Hood won't lock completely

I have a 2003 two wheel drive. When I close the hood the first latch catches but the second latch won't. Hope someone can help me out. Thanks!

 

Wd40 the latch really good. You problem should be solved

 

Is there anything in the way that it is hitting around the engine bay?

 

I bought my 01 over in New Hampshire. The salt on the roads created a lot of build up in the hood latch cable causing the spring not to return the latch completely. If lubricating the latch doesn't work, try disconnecting the cable from the latch and inspect the inner wire for corrosion. It may just take a little scotchbrite and some lube.

 

Probably caked with crud and old grease. Take it off and clean it (the one thing WD-40 is good for) and re-lubricate it with good grease. If the spring is broken, you need to replace it.

 

Making sure you left no tools or junk in the way... (interference)
Or that the latch itself is not rusty or corroded

I would check the height of the bump stops
mounted to the top of the radiator support/fender rail.

If those are out of adjustment and set too tall...
that would keep the hood from closing all the way.

 

Is the hood popper under the dash staying up? thats what happened to me, spray the cable with wd, then take a screw driver and pry the latch back to the open position, have a friend pull the tab under the dash back and forth while you keep oiling the latch and prying it into position, should fix it.

 

Apparently the spring wasn't returning all the way. I gave the end of it a push with a screwdriver, heard a little pop, and now all is well.
I'll try cleaning the area and spraying with wd-40.
Thanks to all!

 

My hood popper is staying up and primary engine hood lock is not engaging. In the daylight I will try a screwdriver and some WD-40.

Question: should I WD-40 Hood popper under the dash?

Thank you for the posts. Between these post and YouTube, I'm surprised what I can accomplish

 

You could it wouldn't hurt, but I don't see the point.

Also welcome to TW.

 

I had the same issue with my 2002 tacoma. Ultimately, like everyone has said you need to lubricate and clean out the junk binding up the mechanism, but until then you can press the latch right where the black point touches the metal in the photo That right side is stuck in the up position because the spring can't pull it back down. Just press down (towards the ground) where I indicated until you hear an audible click, like at least one previous poster has said. Then your hood latch inside should stop looking like this and the latch under the hood should look like so Hope that helps a bit more!

 

above> Apparently the spring wasn't returning all the way. I gave the end of it a push with a screwdriver....

Pics above are great...but gen1 only i think. Here are 2 pics from my gen2/2006 Tacoma, I was having same problem,
and I thank you for reminding me it is NOT an adjustable setup ( can't just raise the latch and hope it engages when hood slammed down ).

My problem (typical) is/was just friction/dirt/corrosion generally VERSUS a poor spring design.
THERE ARE THREE SPRINGS:
1) "exterior" spring that returns the emergency/2nd latch. No problem.
2) "interior" heavy (and most buried) spring that, i think, pops the primary "hook" up for release when you pull release lever. No problem.
3) "interior" wimpy spring that returns the cable lever (OUR PROBLEM) which...when stuck....tells primary hook to not engage+lock.

SO...the wimpy spring should have been designed with more pull.
Mine (at its loosest position) sits (originally) NOT VERY TIGHT.
Replacing it (finding better spring, or shortening it) seems hard (where to find various springs?).....
SO I HAD ANOTHER IDEA.
STRETCH the spring, without re-doing (or even un-doing ) the spring attachment ends.
By raising it, much like your thumb or finger could do; there's at least a half inch of air/space above, room enough for this hack.

I carved up a wood piece (around 1/2" thick+deep, around 1" long/wide but shorter..3/4" long would probably sit better),
chiseled a GROOVE on the top side so the spring would sit and stay in the groove and not flip the wood and lose it;
after a few tweaks/cuts, INSERTED THIS WOOD PIECE ; amazingly it stayed so far ( metal latch frame isn't quite rectangular,
I probably should have taken some wood off the lower back edge where it meets a semi-rounded lower latch floor+wall).

But this, until it falls out maybe, gave MORE TENSION/PULL to the spring. Of course, I cleaned, WD40'd,
worked it and put never-seize around, including the exposed cable end.

I noticed there are aftermarket latches, autofitparts dot com (in TX, new to me) has a "hood latch 05-11 Tacoma" for around $25,
which looks like a "new/aftermarket design" and might have improved this problem. Tempted by nice/low price!
Also researched OEM parts, and ran into "this looks wrong" looking at the OEM part# 53510-04030 that autofitparts dot com
says this aftermarket part is for. Anyways, Toyota latches ... gen2 ... might all have wimpy spring2 setups; and cost 60-70 bucks.

 

OP posted this 7 years ago, probably got it fixed by now

 

Ha, just was going to do a search on this. Got the same issue.
it’s like the forum knows my issues, first an injector replacement now some hood latch trouble shooting.