Mounting new hood?

Yes you can move the latch up and down on the center post that runs up and down from the bottom of the radiator to the top core support those holes are a little oversized so it will move You may need to lift the latch catch assembly up on the bracket as high as it'll go tighten one of the bolts down and then put the hood down and see if it clicks if it does tighten the other two screws this is standard body adjustment that all body men have to do almost everyday If it's way off you can slot the lock assembly even more but this is generally not needed

 

Are the hood hinges bent? There is a pretty large gap above the headlights which would be consistent with that. Sometimes (in cars in general) when a hood gets hit, but not the stuff under it, it will push back hard enough that both the hood and the hinges deform. That hood will still work because when it bent its half of the latch was firmly engaged. Then you get a normal hood and it doesn't quite match up, because it isn't bent so with the bent hinges it won't mate properly with the latch.

I had a similar issue on a Protege5 years ago. It had been hit from the side on a front fender, which in turn shoved the hood sideways and bent the hood hinges (a little). There was some play in the adjustments at the hinge on that car but I just couldn't get it to sit straight until the hinges were replaced.

When you have the time I suggest that you stand the two hoods up against each other, bottom to bottom, so that you can look and see clearly where they differ.

 

If you can get a piece of wood to go across or something like that and then you can close down on the piece of wood and bend the hinges back down the way they go or what happened You mess with it you'll get it to work You shouldn't have to get new hinges but you can at $25 for a set absolutely they'll be a little lesser gauge metal I do believe and you'll be able to with those around like you want The part where it makes a you bend or whatever that gets closed up in an accident You just want to open that up a little bit usually you can stand with the hood at chest level and just lean back a little bit especially if you're a fat guy or got some weight on you or whatever

 

Or pick up a set from the local junk yard from a car which has no front end damage.

Remember, the problem does not have to be the hinges. It could also be that the latch has been pushed back or the support member the latch is on has.

Also, wasn't there some minor change to the front end of the 2nd generation Prius midway through the run? Looking on Amayama and they make a distinction between cars before and after 11/2005. Did that affect the hood shape? Looking at part numbers for hoods for a 2004 and 2007 on RockAuto they are the same, which suggests that the hoods are all the same, but maybe somebody who knows more than me can chime in.

 

Yes all four to '05 is the short nose and the front fenders will not fit but the hood is the same I believe I want to say the hood hinges are too but I'm not in front of the body break down but the front fenders from an '04 '05 will not fit '06 to '09 they're too short they won't reach the front of the car I'm not even sure you can take the fenders off and the front bumper cover and all that and put it on an '06 up I still think it won't work I have an '05 here with the fender still on it and in one day I took the '05 fender and tried to offer it up to an '09 car and it's not a happening but the hood from the o '05 sit on an '08 without incident It was an original aluminum hood and I was taking a heavier metal hood off of the '08 to get the aluminum on the '08 and the '05 is just parts car sitting

 

So much for the myth of interchangeable parts...

 

They they all interchange You just can't use the short nose fenders on the longer front end car there's just a few little pieces and then you're good I believe the hoods will swap out I think that hinges are the same and the front bumper cover might be different but other than that I think everything else is pretty much the same so usually people don't try and mix and match the fenders too much anyway and if they do they quickly see when they hang on the on the car that that's not the happening fenders are so cheap anyway they're like $70 a pop primed.

 

I don't think you have to remove it just undo that bolt up there at the top It's a 10 mm now pull the fender out a little bit now stick your quarter inch drive socket extension and 10 mm down there and lefty Lucy I do believe that's right I have to go out and look at the car there's one sitting out here I believe that's all I do just that one bolt don't have to do the one inside the door or any of that just the one up there on top and it gives you enough to pull over undo the business put the new one in or whatever and then put the bolt back. I mean I wouldn't by looking I know you wouldn't have to take the front fender off You're going to make it loose and let it slide a little bit and that's it.

 

Never done it, but it looks to me like taking off the plastic black cowl piece under the windshield wipers may provide enough access to the back bolts.

What does the manual say? Looking. Hmm, section ED (Engine Hood Door - really???) has a bit on adjusting it, but I couldn't find anything on replacing the hinges. There is a bit on adjusting them though:

ADJUSTMENT
HINT:
• Use the same procedure for the RH side and LH side
• The procedures listed below are for the LH side
• Centering bolts are used to mount the hood hinge and
hood lock. The hood and hood lock cannot be adjusted
with the centering bolts on. Substitute the centering bolts
with standard bolts (with washers) when making
adjustments.
• A bolt without a torque specification is shown
standard bolt chart (see page SS-2).

The centering bolts are not flat all the way across the bottom of the head. They are flat around the outside working in from the edge but have a small conical region sloping down to the threads/shaft. A regular bolt is flat all the way from the edge to the threads/shaft.

 

Hey, it's the "door" to the "engine room"...

 

Okay I'm out here standing at three cars and this is the deal If you raise the hood don't do anything with the cowl you can see the two bolts they're probably the color of your car that hold the hood hinge on You could reach in there with a flex head 12 mm ratchet quarter inch drive and undo the bolts no problem I'm standing here basically doing it while I'm talking and all I did was lift the hood and look down where the hinges are and the two bolts are right there all three of them are painted the color of each of the chassis and so you could undo the bolts unplug the tube for the washer and lift the hood right off the car with the hinges attached if you wanted to pretty easily I might add I have pictures but I'm sure you're not going to be need them

 

It's not going to be easy to see a band like that If you set the hood down gently look at the half the hoop on the hood when it drops to the slot on the latch mechanism which is on the downbar between the upper and lower core support and make adjustments accordingly You should be able to do it just with your bare hands with gloves on moving the hood side to side depending upon which way it needs to go so if you drop the hood down and it's to the right of the slot you're going to need to pull push the hood towards the left to get the house for the hoop the latch thingy over into the slot so when you drop the hood down gently it goes into the slot all by itself does not be pulled over that way or any of that stuff by the thing catching off-center if you will then if it's too far forward to the front of the car or pushed back you should be able to just lean on the hood if it's pushed back too far and widen the bend in the hinges just by pulling on the hood not much too it's very weak lean on it too much and you'll pull the hood 4 inches out in the front.

 

It can be really hard to see the bend in a hinge, especially because it can be a very small change in angle, but that adds up to a lot when extended all the way across the hood. On our Protege5 they looked like they might be bent, and in a direction consistent with how it was not lining up, but I wasn't really sure until the replacements arrived. Setting them next to each other the older ones were clearly very slightly different. Also, if I'm remembering this correctly, the bend was all around the bendy part of the hinge. (The actual hinge part of the hinge piece.) The parts that were bolted to the hood and to the fender were still straight. Which makes sense because they were greatly strengthened by being attached to another piece of metal, whereas the metal from the proximal bolt on each side to the bendy part had to "stand on its own", as it were. So that's where they bent.

Note I'm just suggesting that the hinges might be bent. It could easily be some other piece that is the problem. Sometimes it is best to think of cars as not being sturdy metal, but rather constructed of folded up aluminum foil. In a collision, even one which just dents the hood, any and all related parts can be deformed. If I shove on a piece of metal on the car it feels strong, but that is misleading, because the amount of force I can apply is tiny compared to what the car can experience when its moving 3000 pounds encounters a fixed or massive impediment to that motion.