Hood release problem

[djskiing]

Hood will close to first notch but not completely so there’s a 3/4 gap. Won’t pop up while driving but still unnerving . The sprung spring in picture to left of main latch is likely the culpreit . Any suggestions .

[PTRL HD]

I don't think that spring is your problem. Mine doesn't have that or the bolt holding the one end of the spring. Also, from memory, that hooped area the spring is attached to is in a fixed position and wouldn't need a spring.

One easy thing you could try before making any adjustments, with the hood open pull the hood release. There's a chance the same symptoms could be caused if the latch was somehow latched with the hood open. If you hear a click you can try to close the hood and see if there's any improvement.

The first notch, where your hood is latching, is the safety catch. That latches onto the solid hoop. You will likely need to adjust either the height or alignment of the main latch, which is partially out of view on the right side of most of your photos. That has to align with the "pin" on the front of the hood itself. There may be some adjustment needed for the rubber stoppers at each front corner of the hood, as well. If you're not comfortable doing this, you may want to bring this to a local body shop. It should be pretty easy for someone with a little experience in hood fitment if all it needs is adjustment.

[PTRL HD]

Looking closer, definitely try to release the latch with the hood open. If you look at my latch, the mechanism on the left side is raised and, by comparison, yours looks to be down.


If that isn't it, you may have a broken latch. Or that spring might have been put in place by a previous owner to "fix" the latch.

[Fab64]

Is it possible your hood release cable is sticking? I had trouble closing my hood, it wouldn't latch. I saw that my hood release handle had not pulled itself back in, so I manually pushed it back in, and it latched. I still need to figure out how to lube the cable.

[EC900]

Check the catch on the hood as it might be loose, misaligned or dry as a bone and if the hood had been removed at some point, body work or other reason, the shut lines might be off and noticeable and causing the issue and make sure hood hinge bolts are intact, thats going to be a tricky part to get them aligned.
Could check if release cable has any adjustment left, could be old, stretched out from decades of stubborn hard pulling, or the screw is loose.

As Fab64 I agree, lubrication is essential - clean and re-grease the latch and all moving parts, getting lube into the cable housing is messy and unless removed, getting full lubrication is tough as it need gravity to flow all the way through end to end. But it could benefit from clean and lubing the exposed ends, be sure to work the oil down into ends and all other moving parts.
Don’t use WD40 or similar penetrants, they’re okay as a cleaner to free up stuck parts but for lasting oiling it has to be a dedicated cable lube. Lithium grease on latch.

Yes that a gerry-rigged spring, likely stretched all the way across to the closer latch to pull it out of the way of the upper hood catch.
As Ptrl HD said, the internal torsion spring may be broken and that “fix spring” you have was used as a helper. You should feel a spring action when moving the closing the latch by hand, if not then it broken and needs to be replaced. Without that torsion spring, it won’t hold the latch down tight and won’t spring out of the way when opening/pulling the release cable.
Might be repairable if the latch halves can be separated as they may be stamped or spot welded shut, just find a suitable piano wire torsion spring rate to match the original. Total replacement is easier.