adrock20013

I have a 2012 A6 and the driver's side "catch" won't actually catch the hood. If I manually press on the passenger's side, the clip actually catches and I have to pull the cable to get the clip to release again, but the driver's side won't actually "clip" down and hold the hood down on the driver's side. I'm HOPING this is just because we had salty/snowy conditions here in North Carolina and the part that catches the latch is just stuck, but I need to clean it first.

If that doesn't work, any suggestions? I've suffered through a failed hood latch at about 40mph and it's not fun when the hood flies up and smashes the windshield, scaring the ever-loving crap out of you and instantly blinding you and REALLY don't want to experience this again in my C7 A6.

thehedge

I had this issue a few months ago on a rainy day. I believe the hood sensors are tied into the software for the wipers. When the hood unlatched condition is detected, I believe it disables the wipers probably to avoid damaging the wipers if the hood was up.

In my case, one of the latches was frozen (it was one of those snowy, sleety rainy days) and once it had thawed out, the latch worked correctly, the warning light went out and the wipers worked again. Was just wondering at the time how I was going to drive across town to my mechanic for help on a dark, rainy day with no wipers to fix a hood issue!

aquarian

Nice write up! So how much did you actually move the latch up? And what would happen if you moved it too high?

xplosive

I followed your instructions and just saved a trip to the dealer and about $200.
Thanks a lot.

rdewers

Thanks, great writeup and pics. I have the same problem as another user in that the hood will close but the passenger side latch won't stay closed. I can press it down but it won't click shut. I'll try lubing it and comparing it to the other side. If that doesn't work maybe my latch has gone bad. Will post up if I figure it out.

rdewers

OK, so in my case all it needed was some WD40 and moving the little catch lever back and forth a few times to loosen it up. There are two levers within each side latch mechanism. #1 holds the hood down. #2 holds #1 down when #1 is pressed down by the hood. For me, #2 was stuck open due to grit and grime and had to be oiled and loosened up by pushing it with a screwdriver. Works fine now.