Hello,
I've had the car about two weeks, so I'm surprised to see this problem suddenly introduce itself, but my hood isn't releasing on the driver's side latch. It will if I pull the hood up and then go back and pull the release again. The mechanism seems to move sufficiently, so I don't think the cable is too loose. At the least, it's moving just as much on the driver side as the passenger side. Does the spring inside the latch get weak? Any ideas other than spraying WD40 all over it (which I've tried)?
thanks,
Mark

 

Thats because its not a faulty hood release. Their are two rubber bump stops(square blocks of rubber) that keep the hood from slamming down. One of those stops is either missing or has been smashed in.

 

What happens is it doesnt hold the hood up high enough so that when you pull the release it doesnt pop as the way out, then you go to the front pull the hood up, say WTF and go pull the hood release again. What people dont realize is by pulling the hood up your making it so that the hood is far enough up so that when you pull the release it releases like it should. Most people then come to the conclusion its the hood latch.

Fixing the problem: you need to add a tiny bit of rubber padding to the side that doesnt pop up all the way. If you have ever put pads on the bottom of chair legs that stay on wood floors to keep them from scratching, those are great. They dont cost alot and can be removed easily.

Im pretty sure that will fix the problem.

 

I agree that height is probably the issue rather than a defective latch, but I went out and looked at the rubber bump stops, and they look perfectly normal, as does the area they contact. There isn't any wear on either stop that I can see.
Last night, I had also tried raising the entire latching mechanism on the side that doesn't latch (their are some bolts that adjust height), and that didn't help either.

 

it might be a defect from volvo. On volvospeed.com their was an entire thread about it and that being the problem. Mine does the same thing, but i don't open the hood enough to care. other than what I stated above, I really dont know what could be causing the problem. I know on mine pulling the latch twice does nothing, i havta go and pull the hood up everytime(not that it does it all the time)

 

Try going all the way down on the adjustment.

 

Thanks Tech. That did it!

 

Glad it fixed it they can be a pain sometimes.

 

I had the same problem. For some time the hood latches didn't seem to click when pulling the latch. But the hood did always open. But the other day it just didn't open.

I used the advice above to push down on the hood then try to pull the latch. It opened. Once I opened it I first checked the rubber stops. They seemed fine. Then tried adjusting the latches. The idea of adjusting them down seemed counter intuitive. But, I gave it a shot. Damn if it didn't work perfectly. Opens every time now with two very defined clicks. Thanks for the advice everybody. Gotta love this forum.

 

Hey guys-I'm having this hood release problem too. Sorry to be an idiot but what should I be adjusting down? Any chance you explain in laymans terms? Thanks and again sorry for being a dope.
tw

 

There is one hood latch for each side of the hood. They are mounted to the inside of each fender, toward the front of the car. Each latch is attached with three bolts with 10mm heads. The bolts go through slots, which allows the latch to be adjusted up or down about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch if I remember correctly.

 

Okay... here's the problem. The hood latch that isn't releasing is doing this because there's no spring pressure pushing the lock rod out of the latch. It's because the rubber stops wear down and so do the springs that push the lock rod on the hood upwards. This happens on most cars eventually- the problem with our cars is that the hood weighs approximately 90,000 pounds, and there's 2 latches, which can get out of sync. How to fix it? Tech already mentioned the best way, but sometimes that can leave the hood too low on the side that was adjusted. If that happens, raise the latch a little bit, then add a rubber shim to the bump stop. ( someone mentioned furniture casters- these work great. To make the adjustment Tech described, look at the latch. There's 3 bolts attaching the latch to a bracket, and 3 bolts attaching the latch to the fender support. Loosen the bolts that attach the latch to the fender support, and push the latch downward. Tighten the bolts, and go have a beer.

 

My question is how can you open the hood if there is no latch cable? Why do I ask you may ask?
This is crazy but here it goes. My car was overheating while on an out of state trip. It was taken to workshop in Atlanta on June 14th. After replacing my car radiator, the mechanic at this repair shop, I won't mention the name of the facility but has national franchises for auto parts and service, did not put latch cable in at all. Also why he took the latch off, I'll never know. He must have closed the hood before putting the coolant in because when the car was shipped to my place, on starting it showed "Coolant level low' and 'Turn off the engine immediately'. I tried to open the hood and it will not open and the cable came loose in my hand.
The story gets even more sad. When I contacted the manager, he acknowledged that their mechanic was at fault and the have fired him. But he asked me to have the car towed to their branch in Tallahassee and they will fix the problem, which I did on July 3rd.. After 13 days of sitting at the garage, they still have not been able to get the hood open. Meanwhile, I am renting a car to get around. I have been suggested today that they have to cut open the hood to get at the latch. Am I an idiot or what!! and now for taking my car there and waiting for them to fix their mistake.
I was hoping for them to fix it so I wouldn't have to put any more money from my own pocket if I took the car to a Volvo dealer and later trying to sue the shop involved.
By the way the car is 1999 Volvo S80 T6. I am considering working on the car myself. I reckon I can't do much worse that the shops involved.
Any suggestion?

 

its possible that you might be able to open it up going in from the bottom with a coat hanger and pulling down on the release...

thats prolly your best option... another option would be pulling out a head light (yes you will damage the head light) and getting your self a hole that you will be able to work with a fall arm in order to open it up that way. which is still better and cheeper than a new hood, maybe its time for aftermarket head lights after all

 

Thanks to all those who provided advice in this thread. Had a bonnet stuck, subsituted bonnet for hood in Google and found the right answer - which was to use my fat backside a number of times in the offending area and it clicked open on the next pull!

You can tell I'm from the other side of the pond to all other subscribers but the advice is still the same!

 

I have a 2004 S80 hood stuck... Pulled lever no tension.... Help me!!!!

 

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Not sure if this is similar enough to the S80?
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