Hood won't fully latch

Well I'm pretty much at a loss. I managed to fix the latch cable that goes into the car but it still won't fully shut. Is it possible that the second part of the latch is stuck? I can force it to move but only if I push it really hard from the side with a pair of pliers. I don't know if you can tell anything from pictures but here are a few.

Thanks again for the thoughts everyone! So I went to the junkyard and got another latch. Put it in, and it still doesn't work. At this point I'm obviously swearing profusely as a 1 day job has turned into weeks, all because of the latch lol.

I gave up tryin it myself, and took it to a body shop who said they would look at it. I took it there today and they tried everything I did with no luck. They were able to tell me though that both latches I have (the original and the one from the junkyard) work and so that isn't the issue. They also said that the cable going into the hood release handle inside the car was good too.

From here they basically said I'm on my own since I was doing the work myself, which I fully understand. They never even gave me an option to make an appointment for them to try to do it lol. Luckily they didn't charge me to look at all that and give me their opinion.

So I guess my next question is this; Has anyone had this issue where the latch was sitting too low? How did you manage to fix it? I'm going to start with using washers under the bolts that attach the radiator support to the frame to hopefully raise the radiator support up, and thus raise the latch up. If that doesn't work I'll try drilling new holes (if I can) in the support to raise up the latch.

Other than that I have no idea. I'm only somewhat mechanically inclined so any other thoughts or ideas are greatly appreciated. Thank you!

I just read this in a different forum.

"2000 VW beetle. Hood was difficult to close to begin with, had to slam it hard to close it all the way.

Hit some road debris so had to have the broken radiator and plastic holder replaced by mechanic.

Back from repairman, hood only closed correctly twice with very hard slams. Then the plastic piece broke from slamming so hard. After that I fashioned a metal piece from a wire hanger but couldn't get hood to close all the way. Bent the primary catch on the hood latch due to slamming. Bent it back but realized slamming was not an option.

Replaced the hood latch and plastic latch lever with new parts just to rule out faulty mechanism. Tried several adjustments but could not get hood to close. Tested both latch mechanisms out of the car and both functioned normally.

I reamed out the bottom of the bolt holes to raise the latch mechanism (on the latch mechanism) about 1/4 inch more. Still would not close. No more travel at the bolt holes or the secondary plastic lever would not function at such an angle.

Looked at hood alignment and realized the mechanic must have removed hood for the radiator job. I could tell the hood bolts had been moved and the alignment was off when the hood was put back on.

I loosened the 4 hood bolts, still wouldn't close while loose. I re-positioned the hood and held it in place while I tightened the bolts back down. I guessed where it should be by the marks near the bolt brackets and by eye-balling it.

Voila, the hood closed perfectly without much pressure at all. I was shocked.

I then moved the latch assembly down about 1/8th inch and took off 2 rubber bumpers from hood to see if misalignment was the only issue. Hood would not close. Latch height was also an issue.

I moved hood latch back to highest reamed position, put rubber bumpers at lowest position and the hood closed perfectly again. I then adjusted the bumpers until the hood wouldn't close and then backed them off a half turn.

Hood now closes easily and perfectly.

2 assumptions/fixes -

1, The hood alignment had been altered by mechanic and misaligned. This is important to hood latching. Hood bolts must be tightened down to properly close into the latch. Something to do with the curved shape of the hood I assume.

2, The height of the radiator assembly and chassis that holds the latch assembly seems susceptible to vertical misalignment (bending) due to repeated hood slams and or misalignment upon repairs. Fix by somehow raising chassis by force and/or reaming out bolt holes on latch mechanism.

Hope this helps someone."

They also replaced the radiator.

Hey everyone. Thanks again for the suggestions. I finally managed to get it fixed!

So I took the bumper off and was able to look at it a bit more closely. I noticed that the back part of the latch wasn't actually fitting in the hole in the hood where the loop (or hook or whatever you want to call it) is.

So it's a bit of an odd way of doing it, but I put a few washers (about 5 on each side) between the plastic core support and the latch itself to push it forward. Got a longer bolt, got it screwed in, tested it, and it worked! Put the bumper on, now it didn't. Ugh.

So at that point I decided to try to move it up, so I drilled a hole as high as I could (so it would go through the top of the metal part and the plastic core support), and moved the latch up (also did some carving out of the back of the core support so the latch cable would fit correctly. Not much, just a little).

Tried it again and it didn't work, because of the same issue as before (the latch didn't fully fit in the slot in the hood). Added one more washer on each side and voila it worked! I closed it and opened it multiple times without issue. I did have to get a little longer bolts with nuts, but it's there and it's secure, even if it is a little bit ugly lol.

So all of this I think is a combination of using an aftermarket radiator support and the car being somewhat neglected before. The hood was obviously replaced, and it just seems a bit off. But if anyone out there is having a similar issue, I hope this helps you out!