Bonnet latch not locking bonnet down

[passartist]

Hello all, not been around much, Passat has mainly been off the road. But back in use in the snow as the 4motion is awesome in the winter time!

Ive been aware that the bonnet latch for a while is a bit odd. I was dropping the bonnet to close and it would always need a push down to lock it. Sometimes even a couple of pushes as the latch just didn't want to engage fully.

Now I have taken the latch mech off and sprayed it with clutch cleaner to get it clean, was thinking to just replace it? Anyone else been here? It just seems like the assembly has maybe dropped down a little so it won't engage properly? But then the bolt holes don't really allow a lot of movement up or down?

There is a bar hanging down from the bottom bolt that I'm assuming went onto the engine undertray? As I don't have my cover installed atm that came off, is that part of the issue? I've found a new latch mech, but would rather mend what I have?