ICYMI: Secondary hood prop positions

Today’s article might score a little lower on technical difficulty and higher on automobilia esoterica, but I make no apologies.

In my salad days, I worked as a dismantler at a salvage yard. Pulling motors was commonplace, so I learned quickly about this tip I’m sure you’ve already figured out if you’re a veteran mechanic. But since most C-techs aren’t yankin’ engines all day, the secret of the secondary hood prop position may be just that, a secret.

You don’t need training on this. Photo: Lemmy.

We all know how to open a hood and use the prop rod (if so equipped). In the olden days of spring-loaded hood hinges (which actually work really well) and modern hood struts, for major mechanical work, pulling the hood is the way to go if it interferes with work in the engine bay. But prop-style hoods sometimes hold a valuable second position that gets the hood way up there. It’s not nearly as stable as the low position, but boy, is it ever helpful for pulling drivetrains or cowl work (like installing wiper motors and transmissions, or removing them for accessing spark plugs in transverse engine applications). The following picture will eschew a thousand of my words.

Possible hero caption: Open wide! Photo: Lemmy.

Four bolts to pull a hood isn’t a lot of work in the context of drivetrain replacement, but you do need a helper most of the time. But for a lighter job like a wiper trans linkage bushing, it’s a little bit of a pain to have to align panel gaps, so I always was thankful when I saw a car with one of these. Shop Press author Andy Greaser makes frequent use of his on his aging Wrangler, and he lovingly refers to the positions as “Is it broken?” and “Oh, yeah. It’s REALLY broken.”

I’d be remiss if I didn’t suggest checking out the condition of the hood prop rod clip and bushing. Both are items we sell here at Dorman that are low cost but support much more expensive parts—the hood, paint, and fenders. Service writers, don’t get your hopes up on this job, though. I can tell you from personal experience that those pieces are just like the one part of the car you’ll never sell.

So if you’re a newer mechanic and you’ve gotta really tuck into a job… stop and look for extra holes. Honda (and thus Acura) and Subaru have traditionally been awesome about including these, but I’ve definitely seen them on other makes, albeit less reliably so.