Can't push hood closed

[shawmcbigdis]

SO for some reason I can't close the hood on my e30. Not, it own't latch, it doesn't even get to that point. I fold it down, but then I can't push it down/forward to the latch. The slider things are lined up with the rails at the firewall fine, but it like the front mechanism is locked in place. I can fold it up and down just fine, but pushing into the closed position is totally jammed.

I'm not exactly sure how the whole mechanism works in the front, so I'm not sure how to troubleshoot it. I tried spraying some PTFE spray onto it but that didn't help. Just not a blasted it all with some PB Blaster, and I'm lettign it sit and will try in a bit and see if that helps.

Anyone have any ideas?

[shawmcbigdis]

Blasted everything with PB Blaster and let it soak for an hour or so. Went back and it still won't budge. I'm at a loss, I really hope someone knows a trick to fix this.

[tomstin]

Have you tried disconnecting the lift support arm? Looking at my hood this morning, the lift support arm looks like it could jam????

[dnguyen1963]

Your hood is connected to a round metal tube with a metal rod inserted. The rod is rusted and fused to this round tube. You will need to spray a lot of PB blaster into this tube and use a small hammer to gently knock the outside of the tube to break the rust loose. Be patience, you'll need to spend some time to do this. If that does not work, then you will have to remove the hood then try to break the rod free.

[shawmcbigdis]

Well, this is weird, it was the passenger fender, or rather the lack of it. I had it off because I was swapping it with an un-dented one, but took longer to paint it than I was thinking. As soon as I put the fender back on, hood closes no problem.

I assume it has something to do with the support arm, since it is on that side. Perhaps when the fender isn't there the arm bends outwards and binds up, thus not closing? But with the fender in place it is allowed to do that. At least thats' my guess.