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Hood wont close. Need help

15K views 11 replies 8 participants last post by  HeathCanada 
#1 ·
Went to change my headlight out today and after I finished I went to close the hood and it won't close all the way. It will latch but won't go all the way down to lock. Anyone know how to fix this?
 
#2 ·
Also could someone take a picture of their hood latch when the hood is open so I can compare it with my latch? Thanks
 
#3 ·
Make sure the release lever under the dash is back to the normal position. Mine gets stuck sometimes and I have to push back into the normal position. Should close after that. Good luck.
 
#4 ·
It's back in the original position. I think that the cable might have come loose but I'm not surr
 
#7 ·
Just ran into this issue on my 05 WK 5.7L. I found that the locking piece got stuck and needed to be tapped with a screwdriver. That let the arm swing back out to catch the hood latch when it was closed. Don't know if it helped being a year late haha but perhaps it will help someone later on.
 
#9 ·
Be careful with this, just this past weekend going 65mph on an interstate highway, I had my hood on my 1996 Grand Cherokee Limited open and flip/bent over my windshield. It was one of the scariest moments of my life. I got off the highway safely, but needed to replace the hood hinges and am still using the bent hood until I can get another one from the salvage yard.
 
#10 ·
My Wk just did this. 2005 4.7L. Replaced headlight and now it wont close tight, latches but wont continue down. Anyone fixed this? I'll be working on it until it gets fixed. Can anyone take a picture of the open hood latch?
 
#11 ·
Fixed it. I don't know if it's coincidence or not but the latch slid down. I pushed it up, tightened the bolts back tight, and it latched just fine. Strage because I hadn't even touched the hood latch..?..
 
#12 ·
Older post, but it helped me, so thanks.

It wasn't a coincidence that the latch was too low. I had taken mine off to do some other work and after putting everything back together the hood wouldn't latch. I was thinking "what the hell did I do?". Loosening the two nuts, pulling the latch up as far as it will go and tightening did the trick for me. There's probably 1/4 inch of play up and down.

For others, I guess, if the nuts weren't tight enough, repeated closing (slamming) of the hood over time may knock the latch down to the point that it wouldn't lock. ??
 
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