Opened the bonnet to check vitals and when finished, when I tried closing it, the drivers side would not lock. Anyone have this problem before?
On examination, could find no apparent reason.
So decided that locking system needed adjustment. I could see on the left side of the bracket that holds the lock, that it looked as if it had moved down for some reason. This bracket is held by two 8mm bolts on one side and one 8mm bolt on the other. All three were very tight so decided it must be the locking "U" part attached to the bonnet it's self. It is held by torq nuts, but after loosing them and moving the part a little this way and that, found that nothing worked with this adjustment, so back to the lock.
Short story even shorter, by adjusting the locking system a hair at a time, up or down, I at last found a position that allowed the bonnet to latch on both sides. This was not a simple deal, for it took over two hours to find that point. Still the bonnet is not perfect yet. It closes now with no problem, but that portion of the bonnet close to the windshield is still somewhat raised. (Not level with the finder as is the other side. It will take more adjustment of that dXXXX lock to get it back to where it was before today, but for now looks acceptable and works. My back is telling me to wait a day or two before I go at it again. If you have any advice, anything would be appreciated.

Cheers

 

Glad you were able to adjust the locking mechanism, but the reason for the miss-adjustment is a curious mystery. Did the mechanism need lubricating?

 

Redline,

Same here. A real mystery. And no lubrication needed. This car is very well maintained and everything that might need lubrication, has it..
Nope, just opened the hood to check all levels and when I went to close it, it just wouldn't latch. The right side did fine as always.
One note I didn't mention in the earlier post was the rubber bumper on the "U" shaped part on the bonnet was what was stopping it from latching. That's what makes contact with the locking bracket and keeps the bonnet from rattling (I guess), but the latch was still too high. Removed it once and it would latch fine. It's like the bumper expanded when I popped the hood open. Crazy I know.

 

Like my IT tech used to say, "Tape an aspirin on it!"

 

I had a 2000 XKR that when I closed the hood it would not latch. I finally figured out that the hood release return spring didn't pull the latch back (broken? Weak?, I never got around to checking that out). If i manually pushed the hood release back where it belonged, the hood latched perfectly, as long as I remembered to push the latch back every time. With my 2005, I have no issues with that! Tom :-)

 

Just like your door latches and fuel filler lid latches, be sure to keep your hood latches well-lubricated with white lithium grease. I have been lubing all of our vehicles' latches with that stuff for decades. Easily-sliding metal components are the key to keeping any latch functioning properly for a long, long time. And be sure to wipe off as much of the old grease as you can reach before applying the new grease....

 

Thanks to all. My problem is solved. See above post.

Cheers