Passenger side hood release sticky
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 115
Likes: 49
From: Mission Viejo, CA & Phoenix, AZ
Passenger side hood release sticky
The passenger side sticks every time when I pull the hood release. I have to have a second person pull the hood release and hold it for me while I stand at the passenger side and manually agitate the hood a little for it to finally release. I have adjusted the cable so it pulls the mechanism all the way but still no improvement to the problem. I thought maybe if I adjusted the hood pins it would improve but I cannot get these to move at all. I took the largest flat blade screwdriver I own and it acts like it has lock tight on it!
Anyone have any ideas what I can do?
Seems my possible solutions are as follows in order of ease:
1) Lubricate the ends of the pins.
2) Adjust the pins (would if I could but they are frozen solid).
3) New cable.
4) Always have another person help. (not a great idea)
Thanks,
Chad
Anyone have any ideas what I can do?
Seems my possible solutions are as follows in order of ease:
1) Lubricate the ends of the pins.
2) Adjust the pins (would if I could but they are frozen solid).
3) New cable.
4) Always have another person help. (not a great idea)
Thanks,
Chad
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 136
Likes: 0
From: South Carolina
I believe this is a common problem. I usually try to spray WD40 on the release cable and locking mechanism before closing and sometimes the next time I open the hood, it will work properly.
This is also the least of my problems, so what I do if it stays closed is reach one hand under the dash and pull the release, while one hand pulls up on the middle of the hood. This does the trick for me.
This is also the least of my problems, so what I do if it stays closed is reach one hand under the dash and pull the release, while one hand pulls up on the middle of the hood. This does the trick for me.
Race Director
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 12,221
Likes: 446
From: Overland Park Kansas
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (appearance mods)
C4 of Year Winner (appearance mods) 2019
The 3 nuts on the mounting plate must be loosened before lateral movement is possible. (For peace of mind, use masking tape to mark where the plate was originally mounted.) I've used two techiques for adjusting lateral placement of the pins.
1) I loosening these nuts until the plate would barely move in any direction. I'd drop the hood so it would self-center. Then, trip the latch, return to the side being adjusted, lift the hood until I could get my hand in, hold the plate while raising the hood (so it wouldn't move), then tighten.
2) Another technique is to raise/lower w/o latching and look to see which way you think the plate needs to be moved. Loosen, move, barely retighten and repeat until satisfied.
Lithium grease is good to lube the latch. WD40 and other liquid sprays can freeze and actually cause a problem in cold weather -- grease won't.
gp
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 115
Likes: 49
From: Mission Viejo, CA & Phoenix, AZ
Got it to work by doing the following:
Loosened the three bolts holding the cover over the latch (on the body vice on the hood) and shifted it outward about 1/16". Retightened the bolts and it now works as it should! Didn't have to go as far as removing the pins on the hood.
Thanks for the advice!
Chad
Loosened the three bolts holding the cover over the latch (on the body vice on the hood) and shifted it outward about 1/16". Retightened the bolts and it now works as it should! Didn't have to go as far as removing the pins on the hood.
Thanks for the advice!
Chad
