Hello! I am a total newbie to this group. I have found a lot of useful information from the threads and hope to find more. I recently bought a '93 mark viii. Absolutely love the ride and everything about the vehicle. Here's the issue, the hood just unlatched on me coming up my road. The secondary latch caught but it will not latch shut. I am not familiar with lincolns at all. It looks as though a striker fell off of the hood. There is a metal square on the hood with nothing in it. I have tried to find a replacement part online and at the dealership. No luck. All I hear is that I will probably have to purchase a new or used hood. Is there something I am missing or is there any way I can fabricate one with knowing the dimensions? I could certainly use the help. Thanx! :confused:

I can't remember for sure, but i don't remember there being any kind of striker in that square. When i bought my 93, the hood kept unlatching, i gave the mechanism a good soak in PB Blaster and its been fine since. (mechanism was just sticky, so not springing into place) Worth a try right?

edit: i would go take a look at mine now, but there is a big thunderstorm going on! Lol.

I guess I'm missing what exactly makes the hood latch? The looks as though there should be something going down into the latch part from the hood. If there isn't, then I am totally missing how this hood actually latches.

Give me 15 mins... i will go check mine and see how it works. :)

Thanks alot! Don't get wet on my account. Just whenever you get a chance. I will periodically check back. Thanx!

Too late! Lol. I checked. Ok, there is NO striker in that square - the square has a lip around its inside which the latch mechanism hooks into. There are 2 hooks on the mechanism; a long one which is the safety latch and a small one which is the actual locking mechanism - they latch into that square's lip in the hood. I just had to slam mine a couple of times to get it to re latch, so will spray it again.

Make sure the mechanisms are lined up with the hood hole ok. (and not bent or loose) and give the mechanism a darn good squirt with oil - should do the trick! Also, make sure the hood release cable is free and allowing the latch to close. All should be well! :)

Thanks a billion! I have never seen a locking mechanism without a striker like that. Just got in from spraying it..........it worked! Thanks again!

Cool! No problem.

:Beer

That's the spirit! Rain or shine, help a Lincoln man out!

I had the same problem with my 93. WD40 for mine.

WD40'd mine and it worked well for a year now.