Hood lift question

Greetings:
I'm the new owner of a used 1999 GC LTD. I took it home yesterday,
opened the hood and couldn't find a way for it to stay open! There is
no prop rod. Thinking maybe it had a detent in the lift mechanism, I
pushed it a bit past where I probably should have and one of the lift
shocks (driver's side) came out of it's ball socket. No big deal as it
popped right back in, but I'll be darned if I can figure how to hold
it up! What am I missing?
Thanks in advance for any insight.

DP wrote:
> Greetings:
> I'm the new owner of a used 1999 GC LTD. I took it home yesterday,
> opened the hood and couldn't find a way for it to stay open! There is
> no prop rod. Thinking maybe it had a detent in the lift mechanism, I
> pushed it a bit past where I probably should have and one of the lift
> shocks (driver's side) came out of it's ball socket. No big deal as it
> popped right back in, but I'll be darned if I can figure how to hold
> it up! What am I missing?
> Thanks in advance for any insight.

It's not a shock, it's a gas strut. The strut is what holds up the hood.

Your gas strut is dead, they don't last too well.
I wind up replacing the ones on my lift gate about once every
four years.

They aren't cheap either. :/

--
DougW

On Aug 8, 6:38*pm, "DougW" > wrote:
> DP wrote:
> > Greetings:
> > I'm the new owner of a used 1999 GC LTD. I took it home yesterday,
> > opened the hood and couldn't find a way for it to stay open! There is
> > no prop rod. Thinking maybe it had a detent in the lift mechanism, I
> > pushed it a bit past where I probably should have and one of the lift
> > shocks (driver's side) came out of it's ball socket. No big deal as it
> > popped right back in, but I'll be darned if I can figure how to hold
> > it up! What am I missing?
> > Thanks in advance for any insight.
>
> It's not a shock, it's a gas strut. *The strut is what holds up the hood.
>
> Your gas strut is dead, they don't last too well.
> I wind up replacing the ones on my lift gate about once every
> four years.
>
> They aren't cheap either. :/
>
> --
> DougW

Thanks for the info. I went back to the dealer and he's going to order
me two new ones at cost. In the mean time, I'm going to get one of
those boat hooks!

On 8/8/2012 1:05 PM, DP wrote:
> Greetings:
> I'm the new owner of a used 1999 GC LTD. I took it home yesterday,
> opened the hood and couldn't find a way for it to stay open! There is
> no prop rod. Thinking maybe it had a detent in the lift mechanism, I
> pushed it a bit past where I probably should have and one of the lift
> shocks (driver's side) came out of it's ball socket. No big deal as it
> popped right back in, but I'll be darned if I can figure how to hold
> it up! What am I missing?
> Thanks in advance for any insight.
>

Hood lift cylinder MONROE Part # 901382 $12.22 at rockauto.com Replace
in pairs. Couple day delivery most of the time