Strange hood problem

[Snah]

Hi there,

During the winter I parked my iQ and connected a trickle charger. the hood was partially open to allow the cable to pass through. I used a small piece of wood to avoid the charger cable to be damaged.

Now after winter the hood has a problem, the hood won't close entirely. I started to investigate and looked closely if something was bent. All looks good. I then turned to the lock itself, it needed some lubrication, but other wise ok. I also got a replacement lock, made no difference.  I cannot find the cause and the hood won't close, but made this video. you can see that the u-shape hook from the hood seems to 'max out' in the lock. I really would like to fix this. 

the garage says that probably the lock is not from an iQ, well why did it work then for the 4 years i had the car.

any advice is very welcome.

 

 

[APS]

That hoop goes down into the lock as it should and latches properly. The lock (or the bracket it is mounted on) just sits too high. Something must have moved. Either the lock moved up or the hoop moved down. Or the lock mechanism is indeed not the correct one.

For reference; the bonnet on our iQ also sat slightly proud of the front bumper. 

[Snah]

Yes, i tried to move the entire mechanism down, but not a lot of adjustment is allowed when losening the three bolts. if i remove the lock entirely the hood closes just like in yours.

[flash22]

Where was the piece of wood located ? does the release cable move freely is there any free play in the release handle?

I take it you are US/CND based

does the latch operate if you use a bar or screwdriver to trip the latch

have you compared both latches thoroughly cleaned and regreased it

[Falomain]

Hi Hans, I've just taken a similar video from my iQ, in case you or someone else can notice any relevant differences. Good luck!

[74hct04]

Official spec is 4.5mm to 7.5mm vertical gap as measured centrally, right above the Toyota Badge and also at the left and right edges. Mine's out of tolerance (gap too wide) so I will be watching this thread with interest, too. My bonnet stands ever-so-slightly proud above the wings (perhaps less than 2mm). I've tried adjusting the 3 shoulder bolts (torque to 7.5Nm) - unsuprisingly I couldn't make a difference. No evidence of accident damage but parts of the car have had paint by the looks of it, possibly including the bonnet.

Documentation does suggest that you get more adjustment by swapping the centering bolts (designed with conical taper, like a road wheel bolt) to standard bolts.

(I've a new rubber seal on the way as it's bent downwards at the centre, perhaps from where I once ran a charger cable?).

I've 'binged watched'  YouTube iQ content in the past and realised I've already seen the OP's oil change video! 🙂

[flash22]

Bonnet sitting too high ? Adjust the rubber stops

[Dutchrav]

Did you placed the wood in the middle.. just above the emblem? I think the metal where the bumper ends is a little bent down because of the weight of the hood.

You can gently pull it a bit up so the gap will be less.

Hope that helps.

[Woodie100]

5 hours ago, Snah said:

Hi there,

During the winter I parked my iQ and connected a trickle charger. the hood was partially open to allow the cable to pass through. I used a small piece of wood to avoid the charger cable to be damaged.

Now after winter the hood has a problem, the hood won't close entirely. I started to investigate and looked closely if something was bent. All looks good. I then turned to the lock itself, it needed some lubrication, but other wise ok. I also got a replacement lock, made no difference.  I cannot find the cause and the hood won't close, but made this video. you can see that the u-shape hook from the hood seems to 'max out' in the lock. I really would like to fix this. 

the garage says that probably the lock is not from an iQ, well why did it work then for the 4 years i had the car.

any advice is very welcome.

 

 

Sadly I have no idea, which isn’t helpful.  However I must commend you on the video! 
sure someone on here will have the answer.  The hinge hasn’t moved with the weight of the bonnet has it?

sorry not much use 😔

[Snah]

Thanks all for your replies!

Thanks @Faloman for the video, it helps a lot. it looks like you have a slight gap as well when the hood is closed?

@flash22 the latch works well, both of them, I cleaned them and greased them. 

the wood I used was a small block of about 15 x 8 x 5 cm and i put it at several places. I don't see any indentations and the block wood support the hood. I looked at how the latch is attached and  its pretty solid / strong metal. something that doesn't easily bend, but I am convinced that it somehow did because i cannot think about anything else. 

investigation continues;-)

 

[Snah]

I made some pictures. first one with the hood down. there is no gap but the hood is having a lot of play, allowing for it to rattle. you can see that the hood is properly aligned and there is a steady margin from headlight to headlight (with a tiny bit more gap towards the right headlight).

 

Second is a set of measurements, maybe somebody can check if these measurements are deviating from a good iQ?

 

 

[glimp]

1 hour ago, Snah said:

I made some pictures. first one with the hood down. there is no gap but the hood is having a lot of play, allowing for it to rattle. you can see that the hood is properly aligned and there is a steady margin from headlight to headlight (with a tiny bit more gap towards the right headlight).

 

Second is a set of measurements, maybe somebody can check if these measurements are deviating from a good iQ?

 

 

My iQ is a 'good one' - especially as it's the same colour as yours 🙂

My bonnet only moves very slightly when shut.

The bracket on my bonnet (your pic 1) is the same measurement as yours (55mm).

However, there seems to be a difference in your pic 4. My measurement is 19mm (see photo below) - yours seems to be less (15mm?). This could be a clue to your issue...

[Roy124]

Hans, I am thinking something else entirely.   Was it parked up outside?  Did you have significant snow and ice on the car for the whole winter?

[Snah]

2 hours ago, Roy124 said:

Hans, I am thinking something else entirely.   Was it parked up outside?  Did you have significant snow and ice on the car for the whole winter?

Hey. In this beginning of winter it was not parked under my carport, we didn't expect snow. but we had about 60cm back then. the iQ was buried for a couple of days.

[Snah]

6 hours ago, glimp said:

My iQ is a 'good one' - especially as it's the same colour as yours 🙂

My bonnet only moves very slightly when shut.

The bracket on my bonnet (your pic 1) is the same measurement as yours (55mm).

However, there seems to be a difference in your pic 4. My measurement is 19mm (see photo below) - yours seems to be less (15mm?). This could be a clue to your issue...

I measured it again, and indeed here it is only 14 or 15mm. I wonder if this is part of the problem. 
today i checked the bar the bumper is attached to as well as the bar the latch is mounted to, both are very solid and it would take quite some force to bring them out of shape. my piece of wood alone could never have caused this problem.

[Roy124]

49 minutes ago, Snah said:

Hey. In this beginning of winter it was not parked under my carport, we didn't expect snow. but we had about 60cm back then. the iQ was buried for a couple of days.

A couple of days should not be significant,  but I was think heavy ice and snow over a few weeks could cause very slight deformation.   Where the vehicle button up tight the car might deform as a whole.  Where the hood is open then it might deform at a different rate from the body.

In your case that is unlikely. 

[glimp]

6 hours ago, Snah said:

I measured it again, and indeed here it is only 14 or 15mm. I wonder if this is part of the problem. 
today i checked the bar the bumper is attached to as well as the bar the latch is mounted to, both are very solid and it would take quite some force to bring them out of shape. my piece of wood alone could never have caused this problem.

If it was my car I'd be working out how to lower that part by 4 or 5mm. I don't think it's part of the problem - I think it's the entire problem.

[flash22]

the timber under the bonnet and or it sitting on the latch and the weight on it has tweaked the bonnet in the middle and is sitting too high

raise the bump stops either side and close the bonnet so it pulls it down on the latch (locked position) leave it closed for a few days it may pull into shape

 

otherwise, find a Bodyshop not a garage they will tweak it back into shape (don't watch)

depending on the snow anything from 20-250kg may have been sitting on that bonnet

[glimp]

On 3/21/2024 at 6:12 PM, flash22 said:

the timber under the bonnet and or it sitting on the latch and the weight on it has tweaked the bonnet in the middle and is sitting too high

raise the bump stops either side and close the bonnet so it pulls it down on the latch (locked position) leave it closed for a few days it may pull into shape

 

otherwise, find a Bodyshop not a garage they will tweak it back into shape (don't watch)

depending on the snow anything from 20-250kg may have been sitting on that bonnet

250kg? That's the weight of three quite large men. You'd never get that weight of snow on an iQ bonnet, unless he's been making massive snowmen on his car.

 

[Snah]

Well with some tools and applied force on the right spots I managed to bring it down to 20mm. There is something unnatural about it, as the beam is very close to the radiator. a very tight fit. 

the hood sits better, but by far not how it was. 

[PCM]

Delivery van damage?

Certainly looks not right... 😞

[Roy124]

14 hours ago, glimp said:

250kg? That's the weight of three quite large men. You'd never get that weight of snow on an iQ bonnet, unless he's been making massive snowmen on his car.

 

An inch of snow weighs about 1.25lb/sq foot.  Deleted

We don't know how much snow but 20 inches might not be unreasonable. 

[glimp]

41 minutes ago, Roy124 said:

An inch of snow weighs about 1.25lb/sq foot.  I don't have a Corolla to hand, but the Yaris Cross is about 10 sq ft.  Bonnet load therefore is about 12.5lb per inch.  

We don't know how much snow but 20 inches might not be unreasonable.

I don't know why you're mentioning Corollas - we're talking about iQ's here. I just measured my iQ bonnet - it's an average of 1ft x 3.5ft = 3.5sq ft in area. If we accept your figure of an inch of snow weighing 1.25lb/sq ft, that equates to 4.375lb per inch of snow on an iQ bonnet. 250kg is 551lb. 551 divided by 4.375 is roughly 126. That's 126 inches of snow. 126 inches is 10.5ft.

He'd need 10.5 ft of snow on his bonnet for it to weigh 250kg. Can you picture it?

😉

[Cyker]

Maybe it's made of heavy water??   

[flash22]

It depends on the type of snow, if it's powder then rained on and freezes it's a block ice

if the bonnet was up on its latch, you have a fulcrum point

Quote

As a rule of thumb, snow weighs approximately 20 pounds per cubic foot, or 1.25 pounds per inch of depth. Depending on moisture content, snow can weigh from 1 pound per cubic foot to over 21 pounds per cubic foot.