I took my car into Sears for servicing and a special offer. After the work was done, my car hood would not close completely on one side (passenger) of the car. I asked the manager what had happened to my car, and his respond was that the hood was like that when it came in for servicing. I know it was not since I hand wash my car myself and I had not been in an accident. He said that the pump that keeps the hood up was out. I did not believe him since it was not like that when I brought the car in to the shop. I took my care to the dealership and had the hood shock replaced. When I got it back, the hood still was not aligned. I notified the dealer and since the dealership is located more than 100 miles from my home, he agreed to arrange with a local dealer (Honda Dealership)to make the adjustment that should correct the problem. When I carried the car to the local dealership, the manager said the hood was bent. Could this problem be a simple case of the hood has not been adjusted correctly?
I bet (but don’t know) that a Sears guy closed the hood on a tool without checking first, then took out the tool. Now they’ll deny everything, of course. Sears = place to avoid.
The hood does not appear to be dented. It just does not close all the way on the driver side. A co-worker said she had the same trouble with her trunk (Honda) and when she tried to push the trunk in place, she created a dent in the trunk. My hood has no bent part just slightly opened on the passenger side of the hood. I am very unhappy with Sears for not being honest and admitting to the facts and lying to cover up. The manager never called returned by call after at least visits back to the shop.
A hood can bend at any time if it has springs or hood bungees. I think they closed it on top of somethingand damaged it.
Why don’t you post a few pics of the hood. Hoods do not come out of alignment for no reason and replacing a lift strut will not fix any alignment issue.
I agree with the theory that the ham-handed guys at Sears accidentally closed the hood on a tool, thereby changing the alignment of the hood. Why do I believe this to be the case? Because this was the exact procedure used in at least one GM assembly plant for many years!
Back in the days when I took students on field trips, I had occasion to take a few classes to tour the GM assembly plant in Linden, NJ. At that time (circa late '70s–early '80s), they assembled full-size Oldsmobiles, Pontiacs, and Buicks. At the end of the assembly line, inspectors checked for things like misaligned hoods and trunk lids. When one was found to be mis-aligned, they would place a hammer handle or other tool in the “low” side, and slam the hood or trunk lid a couple of times on that tool handle in order to raise the low side.
Yes, there were clearly other and better ways to re-align a mis-aligned hood or trunk lid, but those more valid ways were not used at that GM assembly plant. After that appalling view of “craftsmanship”, I began to seriously re-think my opinion of GM’s assembly methods. And, what I observed was not just a one-time thing. Instead, I viewed this “craftsmanship” on at least three different occasions over a period of 3 or 4 years.
It’s actually amazingly easy to bend a hood enough to notice it when closed. A sticking hinge can do it. Don’t ask how I know.
In my experience, gas struts always seem to fail in a mode where they offer little to no resistance to closing. I have never had one fail where it became harder to compress but I suppose anything is possible. It would have been interesting to examine the old strut.
I highly doubt their excuses on how the damage happened and I think the concensus here is correct. They closed the hood on something and bent it. I mean really, when someone who sees so many cars come and go over the course of a day, but can immediately say without question that yours came in that way when a complaint arises, is immediately suspicious to me.
The good news is, unless it is kinked, it can be bent back fairly easily. You may not like watching the process but it can be done so that you’ll never know it was tweaked.
Should I take my car to a dealership or can this be done as a diy project?
I’d take it to a body shop, see what they have to say, not a dealer (except if you have good experience with a specific dealer’s body shop).
A friend had someone close a hood in the improperly laid-down/resecured hood support once. That could do the damage. Since I was there with her when it happened, they tried to blame me. The problem with their accusation was that I had not opened the hood!