Ever since I got my gen 2 2018 cruze, I had tons of problems with the hood latch on the car. I would sometimes have to walk back and forth from the hood to my drivers side 20 or more times pulling the handle before the second lock would release.
It got to a bad point after I drained my oil for my last change and it would not budge. It also wouldnt fully relatch. I removed the cable with pliers to pull harder. Messed with it for maybe 20 minutes before it finally opened. The next day I tried again and sure enough, it was stuck again My father and I worked at it for 30-45 minutes, using every trick we found on the internet.
SOLUTION (for me at least):
We used a can of WD-40 and sprayed the heck out of the latch from the small opening under the hood. While doing so, we wiggled it and pulled the tab/cable over and over. this was to get some wd-40 in the spring and latch. I incurred damage because we still had to break it loose, so I slammed my fist against the hood where the latch is, and well as placing my hoodie on the hood and stomping on the hood at the very front, in order to get it to fully latch, since it was not fully latching. After about 3 kick/stomp/slams, it came loose. We then BLASTED it with wd-40 (what we had on hand) and actuated the latch multiple times using pliers to push it down (dumb and dangerous) I now lubricate with wd-40 branded white lithium and its euphoric how it opens perfectly every time.
I dont necissarily reccomend this method, but it worked for me. If you have the issue of it being finniky sometimes, I would reccomend lubricating the latch mechanism before it gets as bad as mine did.
It got to a bad point after I drained my oil for my last change and it would not budge. It also wouldnt fully relatch. I removed the cable with pliers to pull harder. Messed with it for maybe 20 minutes before it finally opened. The next day I tried again and sure enough, it was stuck again My father and I worked at it for 30-45 minutes, using every trick we found on the internet.
SOLUTION (for me at least):
We used a can of WD-40 and sprayed the heck out of the latch from the small opening under the hood. While doing so, we wiggled it and pulled the tab/cable over and over. this was to get some wd-40 in the spring and latch. I incurred damage because we still had to break it loose, so I slammed my fist against the hood where the latch is, and well as placing my hoodie on the hood and stomping on the hood at the very front, in order to get it to fully latch, since it was not fully latching. After about 3 kick/stomp/slams, it came loose. We then BLASTED it with wd-40 (what we had on hand) and actuated the latch multiple times using pliers to push it down (dumb and dangerous) I now lubricate with wd-40 branded white lithium and its euphoric how it opens perfectly every time.
I dont necissarily reccomend this method, but it worked for me. If you have the issue of it being finniky sometimes, I would reccomend lubricating the latch mechanism before it gets as bad as mine did.
