Hood-mounted hood latch part

I'm getting ready to sell my "no compression in Cyl 4" 2004 Tundra, and suddenly the hood won't open. I was able to compare against the 05 I just got and reach through the grill to pull the hood-mounted latch arm back to open it.

The connecting rod from the hand-operated lever to the latch arm mounted on the hood appears to have broken free, and I believe it's a plastic piece that's missing. I cannot locate this part on Rock Auto. What's it called, and is there some other place I should be looking for parts?

I've highlighted the loose rod, and put an arrow pointing towards the area it's supposed to go.

 

You can technically put it back in its hole and zip tie to the bracket, but you should get the proper rod clip and reinstall.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/2001-tundra-grill-hood-latch-doesnt-work.118361/#post-3040989

https://www.tundras.com/threads/hel...r-for-hood-latch-bracket.121969/#post-3126725

 

Oh and I looked, my local stealership has it for $2.90 @ https://autoparts.toyota.com/products/product/snap-door-lock-cont-697590c010

Meanwhile, no compression in one cylinder can be something as stupid as a stuck valve. You wouldn't be the first.

 

Thank you!
I am not equipped to work on engines, and the dealer wants about $3600 in labor just to open it up and replace valves, which may or may not be the issue. We didn't want to gamble $3600 on a "maybe" fix when there's still some other work pending. Now I have an 05 that's generally nicer, has 100k fewer miles, and now I know about the forum to help it stay nicer.

As long as the darn power windows don't break. I'm going to miss manual windows. I've hated power windows ever since I had to replace 3 in 3 years on a 92 Camry with steadily escalating costs for the regulators.

 

Dude. Before you cut everything ...

Stuck valve will cause low or zero compression. You can sometimes tell if it's an exhaust or intake valve by listening whether the hissing of air is out the exhaust or to the intake.

Intake valve you can unstick pretty easily without opening anything, are you willing to spend $20-30 on something that may help or solve the problem?

Get this at your local parts store. Follow their instructions in the 1st video below to the letter, use a 2x4 or a golf club or whatever to hold the pedal at the right RPM, the 'hot soak' period after is key. Ideally apply the stuff to the tank before you start top-end and when you have under 1/4 tank of gas. If you see an improvement in compression after the 1st treatment, consider another treatment ASAP, and potentially fully free the valve.

Their top-end cleaning kit has resolved a myriad of issues for me in the past. It's not a gimmick. See 2nd video for just one real-world, unsponsored example. under $30 and about 30 mins of your time, and you could see results. Seems like a no-brainer risk, and I don't see it making things worse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5N_Z1W6mho
​

This is what this kit is capable of in the real-world, this guy is not sponsored by them and is a great source many of us wrench turners watch, he's legit. Expect your truck to smoke like this when starting after the hot soak, that hot soak is what's going to help free up a stuck intake valve.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agAWXnT4-EQ
​

And just to show it wasn't some gimmicky shit, update a year later on same truck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prXiQgVVnDY​

 

And just to reiterate this is a safe product, one which I use as routine maintenance to avoid stuck valves and other issues, here is proof from when I treated my truck this spring. I probably shouldn't have done this right after shampooing out the carpet on my camper shell roof

​

 

Shifty do you squirt the seafoam into the throttle body for the hot soak as he did in the video?

 

I followed his method to the letter, that's the proper way to do it.

Seafoam (on their FAQ/support page) cautions against sucking fluid into the intake using a vacuum hose. I guess some aggressive people tried sucking up a whole bottle at once and hydrolocked their motor? I thought that was urban legend! They don't directly say it, but they warn against it.

My truck was smoking heavily for a good 5-10 minutes of idling after hot soak. It dredged loose a TON of deposits to be burnt. And my truck only has just shy of 80k original miles!

 

Wow, thanks.
Would this help for both intake and exhaust valves?
Having this running when I sell it is about a big swing in value. I paid $5500 for my 04 at 135k miles in 2011, and KBB thinks it's worth about $5500 now at 285k miles in 2024.
Should I make a new thread? might be worth discussing my other issue(s) too.

 

Intake valves yes. Exhaust valves vent out to the exhaust manifold and don't look like there's any physical access to the valve from the valve cover, so likely no way to touch those, minus unconventional means. But you have a 50/50 chance, for $30 or less, it's going to be an intake valve that's stuck, and this will break it free. If it's not, it's such a small amount of money to spend.

 

Absolutely. Going to stop and pick one of these up tomorrow AM.

 

No luck with the Sea Foam. Did the whole process and it's still misfiring. It was worth a try!

 

Last thing I’d probably try would be popping off the passenger valve cover, and have someone manually turn over the engine using the crank bolt (clockwise), while you watch the valves for cylinder 4 of the head. The exhaust valve will be flat-top, and you’ll see the cam lobe (the pointed end of the teardrop shaped cam lobe) over the cylinder as it engages with the cam. I’m assuming it’s stuck open if no compression, so it may or may not move at all, or very little. If you find both valves are opening and closing, then there’s no good news to share about that condition….

 

And to see what I’m talking about, skip to around the 1m50s mark of this video, watch the valve move against the cam lobe. This video is potential diagnostic for you too.

(or just watch the whole video)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SzO8X5SJDsE

 

Good news... the local mechanic shop we use called yesterday to ask me to bring the truck back in. They discovered that their compression-measuring tool had a blocked orifice and may not have been working properly, and wanted to redo the test. I dropped it off last night.

I got a call back this morning that compression on Cylinder 4 is slightly low, but it is holding compression. They continued to recheck things and found that the wire running to the spark plug in that cylinder was shorting out to the engine block. Replaced, and it's running fine now!
They also replaced the latch piece.
I have already upgraded to my 05, so I'll still be selling this one (285k miles), but I should get a much better price for it now.