maneesh

Ok, this is bizarre. I just opened up the hood to remove the headlight to install LED bulbs. Now, the hood closes but won't secure into the latch. Every post I've searched talks about unable to open the hood but I am not able to latch the hood. The lever under the emblem works smoothly after spraying some lube. Right now the only thing hold down the hood is the hook from the hood securing itself underneath the cross member that holds the radiator.

I believe the latch assembly is working fine. I can manually, push the latch in by pushing it to the right using a screwdriver, and it comes up when i pull on the lever in the cabin. I also hear a "ding" so i am pretty sure that the latch is not stuck in some closed position preventing the hood's U from securing itself into the latch.
I looked to see if I left anything in the engine bay that may be preventing the hood from coming down all the way, I can't seem to find anything. So totally puzzled as to why the hood is not securing.

Has this happened to anyone else? Any thoughts as to what might have caused this? It was working fine till today. Also had the hood open a few times earlier, and also for the lost time when pulling a vacuum for the AC. These are the only "out of the ordinary" things i can think of.

Thanks.

maneesh

sprayed the hell out of the latch with garage door lube and the hood went in. it is working fine now.