Tacoma 3rd gen hood panel gap

I've recently been getting more into the Tacoma my father bought new in 2016. A couple years ago it got into a front end collision in which they had to replace most of the front end. Recently I noticed that the hood doesn't line up properly with the grille, and I've been trying to fix it but I can't figure out what exactly it is. Anyone have any experience with this type of panel gap?

 

I have that hood gap as well but not as wide. However I know how the gap got that way, it was my fault. The gap was not there before.

Check to see if the hood locking latch is bent upward. If not, not sure what else it could be.

 

Hood latch seems to be fine too. I wonder if something is wrong with the way the grille was installed.

 

Got a better pic of the front end

 

Yes, more pics would be helpful. Preferably showcasing gaps between hood/fenders too, front edges/back edges.

 

These are the best photos I could get, it's hard to fully showcase the gap on camera. It should be noted that the only gap is between the hood and the grille, the fenders have the proper gap.

 

Hood/fender gaps look okay to me, so I wouldn't recommend doing any adjustments to the hinge mounts. There are "hood stoppers" (don't know the official name for these little rubber pieces) that you can adjust on both driver/passenger side. They're basically just round hard rubber knobs you can spin clockwise/counter-clockwise to lower/raise the hood height. I'd start there. Looks like this:

 

Yeah I started messing with those a while back since the hood didn't line up with the fender/headlights, and my hood rattled whenever I shut the door. I lifted them up until I got the hood pretty level, as you can see in the previous photos. It did make the gap slightly more noticeable but it was still noticeable before I adjusted the rubber stoppers.

 

it sounds like there is a chance it wasn't fixed correctly from the get go. You could see if the insurance or collision shop has a warranty on the work.
How bad was this front end damage? It doesn't look bad, on a 7 yo truck, you might just have to live with it, but it doesn't hurt to get a professional opinion on it,,, and I damn sure are not

 

I think the damage was around 3/4 years ago. If the collision center I took it to had a warranty they definitely don't by now. I'll live with the gap, considering the things this truck has been through I think it looks pretty decent. And actually come to think of it I think they might've just botched the repair from the beginning since the fender flares also don't fit quite right.

 

I would still ask the shop and your insurance. I think sometimes if you choose your insurance company's shop, they will warranty the work. Every company, policy, and state is different though.

 

Its hard to really know the culprit for sure. Obviously since its been wrecked in the front, its easy to say it wasn't fully repaired to the original quality. Its pretty dang close, and just enough to be annoying; once you see it, you can't unsee it. Aside from spending money to have a pro work through it, if it bothers you bad enough, I'd just mess with all the adjustment places to get it as close as possible and live with it. Its very possible its not fixable; its also very possible something really simple like a bent hood latch or something is to blame. Either way, be prepared to make gaps worse if you start messing with the hinges. Pursuing the shop that did the work/insurance 4 years after the fact likely won't get you anywhere, but it only cost your time and pride to ask, so it doesn't hurt to try. Important to note, if this is your dads truck/his insurance/his claim, it might be something he would have to address. In that case, it only cost his time and pride.

 

Yeah the funny part about that is that he doesn't care about the truck at all, so he likely won't spend his time on it. He's since moved on to a Raptor and this car has been rotting away in front of the house. I've been using mostly for work. The whole reason this thread started was because i wanted to show the poor truck some love. Might eventually make a new thread posting all the maintenance things I'll do to it.

 

May be a good opportunity for you to take it off his hands then, officially that is. I wouldn't dream too much about sinking money into a vehicle that isn't yours, even if your dad won every "Dad of the year" award growing up. By all means, keep up with the maintenance and treat it well, but I wouldn't focus too hard on trying to fix that front end other than free little adjustments you can do yourself.

 

OP, you have two hood adjusters one on each front corner turn them clockwise to lower the front of the hood. I always put a mark at twelve o’clock and turn them a quarter turn at a time checking the gap between adjustments until I get the hood perfect.

 

OP,

My 21 has a similar issue, it came from the dealer with a nice clean line between the grill surround and the hood, but one non-collision event changed that.

I was driving along the 89A (two-lane highway) and a semi driving the other direction caused some sort of massive wind buffet to hit my truck, and for a split second I thought it was going to rip my hood open, it was that violent.

I get out of the truck at the next gas station and notice that my hood is now misaligned ('popped up' above the grill surround) on the drivers side only (side closest to the passing semi).

No amount of fidgeting with the rubber stops rectified the problem. I even tried to hold the hood and bend the drivers side corner back down (gently) to no avail. The hood itself is now out of true due to that single encounter with a semi.

The paint or metal is not distorted in any visible way, but there is clearly a gap now.

It sucks, but it is what it is.

 

Looks like it's more on the driver side, if you look in the corner where the hood and headlight meet.
The grill itself is only held on by a couple screws(top)and some clips. (sides)
2 screws of which are right on top by the radiator and I believe those top grill mounting brackets have to be 'seated' into position.

 

Just saw this post, I figured out that the grille is missing some clips, presumably from the botched repair years ago, and I went and got some replacements today. I'll try messing around with it tomorrow and replacing the missing clips. Who knows if the grille is even properly installed, it seems to be fairly loose.

 

Update, I took it upon myself to remove the grille and replace all the broken clips. I did this without expecting much change in the gap, really I did it to fix a rattle that had been driving me nuts. To my surprise however it helped alleviate the grille gap. It's definitely not perfect, but it looks much better than it did. I also took it upon myself to somewhat polish the headlights.