Hood alignment

[BMWManiac]

I've used the Google and I'm 50% successful in this, but I'm not 100% satisfied. Driver side adjusted to slightly over 2" and it is flush with the fender...great. Passenger side is pretty much as far in as it can go and IT STILL IS TOO HIGH. There is nothing blocking it. I'm not sure if it could be bent or warped, but it doesn't make sense to me. I had to loosen the driver side because it was below the fender, so I figured I could get the passenger side flush or below...but not the case. In fact, it doesn't seem to be getting any tighter as I make it shorter...when I removed it and closed the hood (not recommended as you'll need to apply some pressure to the hood with a screw driver to open it) it was actually pretty close. So, do I need a new pin or what am I missing?

[bluptgm3]

Need some images.


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[BMWManiac]

Going to take pictures now....

[BMWManiac]

As you can see, the passenger side has about 1/4 inch too high. The pin is as far down as it can go too. Driver side is flush.

[bluptgm3]

Does this car have repaired collision damage?


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[BMWManiac]

No, I have had this car since 2002 and never been in an accident

[Twright]

Is the pin holding the hood up on that side, or is it staying up on its own?

Push down on the hood on the "up" side and see if it goes into place. The pin may not be setting the hood location.

[BMWManiac]

Is the pin holding the hood up on that side, or is it staying up on its own?

Push down on the hood on the "up" side and see if it goes into place. The pin may not be setting the hood location.

That is what I initially thought and I can't really see it because of the gasket on the lip of the hood, but it is definitely going in. Maybe I need to replace it because it is too loose and even though it goes into the hole, it doesn't have enough girth :-)

[RightYouAreKen]

Can you push the hood down into place like twright suggested? I also wonder if something else in the engine bay is contacting the hood, keeping it up. Wire bundle? Something near the scuttle at the rear of the hood? Weather stripping?

[BMWManiac]

Can you push the hood down into place like twright suggested? I also wonder if something else in the engine bay is contacting the hood, keeping it up. Wire bundle? Something near the scuttle at the rear of the hood? Weather stripping?

If I push on the front of the hood, the gap definitely decreases, but doesn't go away. I've looked at everything in the engine bay and there is nothing that is higher than the engine bay seal, or engine cooland expansion tank. I am turbocharged and I have the filter in the engine bay, but I removed it to check. I don't know if someone maybe bent the hood back trying to get in or what, but it is definitely odd. I could try removing the front seal and see what happens. Could the nose panel (which I've removed) be installed incorrectly or too high? I doubt it, but I am just at a loss here....I'll keep looking.

[RightYouAreKen]

I don't know about the nose panel, but the height of the headlights is adjustable, but I don't see how they could be installed high enough to cause an issue yet still be able to fit the corner light into the right spot in the fender opening. Does the nose panel line up with the headlights properly?

Here's how it all should line up (not my pic)

[BMWManiac]

Over the winter, I'm going to remove my front bumper and headlights and see if the hood closes any lower. I'll start trying to see what I can see. I'm sure it is something silly that I'm not noticing and thankfully (knock on wood) I have no other issues and this has my full attention.

[BMWManiac]

So, I took another look at it this morning. I even removed my strut tower bar, but no impact. So, we know that the hood connects to two retaining points in the nose panel. When I close the hood, I can actually pry up on the passenger side pretty easily while I cannot on the driver side, at all. So, this tells me that it is either the pin or the latch. Maybe after 20 years of opening/closing the hood, the pin wears down. When I pry up, I can definitely see the pin fits in the hole, but like I mentioned earlier, perhaps it is not snug enough to secure it. I guess the way to tell would be to remove the driver side pin/latch and see if the hood will be secured when shut.

[BMWManiac]

Problem solved...what a stupid problem. I removed the pin from the passenger side and stuck it into the retaining latch and it stuck. So, pin obviously latches, but no matter what I did, the hood would not close. Swap'd the pins from driver side to passenger side and boom, hood snaps shut cleanly on both sides.....so still not sure why the pin couldn't be pressed far enough to secure the latch, and I push down as hard as possible to no avail. But, swapping pins did the trick and i'll live with it for now...wonder how long I've been driving with one side of the hood not secured