EF9_TryMe

My hood won't shut complete, it get's locked in by the lever for the hood latch. could it be just a hood latch problem ?

z6hatchboy

its hard to say from what your saying, Try adjusting the latch maybe.

alphalanos

Is your release cable binding. When you pull the release handle, see if it goes back in, you might have to push it back in. This happens to mine took me a while to realize.

bpwrdeg

If its anything like my hood check the latch up front...on the passenger side of the latch the cable from the hood latch comes into it, mine is broken its like a little 1/2 x 1/2 tab that i need to push back into (towards DS) the latch...I have to do it everytime...and its annoying

92ehatch

yup, seen this before. definitely something to check

EF9_TryMe

Well it looks like the whole mechanism might be broken, like when i push down on the latch to close it shut, like the one that is forced back up by the spring, it comes up pretty darn loose. It wont hold the hood or anything down at all, i forced it down but it comes back up with ease, i even took the spring of to see if i can move it up with ease and it pops right up.

NOFX

I've also experienced this.

The way to get the hood to lock would be:

- Open the hood.

- Look down into the latch and see where the cable runs into the latch mechanism. There should be a metal piece on the latch that looks to the cable.

- Press this metal piece to the driver side.

- Shut the hood. Now it will latch.

I've picked up a new cable and latch. Should this fix it?

EusebioSam19

iTrader: (2)

theres a cable behind the latch you pull
push it back in
and try closing it my cars like that

dyhan

I had this problem recently. My hood would not latch. The release cable was still taut (i.e. not broken) but the hood would not latch closed. I looked from directly above the hood latch mechanism and noticed that a spring was loose i.e. the larger of the two springs (about 2" long and about 3/8" diameter) inside the hood latch mechanism was not attached at one end. Thus, the hood latch was in the shut position (the metal was over slot so the square loop hook from the hood could not latch to mechanism). I solved as follows:

- i removed the air guide plate cover below the latch (uses 3 phillips head with plastic clips/plugs)
- i removed the hood latch mechanism (3 hex bolts using ratchet)
- be careful not to pull cable to much but carefully maneuver the latch mechanism to see inside. careful, spring could fall if loose (mine did and i had to use a telescoping magnet to get from the pan below). Re-attach the spring to the hook which pulls the moving metal part to the open position (i'm not certain but it looks the the other end of the spring attaches to where the smaller spring is also hooked. i ended up with a kind of "v" between the smaller and larger spring). once you attach the spring or springs properly, the hood latch mechanism should be in the open position.
- i reattached the hood latch mechanism with hex bolts and then the plastic air guide plate cover below.
- i didn't close hood yet in case it didn't work: I manually closed the mechanism with pliers and then made sure the mechanism/cable still worked with the hood release from inside car before actually closing the hood for real
- if mechanism/release is working but still not latching, you may have to move up the entire hood latch. loosen 3 hex bolts and move up. you'll notice there is room to move the hood latch mechanism at least 1/2" up and down.

This worked for me and saved a trip to the shop (and cost).

cheers,
doug

90Acura

I had this happen a while back where an old rusty spring in the latch assembly broke. Non-Honda, but they're all pretty similar. Easy fix after removing it, finding a spring in my spring stash that was nearly identical, after bending an end on it to match length. Noticed it after shutting the hood and then getting on the interstate, and fortunately the safety latch actually worked. Not much trust in those however when you're watching your hood pop up and down, so I pulled over and bungied it down pretty well, since I've seen hood slam backwards on someone in the past. Since then, I always check a hood after shutting it and never trust the latch. One little spring is the only thing that keeps it latched.

gzes

Bad my buddies civic did it I gave him another mechanism n his dad installed it fixed the problem

mtx

Can anyone illustrate this for me? I can't find it and I need to have my hood closed asap please!!!

burnoutboy

iTrader: (22)

My grandmother's Odyssey has a similar issue. It'll shut all the way but the latch will not engage. It's only locked in the secondary position.... if she ever got up over 35MPH I'd probably be worried for her.

NOFX

It's something where you need to go look at the latch on the car. If I illustrated this is would just be a photo of my latch.

The hood cable runs into the latch (which is on the painted metal core support which is between your headlights) from the passenger side under the core support.

Oh, and "looks" should have been "hooks" btw.