Hey everyone.
Im not sure if this is the place to put this pot but im goona give it a shot.

My hood latch wont release. I pull on the release and there is no "thud" or "click." Just the sound of the cable moving. Is there a way to solve this? Ive tried pushing on the hood to confirm it was grabbing the hood, and than tried again but there again is no click or thud to show that the latch is releasing.
Thanks to anyone for any help

Jared Paterson

 

I have a similar issue with my fiberglass hood due to it not having a spring to provide upward pressure.

Give this a try...

Stand in front of the car and gently lift up on the hood.

Have someone else pull the release lever BACK. Keep gently lifting up on the hood.

Then have them PUSH the release lever toward the front of the car.

You should be able to feel the hood release.

Hope this helps!

 

I have the same problem with mine.

The last owner used the approach above and bent the hood a bit, so I'd be careful.

Here's what I do. Crawl under the nose, and you'll actually be able to see the latch mechanism. From there, you should feel a lever that the cable is tugging on. Push that all the way to the drivers side while reaching around and pushing up on the hood. That should get her to pop. If it doesn't , you may need to apply some downward pressure before moving the lever. Try it a few times and it'll pop for you.

On my car, my lift supports are shot as well, soI just ordered a new pair of lift supports as well as a new latch from rockauto.com. I'm doing that work this weekend. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm wondering if there is also a spring to encourage the hood to pop. I ahven't looked yet on mine, but if there is, it may need to be stretched or replaced entirely.

 

Yay, I might be useful.
I had the same problem with mine when I bought it, and it was caused by a mixture of 3 things. The cable had started to fray and wasnt pulling it enough, then clamp had worn a groove in it over time and wear, and the bar it latches onto ahd also worn a groove. I did what formula_novice said, went under the bonnet and pulled the lever manually but still didnt work. I ended up getting a flat tip screwdriver, and moving the plate manually and it popped the bonnet. Then I just took the parts off, degreased it, filed it down a bit and actually sawed the tip of the latch off, then regreased it.
Then when I put it back on I moved it 1-2mm to the left and loosened the bar it latches onto and moved that 1-2mm to the front and it seems to have fixed it. I eventually need to get a new latch and bar but its doing the job for now.

 

I think I only ever saw ONE Trans Am or Firebird that didn't have a useless broken hood latch. Was my uncle's...and he had hood pins. =)

My old F-bird had a dented in hood from beating it to get it open...and the T/A I'm buying next week has a busted latch.

 

I completed both minor jobs this weekend.

The lift support swap went well; it's pretty much a pry off, snap on sort of deal.

A word of warning if you swap out the hood latch; mine didn't come with hardware, and I tried to use the original hardware, which had a different size thread. That didn't work, I got the bolts stuck in. I had to cut the heads off to get the part off the car, and then had to use a pair of vice grips to get the bolts out.

Anyway, I bought new hardware and the latch is installed now and works great. I highly recommend the one they have at rockauto. It think it was only about 25 bucks.

 

I experienced a similar problem long ago. Once the hood was open, I simply cleaned and lubed, to include what I could of the cable. Still works fine--though I must say that the cable was in good shape to begin with.

JamesC

 

I made a thread about this same problem...

I punched my hood and it popped up... I those little black ***** and my hood works fine.

 

This might officially be the first project I complete on my new Trans Am. Why are these damn hoods so eternally frustrating?! I'm not even going to bother with a latch....I'm going to buy hood pins.

 

Teach me of these hood pins.
What are they, and where do they come from?

 

They come from uranus

 

You do

 

http://www.deftracing.com/aerocatch_hood_pins/index.htm



Just one example. There are many different types of latches that would easily eliminate this ongoing "broken latch" issue. Some pretty straight forward, cheap ones as well.

 

arent you just a little sensitive

 

When closing the hood, don't lower and let it go.

I lower mine down until the safety latch engages. Then I reach in between the hood and nose and make sure the helper spring is straight and seated in its seat in the radiator support. Take a look at your spring. I bet it has a perma-curve in it.

Then I grab the edge of the hood over the headlights and a quick thump and it's shut.

 

Nope. I'm cutting my whole latch system OFF the car entirely...and buying pins.

 

sounds good, but i dunno.
I'll wait until i get all my engine work done and then see.
For the moment its kind of a good thing, sort of like those squealing pig toys fat ppl use to stop themselves gorging on food.
If I can't open the hood I can't tinker and screw with anything :P

 

 

Well so much for that.
Was rewiring the fuse box on the weekend and was starting the car regularly to make sure I hadn't fried anything or lossened wires etc, and the car was running rough as guts so i decided to put the hood......
Pulled the latch, pressed on the bonnet...no go, so i pulled the latch again, and it came out, right out!
So now the cable is busted and I have to go back under the car to manually release it and then find an alternate way to hook it up till i can order the parts.
You lucky basterd probably just go down the road to your local and get parts, i've gottas order from the other side of oz to get mine and get charged a small fortune.
US$145 for a bonnet latch and cable.

 

If you spend 145 dollars on a new latch..and you're not restoring your car to original condition...I'm just going to do this...


I've been saying it all along. Pins man...pins. go to summitracing.com or jegs. You can have your hood shut nice and tight for 15 bucks.

 

Is there an option that doesnt involve cutting into my hood?

 

Once you do get the hood open, use paint safe spray cleaner to clean the latch REAL good, spray it with WD40, work the moving parts a few times, reclean and then lube it up good with spray on white grease, and if the cable is good this will get the latch woking like new, then keep it clean.

 

No there isn't. And you make it seem like you have to cut your hood in half or something. Just two very small holes...and if anyting, it'll make your car look even cooler. You can even get locking ones if you want to keep your engine thief proof....and you can get ones that have little steel cord lanyards as well. Very nice. You'll even shave about a pound of weight from your car too, by removing the old latch system.

 

Yeah but hood pins seems more like a riceboy mod for a lancer or mazda3 :P
Replacement hoods over there for you are probably $50 from a wreckers...
Here in australia its AU$1300 for a stock replacement hood, and we don't have Pontiac wreckers here. The total number of friebird/ Trans AMs in Australia definately wouldn't go over double figures.
So while cutting 2 small holes is nothing over there, if anything goes wrong or I want to keep it original it becomes a very big deal
It is a good concept, but I think I'll have a look at modifying the latch system first and maybe using a cable from a bicycle to replace the current one. Or possibly even use a Holden/ GM cables and latch from an australian car.

 

Bah! You need to think outside the box more! Didn't you ever hear of Bondo? If you don't like the holes...you can just fill em up.

Here...there's a thread here on this very forum about a member that put pins in his hood. Doesn't look riceboy-ish at all.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/auto...u-install.html

 

I sure hope you didn't buy a new latch system, evilstuie....not for 145, unless you're restoring your car.