I sprayed mine up well with PB Blaster and let it sit most of the day, but no luck. I watched this and saw which part was not moving and I was able to then move the part with a screwdriver, pull the hood lever inside the cab spray some more repeat 6 or 8 times and it freed up without having to take it off. Thanks for making the video.
I was thinking I'd have to replace the latch/cable and was not looking forward to that job. Following these instructions my problem was solved. Recommended solution! Thanks.
What is latching on yours is the secondary latch. There are 2 latches, primary and secondary. The purpose of the secondary latch is to prevent the hood from opening while you are driving if the primary latch fails. Your primary is jammed that is why it pops up an inch but is still latched.
Well, for a 2003 Ford pick-up with no problems whatsoever till now that the latch spring broke in 2 , not too bad. I think it’s worn very well through out the years. Thanks for the input.
Multiple Ford vehicles from this era have pretty badly designed hood latches. Currently experiencing this problem on an Explorer; will try just spraying some WD-40 first. Thanks much for the video!
Well, turned out no moving parts were jamming in my case, so simply lubricating and exercising the moving parts didn't help. However, after seeing how straightforward it was for you to remove your latch, I did the same to mine (which in my case luckily didn't even require removing a shield). I don't have a set of fixed-size socket wrenches, and my modular ones wouldn't fit in the small space needed to unscrew the bolts, but luckily I have a Squeeze Wrench that did the trick nicely. After some puzzling about, I realized that the problem in my case was that the hood release cable wasn't attached to the right place on the latch. Unlike on yours with the solid head at the end of the cable, my Dad's Explorer's cable ends with a loop. The loop was looped around a hook, and there was little to no slack, so it took a while to figure out that the loop wasn't supposed to go around the hook, but had merely slipped off to there. It's actually supposed to go around a hub on the side of my equivalent of the moving part at the top of your latch as seen at 1:30, which, when actuated, puts the assembly into the unlatched-and-ready-to-latch-on-close state. There's a goofy little plastic clip that's supposed to keep the loop from slipping off the hub, but it obviously doesn't do a great job. In my case, looking at the marks to try to position the latch where it was before within that "play" range didn't help. When I first put it in, it was too low, and so wouldn't latch on close even when slammed. I raised the left and right sides to their highest points (which, as a side benefit, also oriented the latch assembly so that it went directly into the just-big-enough gap for it in the hood; on previous attempts I had to keep tweaking one side to get it to point correctly), and now the hood latches significantly more easily than it did prior to the loop slippage. Probably the latch had been progressively driven downwards over the years by the hood-closing momentum. I tightened it quite tight, so hopefully that won't be a problem again any time soon. In any case, thanks again for your video, which though for a different model of Ford and with a different root cause, pointed me in the right direction to figuring out the issue with mine. Hopefully this comment may in turn help someone else experiencing a Ford hood latch problem.
My 2000 F-150 is doing the same thing. It won't latch. I'm going to try your instruction. Is there any particular lubricant that you recommend? Thank you very much.
It sounds like you are talking about the secondary latch, which has a hook shape. The secondary latch does not normally hold your hood down. Its purpose is if the primary latch fails your hood does not fly open. When you normally unlatch your hood, you release the primary latch from inside your vehicle. This allows the hood to pop up slightly. Then you must slide the secondary latch to the side from in front of the vehicle to open the hood.
These "screws" are actually clips and they don't have actual screw threads, However sometimes they will back out as a screw does. Often a thin flat blade - such as a knife or a hook pick, be careful these clips are made of a hard plastic, tools can slip off while you are prying- is needed to push between the clip head & clip body so the clip pin can be pryed or backed out, then the clip body can be easily pryed out.
For less than $20 you can get a new assembly online. www.amazon.com/Evan-Fischer-EVA27472032938-Hood-Latch-97-04/dp/B009DK82NK/ref=asc_df_B009DK82NK/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312202698398&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6353691007150134359&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9021474&hvtargid=pla-568502527382&psc=1
I sprayed mine up well with PB Blaster and let it sit most of the day, but no luck. I watched this and saw which part was not moving and I was able to then move the part with a screwdriver, pull the hood lever inside the cab spray some more repeat 6 or 8 times and it freed up without having to take it off. Thanks for making the video.
I was thinking I'd have to replace the latch/cable and was not looking forward to that job. Following these instructions my problem was solved. Recommended solution! Thanks.
Thanks for showing the mechanism detached from car. Very helpful.
Thanks for the help here. After watching, sprayed mine with WD40 and it was working again, saved me from having to hassle with buying a new one.
Worked perfectly for me just now
Mine will latch but the hood will pop up an inch. Great vid.
What is latching on yours is the secondary latch. There are 2 latches, primary and secondary. The purpose of the secondary latch is to prevent the hood from opening while you are driving if the primary latch fails. Your primary is jammed that is why it pops up an inch but is still latched.
@@ThePilotSailor nvm I got it fixed the vid helped tho thanks.
Well, for a 2003 Ford pick-up with no problems whatsoever till now that the latch spring broke in 2 , not too bad. I think it’s worn very well through out the years. Thanks for the input.
Multiple Ford vehicles from this era have pretty badly designed hood latches. Currently experiencing this problem on an Explorer; will try just spraying some WD-40 first. Thanks much for the video!
Well, turned out no moving parts were jamming in my case, so simply lubricating and exercising the moving parts didn't help. However, after seeing how straightforward it was for you to remove your latch, I did the same to mine (which in my case luckily didn't even require removing a shield). I don't have a set of fixed-size socket wrenches, and my modular ones wouldn't fit in the small space needed to unscrew the bolts, but luckily I have a Squeeze Wrench that did the trick nicely.
After some puzzling about, I realized that the problem in my case was that the hood release cable wasn't attached to the right place on the latch. Unlike on yours with the solid head at the end of the cable, my Dad's Explorer's cable ends with a loop. The loop was looped around a hook, and there was little to no slack, so it took a while to figure out that the loop wasn't supposed to go around the hook, but had merely slipped off to there. It's actually supposed to go around a hub on the side of my equivalent of the moving part at the top of your latch as seen at 1:30, which, when actuated, puts the assembly into the unlatched-and-ready-to-latch-on-close state. There's a goofy little plastic clip that's supposed to keep the loop from slipping off the hub, but it obviously doesn't do a great job.
In my case, looking at the marks to try to position the latch where it was before within that "play" range didn't help. When I first put it in, it was too low, and so wouldn't latch on close even when slammed. I raised the left and right sides to their highest points (which, as a side benefit, also oriented the latch assembly so that it went directly into the just-big-enough gap for it in the hood; on previous attempts I had to keep tweaking one side to get it to point correctly), and now the hood latches significantly more easily than it did prior to the loop slippage. Probably the latch had been progressively driven downwards over the years by the hood-closing momentum. I tightened it quite tight, so hopefully that won't be a problem again any time soon.
In any case, thanks again for your video, which though for a different model of Ford and with a different root cause, pointed me in the right direction to figuring out the issue with mine. Hopefully this comment may in turn help someone else experiencing a Ford hood latch problem.
Thanks for the video 💯
Saved me alot of trouble thank you
This guy is spot on!!!
Thank you...
very helpful thank you for the effort you doing
Worked for me, thanks.
Had this problem on my 02 F150 with a little wd40 it worked perfect
Mine had the same problem, the smaller spring rusted and broke. I guess I have to go to the hardware store now...
Or auto parts store and get new latch. Also Amazon for about $20.
thanks
worked for me! thanks!
My 2000 F-150 is doing the same thing. It won't latch. I'm going to try your instruction. Is there any particular lubricant that you recommend? Thank you very much.
I used WD40 because that is what I had. What is better to use on rusty parts is any kind of penetrating oil like Liquid Wrench.
I had the "Blaster". Working like a charm now. Much appreciated.
my hood is closing but its not connecting to the hook part of the latch, so how is it staying closed and locked?
It sounds like you are talking about the secondary latch, which has a hook shape. The secondary latch does not normally hold your hood down. Its purpose is if the primary latch fails your hood does not fly open. When you normally unlatch your hood, you release the primary latch from inside your vehicle. This allows the hood to pop up slightly. Then you must slide the secondary latch to the side from in front of the vehicle to open the hood.
When you removed the plastic cover ontop, how do you remove those plastic screws without damaging them?
Just back the screw out and then pry out the clip
+Gary T mine just spin, but I figured out how to get them out. Thanks! totally fixed mine in 5 minutes.
These "screws" are actually clips and they don't have actual screw threads, However sometimes they will back out as a screw does. Often a thin flat blade - such as a knife or a hook pick, be careful these clips are made of a hard plastic, tools can slip off while you are prying- is needed to push between the clip head & clip body so the clip pin can be pryed or backed out, then the clip body can be easily pryed out.
Nice, thanks!
For the really tiny spring whats the measurements? I cant find a ford spring so I'm gonna buy a spring from Ace but idk what size to get plz help?
For less than $20 you can get a new assembly online. www.amazon.com/Evan-Fischer-EVA27472032938-Hood-Latch-97-04/dp/B009DK82NK/ref=asc_df_B009DK82NK/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312202698398&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6353691007150134359&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9021474&hvtargid=pla-568502527382&psc=1