Had no idea what section to post this in, so here goes;

Was looking at an FD to buy this evening but noticed that while driving the hood actually comes up and down on the drivers side and it isn't quite aligned quite right with the fender. Also in order to open the hood you have to put the headlights up and then pull up there, instead of just using the latch inside the car.

Was wondering if this might be an EASY fix with the hinges or whatnot. Is the hood a normal problem?

My last FD didn't do this at all.

Other than that the car looks great, but i'm concerned about having to spend money right off the bat to fix it, like the catastrophe the last FD was.

(Yes, the car was in an accident, but had been "fixed"; meaning new fenders, front bumper, and hood. I'm hoping that it just wasn't aligned properly.)

 

if the gap isn't too big, you might be able to fix it by adding washer underneath or just turning out the rubber stopper under the hood so it sits higher

 

Simple alignment issue or poor repair, it's hard to say how hard a fix it is. Could be a worn latch or one that simply needs adjusting. Or worse case, a chassis/unibody that was so poorly repaired that there is unseen suspension alignment issues. You need to really examine alignment of ALL the sheet metal panels and investigate further.

 

i hope the price is reduced appropriately to reflect the fact this car was in a major accident. any accident where they have to replace every component in the front half of the car most likely did SOME kind of damage underneath and whether they fixed it properly you would know until you remove everything. unless this car is a GOOD price then i would move on to another because unless you have the paperwork on Where it was repaired to talk the them about it i think it could be a gamble. also you may wanna open up the fsm and check a few of the body measurements under the hood to make sure everything in spec.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. Yes, the price of the car has been reduced quite significantly, but i have a feeling that's due to the age of the gentleman selling the vehicle.

 

When you say hood fitment do you mean its slightly higher on the drivers side? There were issues with hood fitment on the drivers side it was a TSB. I had asked that question originally on forum you may want to look for it others had the same problem.

 

From my experience in general, the most common reasons a hood will not align correctly are that the latch is bent, the hinges are bent, or the hood has bowed. If the hood was replaced I'm assuming that is not the issue. Check to see if there are any indications of damage on those parts. If that is not the case, the place where the latch connects to the frame may be damaged. My sister rear-ended someone and even after the bumper and hood was replaced the hood did not align properly. To fix this most of the front clip had to be replaced. Turned out to cost more than the car was worth. An easy way to check this is to look at the area around the latch and where it attaches to the frame to see if there is damage

On a side note, check the suspension. As Sgtblue stated, the suspension may not be aligned properly or may be damaged. Checking this requires a floor jack and then loading the wheel to ride height. A good alignment shop can see if all the parts move in co-linear circles. A double wishbone suspension is very complex and if any component are thrown off even slightly you will get bump steer along with eventual suspension damage/failure. If you can sneak the car off to a good shop, get this done before making and decisions on it. Good luck!

 

post some pictures

 

No, it was lower on the driver's side actually.

Didn't take any, and it's a long ways away from my house.

Already decided that i'm not going to bother with the car; don't want to start with problems like the last FD i had.