Hi folks,
I'll just throw this out there and see if anyone can help....
I've got a '98 F150, 5.4l, 2wd, that I can't seem to get the hood to latch on. I popped the hood to check the oil, closed it, and it popped right back up to the "secondary latch" (the one you have to manually move to open). There doesn't seem to be any tension on the inside release. Do these cables "stick"? Is there a good starting point?

Any help would be appreciated,

Thanks,

Mark

 

Pull the cable again. then lube the hell out of the latch assembly

 

hmmmm, tried that, but no change...

 

Mark,

Last year I took my 02 to state inspection. They ask me to pop the hood - which I did, then the same thing happened, the hood would not latch fully, only the secondary position. Well, they failed the truck because they couldn't close the hood. I get it home and popped the hood, removed the plastic skin that covers the latch and removed the bolts that secure it. Once it was off the truck, you can see behind it where the slide is binding. There was no grease, and the metal was corroded or rusted. First I sprayed it with WD40 and worked the latch with a screwdriver simulating the hood closing. Then I packed it with grease - it moves nice and smooth now. Went back to inspection an hour later, they opened and closed it 3 times to be sure it was fixed (I hate NJ) and I got a passing sticker.

Let us know how you make out.

Jim

 

Finally got it figured out. There are two springs to a hood latch, a big one and a little one. Bottom line is, the little one in the back was broken, so no amount of lubing was going to fix it. Brand new one from the dealer was $21.60 - can't complain too much about that. Got it fixed.

Thanks for the help guys.