself is not positioned properly and if not center just a little movement will allow the male stopped to pass over or around the latch "wing" and open. Try the wire tighteness first.

 

Sounds like it's barely engaged. If the hood release is not the problem by being too quick, then it's the prong. When I adjusted mine, I had to grind a box wrench real thin to get under the spring.

 

Cable adjustment is fine.

Does the "prong" itself adjust or do you move the entire mounting plate (just above the brake booster)? I noticed two bolts in the mounting plate and one of the holes is slotted.

D. Ocean
Miami, FLA

 

the prong can be adjusted port or starboard. The latch has a dimple so it only can fit in one spot. Try moving the prong to port.

 

D. Ocean,

I have the EXACT same problem on the driver's side of my 75 convertible. Whatever you do, don't try to move the engagement pin around. I promise you that you will get the hood stuck closed (cost me big time to get it open). I tried adjusting the cable, thinking that the release was partially engaging with the hood closed, but that wasn't it. What I found was that if I raised the engagement pin (not move it, but just loosen the locking nut and unscrew the pin to raise it), the hood stopped popping open, but now the hood sits up about 1/4" to 3/8". What I believe is happening is that the tab on the hood portion of the mechansim that is bent down (this is the part that the release arm pushes against when you pull on your release cable) is actually hitting the lower assembly on the firewall side of the latch (I can actually see the area where it is hitting on mine) and is pushing on the tab, leaving the latch mechanism partially released and letting it pop open on bumps. What I am going to do this spring is grind off part of the lower corner of this tab to eliminate the interference. Sorry that my description may sound complicated. If you like, e-mail me at nmartino@parker.com and I'll give you my phone number to discuss this. I know what a pain in the rear this condition is - it drove me NUTS!

 

Hey Nick my 75's doing the same thing Driver side sticks up a bit I thought my frontend was not correctly installed the body shop couldn't do anything with it either now I'm gonna take another look ,cause I was just about to start moving that pin assembly

 

Same here.

Can you post/e-mail pics of the part/tab you believe is hitting?

Thanks,

D. Ocean
Miami, FLA

 

I had that problem on my 74 passanger side for 2 freaking years. I tried moving the mounting pin, raising/lower the spring. You name it, I did it.

here is what I finally tried last summer, and it is now FIXED.

On the actual latch (on the hood) there is a return spring. I cut about 3-5 coils from that spring. The problem on mine was that the spring was too loose and was not holding the "fingers" in place.

Worth a try.........bet you it'll fix yours too. What have you got to lose by cutting the spring. They are available from any hardware store.

All the post I have ever read about hood popping open, noone has ever mentioned this before.

 

I'll give it a go.

D. Ocean
Miami, FLA

 

Cut one of the end off. Take a needle nose plier to make the "hook" again. Be careful, that spring is 31 yrs old and very brittle. If you break it, you can always purchase a new one. Might be a good idea to buy a new one first.

 

Sorry D., but I don't have access to a digital camera. I'll try to explain it better. The tab is on the part of the latch mechanism on the hood (receives the pin). The tab is maybe 1/2" x 3/4" rectangular and looks like it is bent down. It is actually part of the plate that slides in underneath the hood pin when the hood is closed (plate has a spring attached to it). If you push on the tab and look into the round opening on the latch mechanism on the hood, you'll see the plate move that latches under the head of the pin when the hood is closed. This tab is actually part of the release system. If you look down on the firewall part of the latch mechanism while someone pulls on the hood cable, you'll see a small arm pivot forward. When the hood is closed and you pull on your cable, this small arm pushes agaisnt the tab on the hood half of the latch and moves the plate out from under the head of the hood pin. The force of the spring under the pin then allows it to "pop" up. Cutting coils on the spring (same as adjusting the pin higher) to reduce the spring force did not help. Neither did increasing the spring tension - the spring force was not what was keeping the hood closed or preventing it from popping open.

When the latch pin is adjusted down (to make the hood even with the fender), it pulls the hood latch half closer to the firewall half of the latch, and the release tab starts to hit the body of the firewall half of the latch. This, I believe, pushes that tab back a little, partially releasing the plate and allowing the hood to pop open over a jarring bump.

Hope this helps. Like I said before, if you e-mail me at nmartino@parker.com, I'd be glad to give you my phone number and I can try to explain it better. I know how annoying a problem this is. TRUST ME - you don't want to start moving that pin back and forth -up or dowin is OK, but not back or forth - YOU WILL GET THE HOOD STUCK!

 

ttt