lube yer hood latch.....some preventative maintenance....

frugality

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 19, 2003
Location
Spring Lake, Michigan
TDI
none, 2016 GTI
Doing my 180k-mile oil change, I had difficulty getting the secondary hood latch to release. Turns out the hook on the left was binding on its pivot, and the plastic lever was flexing. I used a little spray silicone lube that I use on my door hinges.

If you've got an older Mk5 or Mk5.5, you may want to hit the hood latch with a little lube as a preventative measure. Never had an issue with my Mk4's latch.

 

ATR

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Location
Baltimore
TDI
2011 Golf TDI 6MT
May want to also include the mkvi as well since the latch is pretty much the same.
 

Ol'Rattler

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 3, 2007
Location
PNA
TDI
2006 BRM Jetta
Just makes me so glad that I don't live in a rust belt location. Seriously, thanks for the tip. Certainly a problem I can 100% avoid on my car.
 

meerschm

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 18, 2009
Location
Fairfax county VA
TDI
2009 Jetta wagon DSG 08/08 205k buyback 1/8/18; replaced with 2017 Golf Wagon 4mo 1.8l CXBB
mine stuck a bit this spring.

good advice.

lube everything that moves.
 

frugality

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 19, 2003
Location
Spring Lake, Michigan
TDI
none, 2016 GTI
Just makes me so glad that I don't live in a rust belt location. Seriously, thanks for the tip. Certainly a problem I can 100% avoid on my car.
However, my Mk4 did fine in the rust belt for 10 years, and I don't know if r90sKirk who has the car now has had any issues at 15 years and 425k miles.

I was a little disappointed to find that the latch was sticky at 'only' 5 Michigan winters. Maybe a design issue, maybe a manufacturing issue. Maybe it's more exposed to the elements than the previous design.

I just spent 6 weeks in rental gassers -- a Toyota Corolla, a Ford Focus, and then 4 weeks in a Hyundai Elantra GT hatchback, which was the most tolerable of the bunch. But I was very happy to get back to my 180k-mile JSW. Even if I had to replace things like this latch, which is a simple bolt-on, I'm still happy to be in a Dub.
 

heidelberger75

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 1, 2011
Location
Heidelberg
TDI
2010 Golf Variant (wagon) 1.6 TDI, 5sp
I had the issue with the hood not closing. It wouldn't latch. I took it to the dealer where the service tech sprayed lubricant on it. Problem fixed.
 
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