[superfishyall]

I replaced my dented OEM hood with a better OEM replacement this weekend. It is lined up nicely and is working well, but not perfectly. The safety catch finger hold is sticking out a little beyond the kidney grill when the hood is closed. The finger hold is moved into the grill by a cam on the latch pressing on a plastic piece next to the hole that the safety latch clips into. Before changing the hood, the finger hold did not protrude like this. I pulled both latches off the two hoods and compared them side by side and they look and operate the same. I put the old latch on the new hood and get the same result (protrusion). There does not seem to be a way to adjust this, although another thread references bending a piece of metal to adjust. I think I could get it to work by adding tape to the cam so that the finer hold rotates more, but that would be a temporary fix. Does it look like there is something missing from the cam or the plastic piece that it rotates against?

The second question relates to the third picture. It looks like there should be a clip where my finger is pointing to hold the wire bundle close to the hood. This is the bundle that goes along the hinge, into the grommet shown in the picture, and through the hood and out another grommet to the wiper nozzles. I can't find such a clip in RealOEM. Is there supposed to be one there? If so, can someone share a picture or the part number?

Thanks.

 

[tommy d]

A black zip tie through the hole on the hood around the cable wire would work for your second question.
Here is a photo of the actual clip.

 

[tommy d]

Here is what my hood latch looks like for comparison

 

[shanneba]

I believe the Part TommyD showed a picture of is number 6 here:
or Number 5 Wiring duct, hood hinge maybe?

 

[superfishyall]

Thanks to you both. I was thinking the same thing shanneba. Tommy, it does look like plastic part of the latch is different. I'll have to compare part numbers.

 

[superfishyall]

I checked part numbers and yours is different. Maybe it's a face-lift difference?

 

[shanneba]

My 330Ci was built in 02/2003, that is what I used for the part numbers I posted.

 

[superfishyall]

Yes, that looks the same as mine. I was referring to the latch when I mentioned the part numbers. Tommy's car is a 2005. Does your latch look like mine? Btw, part #5 is a piece that goes right at the hinge. That's broken on mine too but available at FCP.

 

[shanneba]

My hood latch looks like yours.

I seem to recall that the bolt/stud with the spring around it has some adjustment to it.
Not sure if that would affect the protrusion of the finger hold.

 

[resunoiz]

same problem, no adjustment for it. and not a definitive explanation of why it happens. I solved with a little piece of adhesive black felt on the plastic part. Is there from 2 years from now.

 

[ElrichMeister]

Was the replacement hood from Pre Facelift coupe 1998-2003? or Facelift Coupe 2004-2006? these are 2 different hoods. Tommy hoods is from a 330i which also a different hood because its a sedan.

 

[superfishyall]

The replacement hood is prefacelift coupe, so same as my car. I think I will add washers under the latch plate so the whole mechanism moves closer to the body when the hood is closed. If that doesn't work or causes the latch not to secure the hood, I'll try to add something like resunoiz did. I tried moving the latch around fore and aft, and that didn't help and also resulted in not being able to open the hood at all. Luckily I was able to use a coat hanger to grab the business end of the latch and pull it enough to open it.

It's sort of a mystery to me that this did occur before given that the hood is the same. I noticed, though, that the new hood has different grills on it than my old hood. They have 5 sets of two bars rather than 10 equally spaced bars. Perhaps the bars don't protrude forward as far as what I had before, causing the latch to stick out a bit.

Thanks for all the responses.

 

[superfishyall]

I think I will add washers under the latch plate so the whole mechanism moves closer to the body when the hood is closed.

I'm pleased to report that this worked like a charm. A single washer for each bolt was enough.