Fix Acura Hood that Won’t Stay Open
Does the Acura Hood not stay up or open? In most cases, the problem is the hood struts (also known as hood lift support). Replacing them takes less than 20 minutes and is considered an easy DIY, even for beginners.
Replacing Hood Struts in your Acura
Symptoms
The hood strut may be the culprit if you are experiencing any of the following problems.
- It won’t stay up or open.
- It stays open for a few seconds, then shuts.
- It closes automatically
What you will need
- ACURA Hood Lift Support
- Flathead Screwdriver
- A friend
Procedure
Follow these instructions to change the hood struts in Acura vehicles. Plan on approximately 30 minutes of labor. Be careful not to injure yourself.
Open the hood of the ACURA model. The latch release is located under the dashboard on the driver’s side.
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Secure it in the upright position. Locate the hood struts that need to be replaced. 
Above, you can see the location of the hood support on an Acura TLX.
Below, you can see the location of the hood support on an Acura TL, which has two.
Have a friend hold up the bonnet of your ACURA as you change the hood strut. 
Locate the clip that locks the hood support locks to the ball joint. Here is the clip that you need to remove. 
There is also another clip on the other end of the strut. 
Use a flat screwdriver to pry out the clip that locks the strut in place. 
Follow the same procedure for the other end. 
Install the new hood support in reverse order. 
Repeat this procedure for the other side. Here is a video that shows you how to change the lift support.
This guide will teach you how to replace the hood lift support on ACURA vehicles such as the MDX, NSX, RDX, RL RLX, RSX, SLX, TL TLX, ZDX, CDX, CL, VSX, EL, ILX, Integra, Legend.
We hope you find the Fix Acura Hood that Won’t Stay Open guide helpful. Check these troubleshooting and repair guides for more help on your Acura vehicle.
Great Article. It is true that 99% of the times, the issue will be the hood struts. They physically keep the whole hood in place. I’d want to say 100% but we cannot leave out other issues that might happen, e.g. simply a broken nut bolt etc.
For more advanced cars using a hydraulic system, the fault can be due to a number of other reasons.
A more serious problem is when the hood stays closed and won’t open again. That is a more complicated issue, although very rare.