1990 tr front hood latch

I have the same problem. The spring is probably not doing it's job in returning the cable back. push the cable back manually then try again.

 

I had the same issue, and I think over time, either the cable stretches a little, or the mechanism gets a little loose. I'm an engineer and I have to say, it took me a while to adjust the cable and get the latch in the correct position. There are fasteners on the side of the latch mechanism that may need to be readjusted. The first thing that you might want to do is determine if the male part of the latch is going into the latch catch far enough but not catching. One way to do that is use a little grease and close the bonnet and check if it is aligned correctly and if there is evidence of grease far enough down and in the center. If that all still lines up, then my guess is that the cable adjustment needs to be fixed or as 53 ford said, the mechanism is not returning back to correct position. Spend a lot of time understanding how it works before making any adjustments. It is very strange the way the two sides interact. Make small adjustments first and make sure nothing is broke, loose, or bent.

My issue was complicated in that the cables needed adjustment and the latch had moved from its original position by loose fasteners all at the same time I installed a new bonnet seal making it hard to figure out what the root cause of the issue was. I always gently press on corners at the get the bonnet to latch due to the new seal. I worked to get the bonnet gap with side panels perfect and that requires the bonnet seal to compress.

 

I had the same problem a while back and it was a pain in the ass to figure it out. The problem is magnified by the interrelationship of the two latches. When you adjust the drivers side to tighten or loosen the cable it effects the tension on the passenger side. I left the hood up and inserted a the round edge of a screwdriver shaft of a similar thickness to the latches on the hood into the passenger side and found that the reason it was not latching was not because the hood latch was not aligning properly. It was because the cable tension was not correct. I went through numerous adjustments of the cables as it seemed as if when I got one side to work the other side would then be screwed up. After playing around with it a while I began to see how an adjustment on one side would effect the other and was able to accommodate for this and get it all adjusted properly. Just be careful not to lose the cable locking bolt and nut into the dash nether region. I almost did, but managed to recover it. Do all your adjustments with the hood up using screwdrivers in place of the two latches. It would also help to have an assistant to pull the hood release lever while you are watching the effect on the cables. I agree with Optimus' post, especially about starting out with small adjustments. Good luck and have patience.

Kindest regards, Lloyd