I can tell you because I just changed mine out
1st when you take the screws out to remove the black part connected to the hood. The black part slides to unlock itself. I didn't know and pryed mine off and broke all the holders [emoji849].
The silver ring just pops off to exspose the little...
What happened to mine... as I would shut it the bent triangle part would put the shock off of the top mount bracket. Every 5-6 times I would shit the hatch.
After looking at it in so many different ways.... first there is a shock mount issue for my 2008. Not sure on yours. I had to relocate the bottom mount. After that I STILL had the issue. Found my little triangle thingy was bent. Replaced that and it worked great! I bitch to get to but it works...
Not sure why it's loose unless it came out of the mount. That what mine does all the time. My plate was like your plate. It was bent and that pushed the arm out when I closed it
To be honest my buddy told me to change them because they had issues with them breaking. So just cheap insurance for me for putting new ones in. And like I said I was just changing the stator but he said for me to go ahead and change them.