Anyone know how to adjust the hood on a 2005 Sightseer?

[Yellowboat]

Does anyone know how to adjust the hood on a 2005 Sightseer?

Our Ford V10 engine died in our 2005 Sightseer at 17,900 miles while traveling through Oregon. We live in Washington near Seattle. A rebuilt engine was installed. In fact two rebuilt engines were installed but that is a story for another time.

I don't want to make the three hour drive to the dealer that installed the replacement engine for a hood adjustment.

Everything works great but the hood does not stay in place. The top of the hood will creep out about 1/2 inch while driving. I can push it back into place but it will sag once again.

I think the hood is not adjusted correctly and I was wondering if anyone knew where to find instructions to install and adjust a 2005 sightseer hood.

Thanks

JD

[RVJeeper]

I'll be interested in hearing about an adjustment too, JD. The hood on our Sunova sags in a similar fashion.

[Dunnpe]

There is a similar post just a few weeks ago. Its a common problem and no one has found a solution to the hood adjustment. I took matters into my own hands and installed hood pins and removed the hinge totally. Now I just remove the hood to check fluids. See my post and others in the previous thread

[laplatarosa]

It has been a while, but on our 2006 Sightseer 35N the brackets were the problem. They had been glued onto the fiberglass and the glue had released. It was hard to see because when the hood was open the weight of the hoos pulled the brackets into place. Making them look like they were tight to the fiberglass.

My solution was to drill through the fiberglass and the brackets. I then mounted the bracket with stainless steel carriage bolts with nyloc nuts & washers. My bolt heads don't show because they are behind the hood when the hood is closed.

Once the bracket were solid I was able to adjust hood.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

[Yellowboat]

This afternoon I decided to figure out how to adjust my 2005 Sightseer hood. All done. It no longer droops down and stick out at the top. It is now flush with the surrounding body.

I called two RV service departments and they both said one to two hours of labor at shop rates. It took me about 1.5 hours but I think I could now do it in about 15 minutes.

JD

[scarecoupe]

Yellowboat, I've been fighting this hood being out 1/2 inch on the passenger side for quite a while,how did you finally win?

[Yellowboat]

I did a lot. It took me about 1.5 hours. I took my hood off and inspected both hinges and attach brackets. My brackets were adjusted differently on both sides so I adjusted them to be approximately the same using a piece of wood that I cut as a way to compare each hinge to the surrounding body. This helped me understand how the hinges worked but in the end I don't think it was necessary as when I reinstalled my hood it still didn't fit correctly.

What I finally did was to loosen all three bolts holding the hinge bracket in place on one side of the hood. The two upper bolts are studs with 1/2 inch nuts. Loosen the nuts. The bottom fastener is a rubber stop held in place by an upper and lower 1/2 inch jam nuts. I loosened the lower nut. By the way all you will need is two 1/2 inch wrenches. Once everything was loose on the passenger side with the hood open so there is access to tighten the fasteners push in on the top of the hood and pull out on the bottom of the hood. This pressure will push the top of the hinge bracket back and pull the bottom out. Keeping the pressure on I tightened all of the nuts starting at the top and working down. I repeated this process on the other side. For my rig I needed all of the adjustment available. It might be helpful to have a helper to put pressure on the hood but I was able to do it by myself.

After I made the adjustment to the hood hinge brackets the top of the hood hit the top of the hood recessed opening. I loosened the nuts on one side of the hood and adjusted the hood down. I repeated the process lowering the other side. I made adjustments till my hood decals aligned with the body decals.

Next I adjusted the five rubber stops so that they contacted the hood when closed.

I hope this works for you.

Please let me know if it helps.

[scarecoupe]

Yellow Boat,

Thanks for the info,I will try it one more time. I've had the hood off 3 times and haven't won yet. I even bought a new hinge for the right side and it was no better. Without the bar that goes from hinge to hinge everything lined up,but once the bar was in place(with the hood on) the fun started. Always the right upper corner.

Leo

[prsmith]

Hi Yellowboat,

Is there a chance that you could upload some pictures of the bolts you are talking about?

I have spent hours trying get things lined up without success on my Itasca Suncruiser

Thanks

Preston

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yellowboat What I finally did was to loosen all three bolts holding the hinge bracket in place on one side of the hood. The two upper bolts are studs with 1/2 inch nuts. Loosen the nuts. The bottom fastener is a rubber stop held in place by an upper and lower 1/2 inch jam nuts. I loosened the lower nut. By the way all you will need is two 1/2 inch wrenches. Once everything was loose on the passenger side with the hood open so there is access to tighten the fasteners push in on the top of the hood and pull out on the bottom of the hood. This pressure will push the top of the hinge bracket back and pull the bottom out. Keeping the pressure on I tightened all of the nuts starting at the top and working down. I repeated this process on the other side. For my rig I needed all of the adjustment available. It might be helpful to have a helper to put pressure on the hood but I was able to do it by myself. Please let me know if it helps.

[scarecoupe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scarecoupe Yellow Boat, Thanks for the info,I will try it one more time. I've had the hood off 3 times and haven't won yet. I even bought a new hinge for the right side and it was no better. Without the bar that goes from hinge to hinge everything lined up,but once the bar was in place(with the hood on) the fun started. Always the right upper corner. Leo

Hi Yellowboat,

This hood saga started when I noticed the passenger side dropping because of the bottom fastner on the passenger side was missing.The dealer replaced the piece but it was never right,it stuck out on the upper corner on that side about 1/2". Because of that side being the problem I left the drivers side hinge in place thinking I needed something for a reference. That was a mistake, like you said, "adjust both hinges the same". I loosened the bolts on the cross bar,brought the drivers side hinge to match the passenger side,then tighten the cross bar and the hood is as good as new. I took some pictures but haven't figured how to upload them.

[Yellowboat]

Scarecoupe great news. I'm happy you were able to adjust your hood.

Little things like that bother me so one way or another I was going to get it fixed. I thought 2 hours of labor was a little high.

Prsmith. Like Scarecoupe I have pictures of the brackets but I'm not sure how to post them. The fasteners you are looking for are on the L bracket that supports the hood. On my rig all of the parts are painted black. Two of the fasteners are studs with nuts. From the hood opening all you can see of them are the back side of the studs (which are circles) on the L brackets. The lowermost fastener also supports a rubber stop. I hope this helps.