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Hood Latch Problem


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Today I raised the hood of my 97 LS400 to attach jumper cables in order to start another car. Finished that and attempted to shut the hood but it will not shut. I can manually shut the latch with a screwdriver but it is tough. I have no problems unlatching with the underdash lever. Anyone know what happened or how to fix it? I can see no visible damage and have had no previous problems with the latch.

Thanks in advance.

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I would look carefully for any moving parts at the latch mechanism, and put a drop of motor oil on any such moving parts at the point of movement. Perhaps some door ease (a stick lubricant) on parts on the lower inside of the hood latch which mesh with the stationary parts on the body. Unless you can see something obvious otherwise.

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Have you checked to see if some obstruction might be preventing the hood from coming all the way down? Possibly from when the hood was up for the jump-start? If not that, perhaps the rubber hood bumper stops somehow got turned counter-clockwise and is not letting the hood close all the way.

Just looking at the most obvious possibilities, but I suppose you have probably checked these. Don't have any more suggestions.

Perhaps someone else has had a similar problem and has an answer.

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I took the car to a body shop and got it fixed yesterday. The part attached to the hood the"striker" was apparently bent upward and would no longer catch on the latch mechanism. You could not tell that it was bent at all by just looking at it. So for future reference if your hood suddenly will not latch completely do not go out and by an expensive new latch mechanism until you have checked with a local body shop and they have checked for this problem. The guy told us that this is a common occurance with vehicles and they see one a week although it is usually with the trunk not hood. Anyway they took a tool and a couple of guys to hold the hood and it was fixed in a minute at no charge.

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