hood closure

[FFF]

My hood (or rather my car's hood) won't stay down in the locked position anymore.
I am letting it slam shut from ~10" of height but it comes back up, held only by
the arrester hook. Sitting on it usually does the trick but I do like clean, dry
pants nonetheless. Really baffled - no exterior damage visible, no cable pinched
in the locking mechanism...

That's a 96 GT Wagon.

Any ideas?

florian

 

[CompUser]

(e-mail address removed) says...

My hood (or rather my car's hood) won't stay down in the locked position anymore.
I am letting it slam shut from ~10" of height but it comes back up, held only by
the arrester hook. Sitting on it usually does the trick but I do like clean, dry
pants nonetheless. Really baffled - no exterior damage visible, no cable pinched
in the locking mechanism...

Not familiar with your ride, but most have some
plastic/rubber plugs that thread up and down to
act as adjustable stops...sometimes they are
easily turned accidentally when you're leaning
over the engine compartment and can make closure
difficult.

Might also *carefully* compare the trim/grille
alignment along outer left and right edges,
someone may have slightly tweaked your front end
in a low-speed bump in a parking lot somewhere...

Steve

 

[FFF]

(e-mail address removed) says...

Not familiar with your ride, but most have some
plastic/rubber plugs that thread up and down to
act as adjustable stops...sometimes they are
easily turned accidentally when you're leaning
over the engine compartment and can make closure
difficult.

Might also *carefully* compare the trim/grille
alignment along outer left and right edges,
someone may have slightly tweaked your front end
in a low-speed bump in a parking lot somewhere...

Steve

Yes, those rubber plugs are there, they're located towards the outer corners of
the hood allowing you to bring the hood surface level with the fender sides.
They're placed so far from the locking mechanism that they don't really affect
it - you'd think.

I will try and take another close look to see if I (my car) got bumped on the
nose.

thanks

florian

 

[Jamey]

My 96 Legacy L has done this for the last few months also. It appears
to close, but then I get on the interstate and see the hood jumping up
and down. I would try and fix it, but it has been way too cold where
I am at.

To make sure it is closed, I press it down, and then pull up as hard
as I can to make sure it is latched.

 

[CompUser]

I will try and take another close look to see if I (my car) got bumped on the
nose.

Another possibility--take a look at hardware on
both sides of the latch, make sure nothing has
shifted on you...