Hood latch won't stay in locked position. Hood is 1 quarter inch high.

Sorry but no. The only adjustment for the hood is the hood latch. If the hood needs to move over an inch to line up with the hood latch then it must also need to move over an inch to line up with the fenders. If I understand it correctly then you may need to dig deeper. The frame or the nose may be racked (out of square). Good luck. But let me know if I can be of more help. Thank you.

i had to elongate the hole in the brackets to get a 1/4 in of adjustment from side to side.

Raise hood,have some one go pull hood latch and you look at latch and see if it releases,if it doesn't then cable may need replacing,I would'nt completely shut hood cause you may not get back open,also check hood latches bolts and latch for something bent or broken.

You can't take the grill off because you have to open the hood to get the grill off.Here is a diagram of the latch and cable routing you will have to try to get to the cable from under the car and pull it to open it or use a long screwdriver to unla

REMOVAL & INSTALLATION

See Figures 1, 2 and 3

Fig. Fig. 1: Exploded view of a typical hood mounting

1. Open the hood and support it securely. Mark the hinge location on the hood. If so equipped, disconnect the windshield washer hose from its retaining clamp.

Fig. Fig. 2: Matchmark the position of the hood before removing the retaining bolts

Fig. Fig. 3: Have an assistant secure the hood, then remove the retaining bolts

1. Have an assistant hold the hood in the up position. Remove the hood support and remove the hinge-to-hood bolts.
2. Remove the hood from the vehicle.

To install:

1. Position the hood against the hinges, using the marks made previously on the hood to help with alignment.
2. Have an assistant hold the hood. Install the hinge-to-hood bolts, the hood support and the hood support bolts. If so equipped, install the washer hose.
3. Tighten all bolts securely and check the hood for proper alignment.

ALIGNMENT

Hood
The hood is provided with up-and-down and side-to-side adjustments.

1. To make the side-to-side adjustments:
   1. Loosen the hood attaching bolts and move the hood to the proper position, then tighten the attaching bolts.
   2. Repeat the procedure if necessary.
   
   
2. To make the up-and-down adjustment (at the rear of the hood):
   1. Loosen the hood stop bolts.
   2. Using a screwdriver, turn the hood stop screws clockwise to lower the hood and counterclockwise to raise the hood. Hood is at the proper height when it is flush with the fenders.
   3. Tighten the hood stop bolts.
   4. Repeat the procedure if necessary.
   
   

Hood Latch
See Figure 4

1. Make sure that the hood is properly aligned.
2. Remove the hood latch attaching bolts. Move them as necessary to align with the latch dowel. Tighten the attaching bolts.
3. Remove the locknut on the hood latch dowel, and turn the dowel clockwise to pull the hood tighter and counterclockwise to loosen it. The proper height is when the top of the hood is flush with the fenders.
4. Tighten the dowel locknut after the proper adjustment has been obtained.

Fig. Fig. 4: The hood latch can be adjusted in the directions tch it through the grill.

You may need a professional to get this hood open, and it will likely need to be on a car lift. Try this if you are handy, try removing the driver side fender well liner for access to the latch.

Hello there,
For you to be able to take off the assembly of the headlight on your car, please follow the steps below:
Ensure that the headlight switch (on the driver side of the Regal's passenger cabin) is in the off position.
Release the hood latch and open the hood.
Approach the passenger-side headlamp assembly. (Although on your left, this is the right-side lens assembly when sitting inside the vehicle.)
Locate the two white retaining brackets on the top rear edge of the assembly.
Lift the tabs straight upward about an inch to an inch and a half.
Grab the assembly from the sides of the front edge (being careful of any broken lens pieces; although the lens is made of plastic, you can still get cut by jagged pieces).
Firmly pull the assembly outward, away from the front of the Regal. Wiggle the assembly slightly to unseat the headlamp assembly alignment guide pins from their anchors.
Pull the assembly out only far enough to access the wire harness connections of the low-beam headlight, the high-beam headlight and the integrated parking/directional light.
Twist the retaining collar of the low-beam lamp (the outside lamp, toward the fender) a quarter-turn counterclockwise to remove the light from the headlamp assembly while it is still attached to the wire harness. Be careful not to contact the halogen bulbs with your bare hands, or you can damage the bulbs.
Twist the retaining collar of the high-beam headlight (the inner headlight, closer to the grill) in the same manner as you did the low-beam lamp to remove the high-beam bulb and harness from the headlamp assembly.
Twist the socket of the last remaining integrated parking/directional bulb and wire harness assembly a quarter-turn counterclockwise to remove it from the headlight assembly.
Discard the assembly and replace it with the new headlamp assembly by following the steps above in reverse order. Make sure to align the tabs of the retaining collar and parking/directional lamp socket with the mating notches on the new headlamp assembly before turning them all clockwise a quarter-turn to lock them in place.
All the best Elect_Comp

Your hood latch probably isn't returning to the right position for it to catch. This is commonly caused by one of two problems: (1) too much hardened grease and crud on the latch itself is keeping it from operating freely; or (2) the hood release cable has gotten rusty or kinked over time and is no longer releasing completely.
I would suggest testing the hood release cable before doing anything else. It's an easy test and it only takes a minute. Enlist the help of a second person to pull the hood release lever while you look at the hood latch. When your helper pull on the release, you should see the cable pull part of the hood latch. When they let go, that part should swing back to its prior position. Using a long-shafted screwdriver, see whether you can "help" that moving part move any further on its return path. If you can push the latch any significant amount, it's not returning all the way to its proper position, and your hood release cable is probably binding.
In the short term, if you manually push the hood latch back into position, you should be able to close your hood again. However, you'll have to do this each time you open the hood. In addition, you run the risk that, not too far in the future, your hood release cable will actually completely bind or snap, and then you'll have a much harder time opening your hood to replace the cable (or do anything else, like add oil or washer fluid).

SOUND LIKE YOUR HOOD LATCH IS STUCK IN THE RELEASE POSITION. YOU CAN DO TWO THINGS. REPLACE YOUR HOOD LATCH OR PUSH THE LATCH BACK INTO POSITION MANUALLY EVERYTIME YOU OPEN YOUR HOOD. IT'S EASY. FIRST CHECK YOUR HOOD RELEASE LEVER (DRIVER SIDE KICK PANEL)AND MAKE SURE IT'S MOVING FREELY. IF LEVER IS OK,GO TO YOUR HOOD LATCH. LOOK TO THE RIGHT OF THE LATCH (LOOK DOWN FROM THE TOP VIEW)AND YOU'LL SEE A SMALL METAL BAR WITH A SPRING PULLING DOWN ON IT(MIGHT NEED FLASH LIGHT TO SEE BAR AND SPRING). TAKE A FLATHEAD SCREWDRIVER AND PUSH DOWN ON THE METAL BAR WHERE SPRING CONNECT. THE BAR SURE MOVE ABOUT 1/4 INCH DOWN. CLOSE YOU HOOD AND YOU'RE DONE. YOU JUST HAVE TO PUSH THE BAR DOWN EVERYTIME YOU OPEN IT.

TOOLS:
Screw Driver, Plastic Cup to place your bolts.

STEPS:
1. Buy a new latch for $20 max. or $5 from your local junkyard
2. Open your hood. Take out your grille. Front bumper. Driver side fender and plastic fender cover.
3. Take the plastic panel covering the hood release latch. (should have 1 plastic screw, just pop that with a flat-head screw driver)
4. Remove bracket (2x -10mm bolts)
5. Remove the entire broken hood release with your new one.
6. Place everything back
7. Enjoy!

Cable is sticking, look at hood latch and push down on the thin cable. It will allow the hood to shut. my 96 Accord does the same thing.