Good day.
Recently drove my inherited 1994 XJS from Texas to New York without issue.
Now however i cannot get the hood to remain closed. Both sides just dont seem to click into place, and as such its just a little misaligned. The mechanisms seem to work but it just wont close properly. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

Sometimes I have to push my lever inward after one side has latched for it all to work properly in my 95

 

Christopher,

Remember, you can adjust the locating hooks to assist in alignment.

Paul

 

Just thought, have you tried pulling the release and then closing the hood?

 

This is a common issue on many XJS hoods. Over time there are a few factors that make it hard to shut our hoods. The latches start to stick and the little latch arms within the latch simply do not want to lock completely over the pins coming off the back side of the hood. I would first clean the latches best you can with a rag and some glass cleaner to get off as much debris as possible. Then I would put a good penetrating oil on the latch to get into all the tight spaces to free up the mechanism. I would then put some white grease on them to last.

Another issue with the big XJS hood is they get out of alignment over time. This can happen if they are pulled down on one side before the lift shocks have been released which can bow the hood. You will see a large number of XJS hoods not latching on the right side for this reason. Many a tech have gone to pull the XJS hood down on the drivers side before the locking mechanism is released and this makes the rt. side of the hood bow up causing it not to latch on the rt. side. Another common issue is the latches themselves can loosen slightly over time and get pushed down. You can loosen the latch and bring it back up to spec.on the firewall and re tighten.

First thing is make sure your latches are clean and lubed. Then analyze how your hood is shutting. Is it going down too far when it latches or not far enough. Is one side latching easily and the other side hard to latch or not latching at all. Are the gaps even on both sides when latched. It is a matter of making sure the latches are working correctly and then getting the hood aligned correctly. If the gaps are out enough it may be worthwhile to have a professional align you hood as getting a hood too far out of alignment can chip paint very easily.

 

Problem with my hood is that it’s become misaligned with the front fenders over time. I need to figure out how to push it back just a little

 

Apols!

I forgot that "hood" = "bonnet" in US. I was talking about the roof hook adjustment.

Paul

 

On my 1994 I have to, first, push the driver side down (with both hands stacked together), then walk across and do the same thing on the passenger side, again, with one hand stacked on the other hand and push very hard, so it'll finally catch; it works every time. Yes, the XJS hood latching is tricky and the bonnet itself can flex a lot, which doesn't help. It's incredible how different, how strong and much better designed the hood is on my 2002 XJR.

 

If one of the gas struts has failed, then the hood ( bonnet) doesn't come down evenly and causes it to not latch. A solution is to make sure the latches are in the open position and set the hood down gently on the latches and then push each side closed.