Pat Dolan
Veteran Member
I had to park the '03 Jetta early this winter, since the hood latch would not release, no room in shop to play with it. Well, need to do some distance next week, so need it on the road. Well, if you have ever had this problem, you know there is no easy solution, since you can't get AT the darn thing. I had installed a badgeless grill and put a steel patch in the hood, but the grill turned out to be a real POS that cracked up probably from a bird strike, but flimsy is the best way to describe. I have a far heavier replacement so no biggie to just cut it away for access. Looked at another one we have in buddy's shop, and got a better picture in my mind than I got from Bentley, but still couldn't figure out why it wasn't working when I yanked on the pop-out release lever. Could see one place if I could get at it where I could put a screwdriver in a slot and pry the release lever to where it should let go, so took out the top 3 bolts the pinched the release in place and slid it up as far as it would go by lifting and blocking the hood. FINALLY could see that what was really wrong is the the pin on the secondary latch had jumped/slipped out of the U shaped receptacle that the release lever pulls on to operate the secondary latch. One quick whack popped it back in place, but there is simply no way I can trust this thing to work forever without the same failure.
My solution was to simply order a new one ($ 109.00 Cdn from VWC) and replace it. If I got over 16 years out of the last one, it should last about the time of the rest of the car.
Wonder if anyone else has had to deal with this??
My solution was to simply order a new one ($ 109.00 Cdn from VWC) and replace it. If I got over 16 years out of the last one, it should last about the time of the rest of the car.
Wonder if anyone else has had to deal with this??