"Teeter-Totter Hood"

Been having a very frustrating experience of late with Superblue’s bonnet. Seems sometimes after I close it I will be driving down the road later and discover that either the driver’s side or passenger’s side latch has somehow released, causing that particular rear corner of the bonnet to be sticking up ajar. I then push that corner back down latched into place, and while driving later on will see that somehow the other side’s latch has managed to become unlatched and now that particular corner of the hood is sticking up ajar. :confounded: After pushing it down, things usually stay in place until the next time i open the hood. I’ve also noticed that when I release the hood instead of both corners popping up clearly ajar as it always did before, one side will tend to stay latched, requiring that I pull the release a few more times. The corner that does pop up only seems to pop up only a slight amount, too, requiring that I try to slip my fingertip under it to pull it up the rest of the way. :rage:

Any idea what is going on here? I haven’t removed or adjusted the hood hinges in any way of late, but I have noticed my support struts seem to be a bit weaker – although they keep the hood up, if the wind blows hard against the hood from the front of the car the hood now tends to slip and head down toward closed position. Could the whole problem be that one or both of them needs to be replaced? :confused:

Replaced or lubricated?

No as to the replaced. Should they need anything in there r/red @ only 84,000 miles, btw? I did try spraying the area where the latches (and mating studs) are with dry lube a few days ago, but that didn’t seem to change anything for the better. :frowning_face:

Kilometres in this instance are irevelant its more a case of time in service. Might be time to disassemble the latches and give them a good clean and lubrcate.

Paul, if you allow someone beside yourself to work on your car, they may not know that there is a “correct” way to close the hood without damage to the pins or latches. I suggest making sure the pins below the hood are not bent, or the latches on the firewall mutilated.
Everything is adjustable!

Latches !!! Jag mantra. Clean, lube and adjust.
At times, mine do that. I dab the latch with a glob of grease. OK, for a time.

Related to the legal term, laches???

Carl

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Has a cable stretched…or a clamp slipped a little …both sides need to be sort of synchronized together …as the others say it is most likely adjustment

Check to make sure the pins on the underside of the hood are not loose. The pin is what goes into the latch, there are 4 10mm bolts holding them in place.