I searched for a similar topic but the only help I could find was for broken hood latch cables. The actual hood latch itself has been sheared off, and is just resting in its old place. The hood will latch loosely, but it flops around and I'm afraid a stiff wind on the highway would tear it off.

My girlfriend took it to the Honda dealership and they quoted me a new radiator and labor at over $500. This seems outrageous, so I wanted to ask for some other opinions. I don't know a lot about cars, but i don't think this part has anything to do with a radiator, and I think they were trying to take advantage of the fact that my gf knows even less about cars.

Attached are a few pictures
#5263 is what the latch looks like when I manually push it back into its place
#5264 is when I let it go slack
#5259 is a up close shot of the right side, where the bolt has sheared from the metal piece that was holding it in

I greatly appreciate any feedback!

 

Year?

 

Actually it's your radiator support that is falling apart. Fabricate some sort of backing piece-- maybe use big washers-- to cover the broken out places so you can reattach the latch using bolts with regular nuts on the back side.

 

That happened on my del Sol. Had to drill some holes in the support and the latch piece to put bolts through and connect together. Of course, this can only be done if enough parts of it are still intact.

 

Its a 2001 Civic EX

Its good to know that this can be fixed without completely replacing the radiator support. I will attempt to fix with some large washers. I am a little worried that the hood won't open right if i don't do it just right, but i'll re-post after I give it a try.

thanks much