hi i have 97 subaru outback. recently driving on expressway at 80mph the hood flew up and busted my windshield. i have had the windshield fixed. there is a pretty big dent across the hood from one side to the other. it won't let me close the hood because it is dented down towards the motor. there is a 4 inch gap between hood and latch. . any ideas on pulling dents out. everything lines up and the dent isn't creased. so i believe if i can undent it it should allow it to latch. i have never done body work though. someone mentioned a toilet plunger to me

 

thanks for any help

 

jake

You really need to see a qualified body technician and let them evaluate how to undo the damage, rather than take our advice on something we can't see up close, and few of us are qualified to answer even then. Did the underside bracing get bent? It has to bee or the hood would still close. Is the surface metal stretched? In both cases it may be necessary to shrink the metal and pop it out using a torch (= burned paint= total hood refinishing underside and outer surface). You may find it cheaper to buy a used hood, and lucky enough to find it in the right colour. You really won't know where you stand until, as I said, you let someone who truly knows have a look at it. A skilled bodyman can tell you your cheapest correction in pretty short order. Now I understand why our Provincial Police cruisers all had a heavy chain and hook assembly from the hood to the hood support, 40 years ago when I was a kid pumping gas at a highway service centre. Don't know if they still do with today's cars having double locks, but it wouldn't surprise me. Good Luck!

hi i have 97 subaru outback. recently driving on expressway at 80mph the hood flew up and busted my windshield. i have had the windshield fixed. there is a pretty big dent across the hood from one side to the other. it won't let me close the hood because it is dented down towards the motor. there is a 4 inch gap between hood and latch. . any ideas on pulling dents out. everything lines up and the dent isn't creased. so i believe if i can undent it it should allow it to latch. i have never done body work though. someone mentioned a toilet plunger to me

 

thanks for any help

 

jake

 

That happened to me on my 95. The hood sheet metal isn't too thick so I hammered it out with my hand on the side of the road so I could get the hood down (and secured the latch) so I could keep driving to work.

You should be able to hand-hammer with a rubber mallet enough to get the hood closed but it wont ever go back to flat. I had a wavy hood till I traded it it.

The bigger question may be why your hood let loose. Do you know why? I'd fix that before I do anything.

My problem was I popped the inside latch to change my oil the night before, but never changed the oil and forgot about it until the next day on the highway. Luckily I saw the hood begin to move so what was a surprise wasn't as bad as it could have been.

 

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John