Hood Latch...Something to Check

[71Beige280SL]

I took my Pagoda out yesterday to run errands. I stopped at a restaurant for a bite to eat. I sat near the window so my Pagoda was in view. As I was looking at my car from a distance, I noticed that the back corner of the hood on the passenger side was slightly raised. After lunch, I looked at the hood and noticed that the fit looked skewed. The whole hood needed to rotate just a touch clockwise.  I told my self I would deal with it in the morning.

This morning I was prepared to solve the problem. I referred to the Technical Manual on this site, retrieved my socket set and was ready to go to work. Being an engineer, I looked at all aspects of how the hood is connected. I focused on the hinge mechanism at first. Everything was solidly tightened. The hinge plates lined up perfectly with the pencil marks indicating perfect alignment. Hmmm. Doesn't seem to be the problem.

I next looked at the hood latch....The alarm bells went off! It turns out that the screws securing the latch had partially backed out. I assume from the vibration of the car at highway speeds. One screw was completely out laying beside the latch. The latch itself was loose. I tightened all the screws. Hood fits perfectly.

Has anyone had this happen?

[Jonny B]

Just checked mine, and they were fine. Good item for a bit of preventive maintenance!

[ja17]

Never seen this happen on its own. Probably not quite tight enough from the last removal.

[jameshoward]

I took my Pagoda out yesterday to run errands. I stopped at a restaurant for a bite to eat. I sat near the window so my Pagoda was in view. As I was looking at my car from a distance, I noticed that the back corner of the hood on the passenger side was slightly raised. After lunch, I looked at the hood and noticed that the fit looked skewed. The whole hood needed to rotate just a touch clockwise.  I told my self I would deal with it in the morning.

This morning I was prepared to solve the problem. I referred to the Technical Manual on this site, retrieved my socket set and was ready to go to work. Being an engineer, I looked at all aspects of how the hood is connected. I focused on the hinge mechanism at first. Everything was solidly tightened. The hinge plates lined up perfectly with the pencil marks indicating perfect alignment. Hmmm. Doesn't seem to be the problem.

I next looked at the hood latch....The alarm bells went off! It turns out that the screws securing the latch had partially backed out. I assume from the vibration of the car at highway speeds. One screw was completely out laying beside the latch. The latch itself was loose. I tightened all the screws. Hood fits perfectly.

Has anyone had this happen?

Yes. I was driving the car down for the 2010 Euro event at the time and trying to keep up with the fast-moving British contingent through a rain storm in France. I noticed that the right corner of my hood was really flapping up and down. I thought it was the hinge, but it was fine. When going to close the hood I notice that the securing latch was at an odd angle. Only one screw left in, with another, amazingly, laying on the firewall. Did it up, ordered a new pair of screws and put them in with some thread lock.

[Kayvan]

Make sure sure your hood has 3 recatangular rubber stops on edge of engine bay near cowl....makes fit even nicer

Classic Center has them

[thelews]

And there are two adjustable rubber stops in each corner.

[71Beige280SL]

I have all the stops both near the cowl and the ones in each corner. I think thread lock is the trick.

[Bob G ✝︎]

When I had my car serviced and the correct hood put on. their is this metal  piece held on with two nuts unless it  is aligned the hood when dropped will  not close or could damage the damaged if  it is not squared fall to close to the other side. I always make sure the nuts are tigh on this piece and the  hood should have a solid thunk when it drops into  position.
Bob Geco

[49er]

 It looks like this might have been a concern for MB when they built these cars. After getting the hood latch aligned properly, the screw heads were painted over with a touchup brush effectively "locking" them in place. Not neat, but it worked

John