1995 Toyota Corolla Car Hood

Hi zarduke,

Thank you for the donation.

Either the latch is faulty or out of adjustment.

Use a screwdriver and try to push down on the latch catch as if the hood is being closed and if the latch locks and need to be opened by pulling the opener inside vehicle, the latch is ok. You would need to adjust the latch to sit at a higher position to get it locked.

To adjust, loosen the 3 holding bolts and move it upwards and retighten the bolts. Mark the initial position before starting. You might need a few tries to get the correct position for easy closing and the hood is not too loosely seated.

Just to make sure I understand the problem.

You have tested the hood latch and it is locking correctly using the screwdriver?

Is the latch now in the locked position with the hood loose or is it held only by the safety catch?

If it is locked correctly but is loose, you need to adjust the latch to a lower position. If the position is already at lowest point, the latch base is out of position and would need to be repaired to realign them.

If any impact damage had occurred to the latch base, the latch and hood striker would be out of sync resulting in difficult closing and opening.

Lift the hood slightly and note the striker and hood alignment, stirker should seat centrally at the point of contact with hood latch, if not, readjust latch position, either left or right to correct.