(solved) Hood won't close and latch

[mitchd123]

I wasted a lot of time tracking this one down, so I figured I'd share to save some other some grief.

I tried oiling it. I tried adjusting it, I removed it and cleaned it. I slammed it hard, I slammed it soft. I pushed down and the right and on the left, nothing would work. I finally discovered the little latch would not going back to the right position. Here are some pictures of bad and good.

You can push this down with a key or a screw driver, and then the hood will close correctly. You don't even need to slam it.

Here's a close up of the hood latching mechanism. Simply push down on the piece of metal the arrow is pointing at.




Here's a picture with it pushed down. The WD40 had no impact


Also worth noting it's good to draw an arrow like I did in pencil for the spouse or mechanic.

(edited-added new images when imageshack lost the old ones)

[mwe2121]

Thanks for the info. I'm sure it will save others some time and a headhache.

[goatman70]

I just had this happen after I opened the hood to check the tranny fluid color and the oil. I went to close it and it will not latch. Are there pictures of what to push down to get it latched. It seems like the internal release is pretty loose right now.

Thanks - I love this forum!!
It taught me to change the tranny fluid and save money from the dealer charges.
There are some Ody GURUS on here.

[joe_odyssey]

having similar problem, can you repost pics?

[jmmctighe]

Its the hood release cable: I have the same issue and removed the hood latch and the spring return lever works fine. The cable doesn't move freely, I think after time it develops a kink or a sharp bend that cannot overcome the resistance even with return spring tension on the hood lever. The hood release cable takes quite and aggressive curve upward from the interior release lever and each time I pull on the cable I can hear it binding in is sheathing.
Or the sheathing has worn and the cable itself is rubbing and binding somewhere.

[goatman70]

Yep - I had that happen on my 2004 ody and the screwdriver worked great. I actually had a guy at the dealer tell me that when I slowly drove and brought it in. It was fast cost free fix

[Hightail]

This AM the hood failed to latch on my 2002. I tried everything and failed to get the hood latched. After much frustration, I finally found the simple solution in the post by mitchd123 in July 2007. Thanks. Once again the Odyssey Forum saves the day.

[blueberryted]

One more guy saved by mitchd123 !! After spending the day replacing my headlight assemblies, the hood wouldn't stay shut, so I came here and wow am I glad !! Thanks mitchd123 and odyclub. BTW, there is a very good video on youtube.com showing how to replace headlight assemblies. It's by a1auto.com and their assemblies are inexpensive.

[sailorbenjamin]

Way too easy. Now what am I gonna do with the rest of the day?

[alanwbaker]

Thank you thank you thank you!