General Open hood

[car2oonzpunto]

My 90 ELX cabrio has a power hood. When open, the folded hood seems quite high. The two interior layers fold and look like a hood cover won’t fit (which didn’t come with my car). Is this normal for a three layer power hood? I have seen photos where the folded hood is lower.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

My 90 ELX cabrio has a power hood. When open, the folded hood seems quite high. The two interior layers fold and look like a hood cover won’t fit (which didn’t come with my car). Is this normal for a three layer power hood? I have seen photos where the folded hood is lower.

There is a well known problem with one of the bars inside the roof not rotating backwards as the roof folds down this leaves the roof sitting up high like your picture, it can also damage the fabric of the roof so it’s important to get it fixed

 

[car2oonzpunto]

There is a well known problem with one of the bars inside the roof not rotating backwards as the roof folds down this leaves the roof sitting up high like your picture, it can also damage the fabric of the roof so it’s important to get it fixed

Thanks. I will look into the fold mechanism

 

[Mike1alike]

Good luck! And post the result here, after you fix it.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

If mine wasn't buried under boxes, a car cover and full of junk I would take some pictures for you. Basically there is a bar just above the driver that needs to be pushed backwards when the roof is about half way down, before it folds flat on the back of the car.

If you don't do this the bar sticks up.

The fix for it requires roof surgery.

 

[car2oonzpunto]

If mine wasn't buried under boxes, a car cover and full of junk I would take some pictures for you. Basically there is a bar just above the driver that needs to be pushed backwards when the roof is about half way down, before it folds flat on the back of the car.

If you don't do this the bar sticks up.

The fix for it requires roof surgery.

If mine wasn't buried under boxes, a car cover and full of junk I would take some pictures for you. Basically there is a bar just above the driver that needs to be pushed backwards when the roof is about half way down, before it folds flat on the back of the car.

If you don't do this the bar sticks up.

The fix for it requires roof surgery.

I found two elastic straps (one each side) that are supposed to pull that bar backwards as the roof opens. They have lost all their stretch after 30 years! I might be able to replace or supplement them without taking the outer hood off. I had a similar issue with an MG F hood but that wasn’t hydraulic. A bit of manual intervention does get the hood to open and fold properly, but that kind of makes it tricky opening the hood from the driver’s seat.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

I found two elastic straps (one each side) that are supposed to pull that bar backwards as the roof opens. They have lost all their stretch after 30 years! I might be able to replace or supplement them without taking the outer hood off. I had a similar issue with an MG F hood but that wasn’t hydraulic. A bit of manual intervention does get the hood to open and fold properly, but that kind of makes it tricky opening the hood from the driver’s seat.

At least you now know exactly what the issue is. I need to replace these straps on my car also, but I am toying with the idea of buying a new hood from germany, so I will decide when I am ready to work on the hood.