Hood Latch Help PLEASE

So apparently my XJ has decided to slowly fall apart even after the last time the guy at the repair shop said things looked good.
I went to check the fluids in the car this morning before heading to work and got everything situated and closed the hood. Problem is now it won't latch at all. It just bounces right back up at me and won't close at all. Any suggestions or ideas will be greatly appreciated!!! :eye:

Make sure you did not leave anything under there, like and empty oil bottle

If the center pin closes but it won't grab the end locks have it looked at, make sure the cable did not break.

spray lube all the moving parts while moving them back and forth. the cable and latches are known to rust up and slow down

RichP said:

Make sure you did not leave anything under there, like and empty oil bottle

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LOL I didn't leave any empty oil bottles in there....that would be beyond stupid of me.

I will try lubing the whole thing up a bit ...sounds like a good first step.... otherwise....I suppose Ill start looking at other things as well, like broken cables and what not. This all hurts my head....I should go back to sleep and do this later!!!!

My buddies latch did this, actually, several buddies.. and one's girlfriend... I had to fix them all... thinking of it now, they were all hondas... but anyway

I usually ended up attemping to close the latch mechanism with a screwdriver, that would allow me to see if it was a problem with the latch locking once it was closed or that the latch wasnt being depressed enough to cause it to lock or if it was frozen and wasnt begin closing at all.

Alot of WD40, PB-Blaster, and some hammer hits (or rubber mallet) fixed the problem some of the times, if the latch had frozen or if it was catching before it would lock in. Usually I would have someone pull the interior lever used to pop the hood while I watched the cable, to see if the cable itself is stuck in the open position or if it broke. If the cable doesnt move then tahts a problem, obviously.

If its not the cable, cehck all teh connections you can between the cable and locking mechanism itself that you can. give them all a good soak with WD-40 (or if they are rusted together hit them with PB) or whatever you have around. I always make sure to keep all the parts of the latch well lubed and clean cause if you break your cable you gotta tear the front end apart to get at it, and from what I hear thats a real bitch. So even if it seems to be working, spray it down

BlueberryXJGirl said:

LOL I didn't leave any empty oil bottles in there....that would be beyond stupid of me.

I will try lubing the whole thing up a bit ...sounds like a good first step.... otherwise....I suppose Ill start looking at other things as well, like broken cables and what not. This all hurts my head....I should go back to sleep and do this later!!!!

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all it takes is the cap from a bottle- I found one in there (from a previous owner) once I took it out the hood closed much easier:yelclap:

As for the headache, I'd like to see how you're closing the hood, 'cuz it shouldn't be anywhere near your head!:shhh:

--Shorty

try pushing the hood popper handle in the jeep in and see if that helps

themangeraaad said:

I always make sure to keep all the parts of the latch well lubed and clean cause if you break your cable you gotta tear the front end apart to get at it, and from what I hear thats a real bitch. So even if it seems to be working, spray it down

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Bitch doesn't even begin to describe it dude! I passed on buying an XJ recently as the seller and I could not get the hood up after 1 hour, 2 guys and plenty of tools.

I have an 87 and 85, and the cables on both are way past their prime to say the least. I keep them held together and working with Duct Tape and Chewing gum (in other words they are both ongoing band aid projects).

If the cable is not broken, then it is possible it is stuck, in which case pushing the knob back in under the dash usualy does the trick for me (mine does it frequently, but just fixed it last weekend) sometimes followed by stretching the cable back out under the hood(*).

Mine has lost about three inches of the plastic outer cover (*) making it easy for it hang up and not return to the normal spot, thus causing the latch to be held stuck open such that the hood will not latch closed.

I removed the rest of the rotted outer cover on mine, added a split replacement cover and taped it in place. It is holding for now, but needs a new cable eventually.

The moving hood latch parts can and do wear out. I've replaced all the hood latch parts, including the bell crank, on both my '98 XJ and my son's '95 XJ. It is not a difficult job. But ya gotta buy the factory parts from your local Jeep dealer or one of the on-line Jeep dealers. Whole thing took about an hour for each vehicle. So if the lube doesn't work, just do it. There is nothing more frustrating than a hood that won't stay closed or a cable that sticks.

Wow, worn out on a 98 already, they just don't build them like they used to.

Sand-Dog said:

The moving hood latch parts can and do wear out. I've replaced all the hood latch parts, including the bell crank, on both my '98 XJ and my son's '95 XJ. It is not a difficult job. But ya gotta buy the factory parts from your local Jeep dealer or one of the on-line Jeep dealers. Whole thing took about an hour for each vehicle. So if the lube doesn't work, just do it. There is nothing more frustrating than a hood that won't stay closed or a cable that sticks.

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BlueberryXJGirl said:

So apparently my XJ has decided to slowly fall apart even after the last time the guy at the repair shop said things looked good.
I went to check the fluids in the car this morning before heading to work and got everything situated and closed the hood. Problem is now it won't latch at all. It just bounces right back up at me and won't close at all. Any suggestions or ideas will be greatly appreciated!!! :eye:

Click to expand...

Make sure that the hood latch isn't already in the latch position...I had a car door do something similiar...the problem was...somehow, the latch mechanism had already been 'latched'. The problem was solved by pulling on the handle to release the latch and it was just fine afterwards...

If none of those techniques work, just go to the junkyard and by the latches for it. Are both of them not working or just one side or the other? I had to replace one of mine a few weeks ago after it just gave up.

thebrick said:

I had a car door do something similiar...the problem was...somehow, the latch mechanism had already been 'latched'.

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Heh, my XJ's drivers side door does that regularly cause of the bottom hinge pin being snapped in 2 places (damn previous owner) and I had to replace it w/ a hex key.

Push the release handle back in. That should allow the hood to latch. Spray all of the moving parts with WD-40 or PB BLASTER. Then take the plastic nozzle from the sprayer and try to direct some down the cable housing. It won't be real easy to get it in there, but it will run down the cable into the housing. Spray it several times. You might want to follow up with some white lithium grease sprayed on all the moving parts. This worked on both my 91 and 92 that had the same problem.

my 98 laTCH BROKE ON ONE SIDE DEALER22.00 AND 15 MIN INSTALL

I'm going to third pushing in on the release.

Yup this was my problem as well. Had to push the release handle in. I tried lubing the the two outside latches but didn't seem to help. Turned out it was the center bracket were the cable connects to the hood and splits off was really rusty and sticking.
I had someone work the release handle back and forth for me while I spray the bracket and now it works nice.

I just had my hood cable break inside on my 98. I was going through the trouble of the "none latching driverside hood" syndrom. So I tried popping the hood and the cable broke off inside the jeep right at the kick panel.

So, these are obviously dealer only parts, so whats the average price for everything?

Secondly, has anybody, just replaced the hood latches with XJ-spec parts and used a universal hood cable that mounts under the dash and out of the way of the kick panel? With the hood cable out of the way, pulling the door wires for doorless would be alot easier.

The passenger side of my 98's hood wouldn't shut. I just went to the junkyard yesterday to get a hood latch. Cheap enough fix.

Hood latch components are available from www.teamcherokee.com in their "engine" section. Most items are OEM but the cables are aftermarket. To 97 are ~$16.00 -- the one I got was from Crown. 97+ are ~$22.00.