Loose Hood

Lower the latch on the radiator crossmember.

Would I need to drill or cut anything? Is it just a bolt that I should loosen up?

No need to drill or cut, just loosen the 2 bolts that hold the latch, gently tap the latch downwards, then tighten the bolts. If the hood does not latch properly when you shut it, then you have to reverse the process and move the latch up a little.

Thanks Ray, I'll give it a try.

Doesn't the tacoma have the rubber stoppers than you can screw in or out ? my Prizm (corolla) does. Easy adjustment.

Moving the rubber stoppers alone won't help...as Ray says you've gotta move the latch itself down, then adjust the stoppers so that the hood is pressing lightly on them when it's fully latched and in the position that you want it.

It does but they're already all the way out. Also, yesterday I tried adjusting the latch as described above. It's all the way down and still loose.

I've tried everything talked about so far with no change. The stoppers are all the way out and the latch is as low as it can go. I was thinking of removing the latch and then opening up the bolt hole on the right side. It looks like I could probably take another 3/16 of material out so that the latch would sit even lower.

Would there be any problems with doing that? Any suggestions on the easiest way to do that?

Thanks again, Dante

Sounds to me like maybe the 'rubber stops' are so far 'out' that they're not letting the 'main latch' lock...try releasing ONLY the safety catch while lifting gently on the hood...if the hood pops up then you need to do some adjusting ASAP :)

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm not a complete idiot.

Well, that's nice to know...incidentally, where did I indicate that you were?...

Are you familiar with how far a hood sticks up when the primary latch has been released and the safety latch is the only thing holding the hood down? In my original post, I stated that the hood has this problem when it is FULLY latched. If you were not assuming that I was an idiot, why would you have suggested that the hood was only being held down by the safety latch? Anyway, if you were not intending it to sound that way, no harm done.

Well, I don't recall ever measuring it but it 'sticks up a little' I'd say...maybe a quarter/third of an inch?...

Well son, unless you're a LOT smarter than me then how would you know which latch was holding it?...I suppose you could 'release the main latch' and 'see' it pop up a little then release the safety latch before you could open it...you didn't mention that though did you?...all you tried was futzing around with the rubber bumpers...why would you think that that would help?...gee...

Ok then, with that in mind then, there was no harm done...

A little life lesson for you...not being in possession of knowledge of a particular subject does not make one an idiot...an idiot is a person who takes offense at someone without good reason...especially when that person is trying to help the idiot...

And a life lesson for you as well. Give people the benefit of the doubt. Trying to be funny by assuming that you are smarter than everyone else is only fun for those who need to compensate for their own inadequacies.

Whatever...hope you can find and fix your problems there...you have several I'd say...

Thanks, oh wise, master of all. You're correct. The sooner you shut up the sooner I'll be down to my original problem.

Gee...sure hope that *I* didn't contribute to your angst...sorry...