Uppin' the Hood

This is Jordan on this blog again. I wanted to let a few people know about a struggle I had with my truck hood latch recently. I first must tell you that I have a 2006 Toyota Tundra SR5 manual 6 speed. This truck has over 287,000 miles on it and has given me little to no trouble. I plan on buying another Toyota Tundra in the future.

So here's the story of how my hood latch failed. I had been told several times that my battery needed to be replaced, and I milked it for a few months before getting it done. I went to AutoZone because they'll install it for me (not that I can't, but an extra set of eyes on the engine is never a bad thing). The guy at AutoZone asked me how long my battery clamp has been corroded off. I then realized that my battery was simply loose in my truck because the metal was gone to hold it down (80% gone...some of it was still there). I couldn't drive it knowing that a rapid stop could send my battery through my headlight (or at least cause damage). The crazy thing is that I just had it at the dealership for an oil change and they never suggested I buy a new clamp - We all know how they like to sell parts!

So I drove down and got a new one that afternoon. I then drove home to put the date of installation on my battery in sharpie marker. This is a good practice to know the date of the battery install for warranty reasons and is easier than looking it up in AutoZone's system. When I got home, I attempted to pop the hood and something was broken! I guess my old truck decided to retaliate for the over-use of the hood in the last few hours. The hood did "pop" up an inch or so, but the latch under the hood was disconnected from the mechanism to fully open the hood. So I did the most difficult fix I could conjure up! I used an 11mm ratcheting socket wrench to take 6 nuts off from my grill to get the hood opened. I could barely fit my arms up in the space to make it work, and my forearms were bruised the following day. This process took about 30 minutes.

After removing my truck's grill, I realized that a small plastic clip had broken off the hood release lever. AND I figured out that if I had focused my flashlight 4 to 5 inches to the right, I would have been able to save LOTS of time and trouble. The release lever was EASILY reachable with a folded hanger!!! I guess this is how you learn to fix things...do it the hard way and learn a better way. 
Above: The "problem." This hook was what prevented my hood from opening.
Top left: This is where I thought the problem was coming from...the hood latch area...seemed logical.
Top right: Successfully opened the hood!!!
Bottom: Me feeling proud and then realizing it took me almost a full hour when it could have been fixed in 5 seconds!!!  URG!!!

So hope this boring tale helps to tell the tale of my recent hood issues.

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