Hood problem

[Belgian951]

Another wrenching session, another problem found

This one is a bit weird because the hood used to work properly when I bought the car.
But somewhere in its many months of slumber, something must have gone awry.

Some facts:

- My hood was for a long time popped open (meaning it was closed but not locked, so there was a +- 3 cm gap between the hood and the front of the car
- My hood now doesn't want to latch: if you stand in front of the car, the left lever which you use to open the hood when it's popped works fine. it's the right side that seemingly doesn't want to 'lock' in place
- It almost seems like there is something block the hood from closing, but there's seemingly nothing: I checked for left tools, the battery cut off (removed this to verify if it was the problem - it is not). I did change the air filter back to its OEM form so the hood can't really press down on the air intake any more.. Maybe this is the difference with before my problem but not the root cause
- If you pull on the hood cable when the hood is open, the mechanism of this right side seems a bit stiff. I cleaned it out with WD40 but still very hard to close the hood
- If you try to press in the right side mechanism but on the actual hood (the spring), it's very stiff
- If I want to close the hood now, I really have to press very hard on top of the mechanism which is not good at all for the hood
- On the driver's side, the strut that holds the hood open: it's lower connection is bent. This wasn't a problem before, so I'm not sure it is the reason for my problem now.. But it's definitely way bent.
- The hood opens normally, with the hood unlock lever in the car, and then the left side of the mechanism under the hood itself.


Any idea what I can do to fix this hood?

[blueline]

As usual from me, just an off-the-wall thought from someone who doesn't know what the under-hood design of your 944 looks like nor how it's configured, but maybe disconnect or remove that bent strut and see what happens. Better yet, remove/disconect both struts so as not to damage the unbent one.

[nvbirdman]

If you think the hood might be hitting on something at a certain spot, fold up a couple of rags and put them on that spot to see if the problem gets worse.

[usury]

maybe disconnect or remove that bent strut and see what happens. Better yet, remove/disconect both struts off so as not to damage the unbent one.

Be very cautious removing the hood struts. The pointy aft corners of the hood come perilously close to the windshield glass. It's possible to over extend the hood in the open direction and crack your windshield.

[Tom]

Seems like it must be either the strut, something the hood it hitting in the engine bay, or the latch. Of those, the strut is probably the quickest to check. Sounds like you need to replace it anyway. Heed usary's warning though -- I put a wadded up shop towel between the pointy corner and the windshield, but not sure even that's enough if you aren't careful. I think the word is out about the risk these days, but 20 years ago you'd see regular posts online about people cracking their windshield when changing the struts. It's easy to prevent if you are mindful of the risk, however, so not something that should scare you out of doing the job.

[Belgian951]

Thanks for all the tips and ideas. The strut should definitely be changed but it seems that the part is tacked on there and not screwed, so I can't do that myself.

I find it weird that the hood doesn't close any more, it feel like there is resistance with the mechanism on the right. I've added some photos for better understanding below:

The left part (latch you use to open the hood) works fine. Right part seems to have some resistance. Moving the mechanism with a screwdriver is a bit difficult but works. Pulling on the cable attached to it works, but requires some force. I tried cleaning it with WD40 but need to do it more thoroughly. You can see what looks like a bit of damage to the internal part that moves.

WhatsApp Image 2023-11-19 at 21.35.20.jpeg (249.98 KiB) Viewed 1488 times

The spring seems to be very stiff, it's hard to compress this. May be normal?

WhatsApp Image 2023-11-19 at 21.35.22.jpeg (162.13 KiB) Viewed 1488 times

Driver's side hood strut is damaged. Don't know how it happened but the thing where the strut sits on is bent. The part number is 94450137200 and is quite cheap (26 EUR/USD) but I think it requires tack welding to be fitted?

WhatsApp Image 2023-11-19 at 21.35.24.jpeg (236.45 KiB) Viewed 1488 times

Any tips to bend this back into shape would be welcome!

WhatsApp Image 2023-11-19 at 21.35.24 (1).jpeg (187.98 KiB) Viewed 1488 times

I forgot to take a picture, but if you close the hood (lay it just so the latch catches), you can see that the hood on the right side (driver's side) is a bit more backward than the left side. Maybe that's the root cause?

[usury]

The hood struts fit at lot like the hatch struts. There is a ball socket on the strut side, and a ball on the car side, with some clip that retains the socket over the fixed-in-place ball.

Looks like the car-side ball for that hood shock is bent or cracked from its weld. (I don't know for sure that they are welded in place, but it makes sense.)

As the group helps figure this out, it's helpful to use "left" and "right" in relation to the car facing forward. As in, the steering wheel is on the left in the US and on the right in the UK.

The hood latch looks like something is cracked/chipped? It's possible to drill out those four rivets, remove the latch, and see what you can see. I suspect the latch is available from Porsche dismantlers if yours isn't repairable.

[Tom]

I checked my latch today and can confirm that catch spring is very tight. I tried to move it with my finger and it wouldn't budge. If you suspect the latch mechanism, you can remove the hook part from the underside of the hood. It's bolted on with two easy-to-remove bolts...

[Belgian951]

I think first order of business will be to try and bend back my pneumatic spring mount.
I read somewhere that someone had a similar problem where the little ball joint was gone, and they inserted a bolt through the hood strut and the spring mount as a temporary fix. That sounds like a plan to me but I'm wondering if anyone here can verify that the strut on the car side is indeed hollow and that you can insert a bolt through it. If so, what size bolt would that be?

Any ideas for bending this spring mount back in place would be welcome. It's a tight area and I think I'll need upward pressure so not sure how I will manage.

[Belgian951]

I finally found time to investigate further.
I removed the strut on the left side where the damage to the ball mount is, and I tried to close the hood with just the right strut in place. The hood still wouldn't close. So I ruled out the broken ball mount as the source of the problem.

I then removed the top of the OEM air filter box and the air filter, and the hood closed perfectly.

So it seems I need to align the hood in a way that makes it sit a bit higher. I also noticed that the two bolts that hold the hood to the hood support arms are a bit different aligned on the left side compared to the right.

Here's a picture of the hood with the left strut removed and the OEM air filter box completely in place.

WhatsApp Image 2023-12-23 at 13.21.34.jpeg (125.32 KiB) Viewed 1198 times