GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

So I went to change out both of my headlight bulbs today (wife drives the '04, one bulb went out and we put off fixing it just long enough for the other one to go as well). First off, changing them out is only easy once you've done it once. Prior to that, it's not terribly obvious what needs to happen to get the bulb out, and the gap on the drivers' side is tough to work in. Had the bright idea to loosen one of the battery tie-down bolts and scoot it over an inch or so to give myself more room. It worked brilliantly, except that I sheared off the battery tie-down bolt (the one on the radiator support, 'twas extremely rusty). D'oh. Closed the hood, went to the hardware store to pick up some heavy duty zip ties to better secure the now-loose battery. Ghetto fix, I know, but it's getting dark and I didn't really have the energy to drill out the remnants of that bolt and hunt down a replacement. Problem for another day. Zip ties installed, I went to close the hood only to find that it now will not latch properly. It catches initially, but won't lock into place. I searched around GenVibe, found recommendations to adjust the bump stops but I don't think that's the issue (since I didn't touch them in the first place). Seems more like the cursed broken spring that's happened to a few folks on here. Looks like I'll be hunting for a new or used hood latch mechanism this week. Sorry for the long gripe, I'm sure there's a "how many idiots does it take to change a light bulb" joke in here somewhere. Pic for the heck of it:

I feel your pain, my friend. Been there too many times.

Not true!! A LOT Of things are easy!! You just haven't done them yet!dave

I know our vibe will need a new battery oneday and as i was looking at my holddown bolts i decided to start soaking them with Zep penetrating oil now so they will come out then.

Before you go looking for a new hood latch, WD40 the crap out of it. Same thing was happened to mine and I was adjusting the bump stops and everything as well. ONce I sprayed it with WD40 and worked it in, it's worked fine ever since!

I'm going to give that a shot right now and I'll let you guys know how it works out.

Quote, originally posted by Wolfman213 »Before you go looking for a new hood latch, WD40 the crap out of it. Same thing was happened to mine and I was adjusting the bump stops and everything as well. ONce I sprayed it with WD40 and worked it in, it's worked fine ever since!^thisIt was buggin the hell out of me, so I just did exactly that. Cleaned a bunch of grime off the latch and hit with a few wd40 blasts. Good as new!

No luck I tried adjusting the bump stops too, just to see if it made any difference. No dice there, either. Does anyone have any good tips or step by step info for removing the hood latch mechanism? I can see a couple of bolts but it looks like there may be more than just that holding it in place (not to mention the release cable itself). Thanks

Just had some success.. gave the WD-40 some time to work in, and while it still won't latch solidly when just pushing down on the hood, it will latch when you let it drop from a moderate height. So.. win?

I say win! Give it more time to work in... I could feel when opening the hood, that the latch wasn't springing back as quickly. Now, after the wd40 shots, its goodAs for the headlights, you're right. The first time on the drivers side is a pita. But I've been replacing mine just about every 6 months...I dont even mind doing it in the winter anymore!