Hood Latch??

Just wondering if anyone else has had this random problem or if I have a gremlin. Driving into work today my hood randomly popped open while doing 60mph. It didn't fly into the windshield but was un-nerving. Slammed it back shut, went on to the gym, got on the interstate went bout a 1/2 mile and it pops open again. I haven't had it open since last Monday when I installed my ditch light brackets. No other mods since and it has went a week and half with no incident. I looked this morning as best I could but nothing seemed out of place or broken and made it a point to slam it down again. Has this happened to anyone else at random? If push comes to shove i'll just remove the latch and do the pins like NASCAR does.

 

Thats REALLY scary. What year is your truck?

 

^There's still a secondary latch.

Haven't heard of this happening on Tacos.

Did you make sure the hood hasn't shifted when you unbolted it from the hinges to do the ditch light brackets?

Was the truck ever in an accident that would cause the latch to shift?

Spray some lithium grease in the latch. Latch and unlatch the hood a few times to lubricate the mechanism. Repeat every oil change ("lube" part of lube, oil, and filter).

 

its a 2013 TRD Sport. I haven't had any trouble from it till that. Luckily when it happened on the Interstate I was in a work zone and only doing 50 instead of 75. I have a rock/bug guard on the front but it's been there for 2 years with no issue.

 

I'm sure it didn't shift during install, I did one side at a time and torqued them down before loosening the next. As for the accident, I bought her new in '13 with 100 miles on her. I'm due my oil change this weekend so i'll get in a give it a better look. Just hope it's not because of the brackets, but I figured if it was it would have shown itself sooner than a week later. I've been over a lot rougher terrain than a road since then with no incident.

 

^It could be caused by some part of the latch mechanism sticking, overcoming a return spring, etc., so it doesn't engage fully when the hood is closed.

On some older vehicles, a spring could also fatigue and cause similar symptoms, but a 2013 is too new for that.

 

Maybe check 2 things...

1.) That the cable isn't getting hung up on something behind the dash.
2.) Check the cable is in the plastic channel where it connects to the release mechanism.

I removed my lower dash piece (under the steering wheel) and the cable popped out and got hung up, which caused my hood to open at weird times.

 

Update on the situation...After the problem arose Thursday, it sat for 8 hours at work. Drove it home with no problem, across cattle guards, over ditches and rough driveways and it stayed shut. Took it to get my taxes done Friday and no issue. Working on the anytime foglight mod this weekend and greased it down. We'll see if it opens up again or holds down.

 

Is there a place to install a short cable lock - like from a bicycle or a cable gun lock? That would be a secondary means to make sure the hood doesn't fly up if the hood latch doesn't hold. Consider it a secondary latch to the existing secondary latch. I've seen the damage from a hood popping up and the secondary not holding. It's not pretty and damages the roof/windshield...

 

That's one of my nightmares-right up there with a parachute failing or watching mortar rounds walk towards me. Knowing it happened once with no 100% certain known cause would make me question the reliability of the latch enough to put some sort of safing device on it. Tie down from the inside, pins, whatever.

Did you feel any sort of catch or issue with the latch when you lubed it?