I have a 94 or 95 Toyota Tercel and for a long time now, the hood keeps popping up while I’m driving (not all the way, but just as if I have pulled the lever inside).
I’ve tried cleaning the gunk off the latch under the hood with WD40 but its doesn’t work. Anyone ever deal with something like this before?
Likely needs adjustment. Maybe the latch is bent.
Is the inside release wire ALL the way out?
Yes, but my solution was to use a dog chain to hold it down. Perhaps you should do something like that until it gets fixed as a safety measure. Mine was a heap ready for the scrap yard but it just kept running. If yours has good paint, perhaps a rope or bungee cord would be used instead…just until you get the problem solved.
IF YOU ARE THE SECOND OWNER IT MIGHT HAVE HAVE BEEN IN A CRASH AND THE BODY IS TWISTING LOOK AT THE EDGE OF THE FENDERS AND HOOD AND SEE IF THEY HAVE THE SAME CLEARENCE. TRY PUSHING UP AND DOWN ON HOOD AND SEE IF IT POPS UP. FOR JOKES YOU COULD PUT BULIDING BLOCKS ON HOOD. WELD IT SHOUT. HAVE MOTHER IN LAW SEAT ON HOOD . MAY BE THE CABLE IS NOT RETURNING ALL THE WAY AND LATCH IS OPEN JUST A LITTLE.
Believe me, I’d like to tie my mother in law to the hood.
It had a front end crash back around 1996 but this problem has only been around the last two years or so.
Is there any way to tighten the cable that runs from the latch under the hood to the latch under the wheel? Maybe it needs to be tightened or replaced (it may be warped).
If that second catch fails you could be in for a trip to a hospital or perhaps send someone else there. Get it fixed.
The second catch on our daughters van failed (the hood hadn’t been shut tight, unknowingly) and swung up but because she was on an on ramp to the highway she wasn’t moving too fast and fortunately it didn’t come through the windshield.
I had the hood fly up on me when I had my 92 Eclipse while doing 75mph on the highway…sounded like a gun going off next to my head…and wasn’t fun almost blindly navigating to the shoulder. Didn’t even know the catch had a problem though.
Thank God the hood stayed attached and didn’t injure me or fly off and hit someone else or cause me to get into an accident. I second the suggestion to get it fixed properly, soon.