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Hood Won’t Open Video

This page is dedicated to helping you fix that hood. You’ll find a short video outlining a mechanics hack for opening a hood that won’t play nice. It also briefly covers the most common cause of a sticking hood – a dry latch and it covers the fix too – lubricating the latch.

The mechanic’s hack should have you covered, however, if that doesn’t work and you can’t access the hood latch to trip it, try spraying the latch using the straw of your WD40 can to soak the latch. You’ll be working blind but not to worry WD won’t hurt paintwork or plastics.

Leave it while and try the mechanics hack once again. If not you’ll need to access that latch and that means lifting the vehicle to remove the splash guard.

Tools To Fix A Hood That Won’t Open

Here’s a list of tools that will make the repair a ton easier.

WD40 is likely your best tool on this job. Picture links out to Amazon.

Long reach pry bars will help reach up and pry the latch. This four-piece kit (24″ down to 8″) is conveniently delivered to your door by Amazon.com. Picture links out to Amazon.

A head-mounted lamp is like having a third hand a real advantage when you are doing battle. This rechargeable LEd head-mounted lamp is conveniently sold and delivered by Amazon.com.

Lucas has a great name in automotive lubes. My father introduced me to them many years ago. White grease is used on metal-to-metal contact and it’s perfect for door hinges and hood latches. It’s nonsticky and acts as a water repellant.

Pro-Lift 3 ton ratcheted axle stands. Strong, easy to use, you’ll never need to buy another. You’ll need these if you are attempting to trip the hood latch with the pry bars. Never trust a jack alone, I’ve seen the results.