My hood pops open when I drive

[NY87GN]

Over the last year I had some body work done to my car including replacing my hood hinges.. I just recently started to drive the car as the weather is getting nicer and about 15mins in to my drive my hood will pop open.

I took a look at the latch and cable, it seems as if the latch and cable has some play in it, as you can see from the picture the end of the cable is not holding the latch in place. I think the latch is moving as I drive and the hood comes open. I am not sure the cable end should have that much room from the latch? Is this the root of my problem?

I hope this makes sense to someone that can shed some light..

 

[No disintegrations]

lube it up with wd-40, once it works again you can put a heavier oil on it. The part the cable pulls on needs more freedom of movement.

 

[NY87GN]

lube it up with wd-40, once it works again you can put a heavier oil on it. The part the cable pulls on needs more freedom of movement.

The latch "(part)" that the cable pulls seems as if it swings too much. My guess is that the latch moves as I drive and the hood pops open..
Does that sound right?

 

[No disintegrations]

not sure in your case, but over the years I've seen many times where a lack of oil on the latch makes it work poorly or not at all. spray the whole damn thing so you don't miss a spot, seriously.

 

[TurboDave]

The cable doesn't hold the latch closed, it only pulls on it to open it. Is your hood spring in place?? I don't see any scratches on the plate caused by the spring. the spring pushes up on the hood holding it against the latch, helping hold the latch in place.
Also you latch looks pretty crudy. get it cleaned out and lubed.

 

[bpman1234]

Yea I couldn't get mine to open had to hit it in a sweet spot to get it open till I oiled it

 

[No disintegrations]

The cable doesn't hold the latch closed, it only pulls on it to open it. Is your hood spring in place?? I don't see any scratches on the plate caused by the spring. the spring pushes up on the hood holding it against the latch, helping hold the latch in place.
Also you latch looks pretty crudy. get it cleaned out and lubed.

No one said the cable holds it closed.

 

[robzombie]

What no one has even mentioned and I believe is the real problem, besides cleaning the latch and lubing it is that the hood may be misaligned or if it is aligned the latch needs adjustments or the hood adjustment bumpers are to high.

Look at the contact point of the latch and see if it is keeping the latch from fully locking by being offset to much.

Otherwise it could be the hood stops being adjusted to high, not allowing the latch to fully lock.

 

[No disintegrations]

What no one has even mentioned and I believe is the real problem, besides cleaning the latch and lubing it is that the hood may be misaligned or if it is aligned the latch needs adjustments or the hood adjustment bumpers are to high.

Look at the contact point of the latch and see if it is keeping the latch from fully locking by being offset to much.

Otherwise it could be the hood stops being adjusted to high, not allowing the latch to fully lock.

Good points but, looking at the picture I see the cable has a lot of slack. To me that means the latch is dirty or rusty and not returning all the way.

 

[robzombie]

Good points but, looking at the picture I see the cable has a lot of slack. To me that means the latch is dirty or rusty and not returning all the way.

Or it is stretched out from years of use.

Much like a two dollar, well you get the point.

 

[robzombie]

Good points but, looking at the picture I see the cable has a lot of slack. To me that means the latch is dirty or rusty and not returning all the way.

In all seriousness though, in that pic the cable isn't stretched.

It has slack because the latch is in the open position. Close the latch with the hood open and you would see it get tight so there is no play when you pull the release.

In fact if it were to tight it would also cause the latch to not fully lock. Better to be a little loose than to tight in this case

That's just the facts man. I've been around these cars for over thirty years and have seen it all. Well almost.

 

[bpman1234]

If it's popping open then it's probably not latched all the way try to close it slow and listen if you hear it snap shut . Also check to see where it's hitting maybe it's not centered.

 

[robzombie]

If it's popping open then it's probably not latched all the way try to close it slow and listen if you hear it snap shut . Also check to see where it's hitting maybe it's not centered.

I already posted the causes. Yes you are correct, it's not latching but closing it slow isn't going to tell him anything.

The hood stops in the corner would have to not touch the hood for that to happen.

Then his hood might latch and the hood would vibrate up and down from not resting on the hood stops.

 

[No disintegrations]

In all seriousness though, in that pic the cable isn't stretched.

It has slack because the latch is in the open position. Close the latch with the hood open and you would see it get tight so there is no play when you pull the release.

In fact if it were to tight it would also cause the latch to not fully lock. Better to be a little loose than to tight in this case

That's just the facts man. I've been around these cars for over thirty years and have seen it all. Well almost.

I've been around these cars for 21 years so you got me!

 

[robzombie]

I've been around these cars for 21 years so you got me!

No harm no foul.

I don't know everything either and would never pretend to.

I've done bodywork and restorations since the 80's and have run into this problem in the past so I'm just relaying what the problems usually are.

There may be others but I haven't run into them.

 

[bpman1234]

I know for a lot of us if we were there to put our hands on it we would probably fix it or figure it out it's hard to diagnose when it's not in front of you.

 

[robzombie]

OP just post up what fixed it so everyone knows what it was and can help others in the future.

 

[TurboDave]

No one said the cable holds it closed.

You implied it in your first post when you said the cable wasn't holding the latch in place.



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[No disintegrations]

You implied it in your first post when you said the cable wasn't holding the latch in place.



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Read it again

 

[No disintegrations]

Fixed?