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2000 Ford Explorer hood stuck

LesMinton

Member
Joined
February 2, 2009
Messages
19
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0
City, State
Augusta, ME
Year, Model & Trim Level
2000 Explorer XLT
My hood release is not releasing, which is causing me some understandable concern.

I searched this site and found some useful information, however, try as I might, I cannot find any way to release the hood from the front of the truck.

Could someone post a detailed explanation, possibly with pictures? I am just a bit stupid about this area of my truck, I have never had a problem with hood releases.
 



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sometimes if you have somebody push down a bit on the hood when pulling the handle it will release right away , others bump it a bit with the palm of the hand,, but not tooo hard, , it might leave a dent,,,
 






sometimes if you have somebody push down a bit on the hood when pulling the handle it will release right away , others bump it a bit with the palm of the hand,, but not tooo hard, , it might leave a dent,,,


I wish it were that simple. That was the method I had to use previously. Now there is a noticeable difference in the tension on the hood release.

I know there is a way to get this stupid hood to pop, I just cannot figure it out, short of taking a saw to the hood.
 






Is the hood STUCK (like you can pull the release but nothing happens)...or is your hood handle not popping it?
 






The hatch release probably needs cleaning and lubricating. I had to do that to mine a couple months ago. You have to keep trying to pull the release and push down and up on the hood to get it to release. Once you get it open, take the latch off which is easy, spray the mechanism with some WD-40, clean it up, then lubricate it with some grease like lithium grease.
 






you didnt happen to get the saftey catch hooked into the hood release did you this happened to my explorer 2 3 months back and it was a real BIT*H to get realesed it consisted of prying with a big ass crowbar and some wiggling and pushing and pulling i dont exactly remember the trick to it but my grandpa a mechanic of 30 years had some trouble with this one himself we finally did get it without tearing things up to bad just cracked some plastic on the inside of the hood a little but nothing to serious good luck to you man i hope this isnt the case but its known to happen
 






Is the hood STUCK (like you can pull the release but nothing happens)...or is your hood handle not popping it?

I pull the release and nothing happens. I know people think that I just need to tap the hood a couple of times, but that has been tried, and the hood release is not pulling on anything, so I can beat on the hood until it falls off and it will not make a difference.

If I can get it open it will make replacing the cable infinitely easier, which is what needs to be done. Is there a way, or do I need an angle grinder?
 






I am getting a little frustrated with this, as you might imagine.
 






The release is super easy to pull? I wonder if the cable came unhooked somehow. If the problem is the latch than it should be real hard to pull the release.
 






The release is super easy to pull? I wonder if the cable came unhooked somehow. If the problem is the latch than it should be real hard to pull the release.

Maybe that is what it is, if I could open the hood I would examine it, but that brings me back to my original problem.
 






Try this...in the future

My hood release is not releasing, which is causing me some understandable concern.

I searched this site and found some useful information, however, try as I might, I cannot find any way to release the hood from the front of the truck.

Could someone post a detailed explanation, possibly with pictures? I am just a bit stupid about this area of my truck, I have never had a problem with hood releases.

I imagine you already found a bad solution to your problem but if anybody else is reading this I may have a suggestion. The Hood Latch has a secondary release lever to the right of the main lever. This can be tripped with a flat blade and a little twisting patience. I discovered this after I cut my cable and now have been fruitlessly trying to push a rope (the cable) back into place. Once you get the hood popped I suggest taking apart the latch mechanism...it's real easy...and clean and lube it up. works like a charm afterwards.
 






I imagine you already found a bad solution to your problem but if anybody else is reading this I may have a suggestion. The Hood Latch has a secondary release lever to the right of the main lever. This can be tripped with a flat blade and a little twisting patience. I discovered this after I cut my cable and now have been fruitlessly trying to push a rope (the cable) back into place. Once you get the hood popped I suggest taking apart the latch mechanism...it's real easy...and clean and lube it up. works like a charm afterwards.

I reckon thats what I need to find. I need to get under the hood to work on some other things, and it is doubly frustrating. I am going to get out in the morning and try to work on it, but I really wish I had a diagram or a good exploded picture to check out how it is laid out.
 






try a to stick something in between the header panel and the press on the hood latch ...I had to do this when a screw driver got jammed between the hood and the header panel and my hand was caught too...was not fun
 






I reckon thats what I need to find. I need to get under the hood to work on some other things, and it is doubly frustrating. I am going to get out in the morning and try to work on it, but I really wish I had a diagram or a good exploded picture to check out how it is laid out.

18205Hood_Latch.jpg
 






I have the same problem with mine. what i do when i need to get the hood open is

-pull the release out as far as i can
-take a pair of pliers and grab the cable
-yank to all hell, and it pops right open.

Just a warning thought make sure that you are not pinching to hard otherwise you'll snap your cable. I did that this past Saturday.

If you happen to snap your cable, undo it from its housing strip the black plastic and latch on with a pair of pliers and then pull, it opens really easy that way... but your now stuck with a broken cable, hanging there...

hope it helped a lil
 






I have the same problem with mine. what i do when i need to get the hood open is

-pull the release out as far as i can
-take a pair of pliers and grab the cable
-yank to all hell, and it pops right open.

Just a warning thought make sure that you are not pinching to hard otherwise you'll snap your cable. I did that this past Saturday.

If you happen to snap your cable, undo it from its housing strip the black plastic and latch on with a pair of pliers and then pull, it opens really easy that way... but your now stuck with a broken cable, hanging there...

hope it helped a lil

thats what i did with mine!
 






I have the same problem with mine. what i do when i need to get the hood open is

-pull the release out as far as i can
-take a pair of pliers and grab the cable
-yank to all hell, and it pops right open.

Just a warning thought make sure that you are not pinching to hard otherwise you'll snap your cable. I did that this past Saturday.

If you happen to snap your cable, undo it from its housing strip the black plastic and latch on with a pair of pliers and then pull, it opens really easy that way... but your now stuck with a broken cable, hanging there...

hope it helped a lil

After many attempts I was finally able to open the hood with this method. I was not able to access the "C" thing for the secondary release, I couldnt get to it through the grill, was too high.

Anyway, now on to my next problem, in a new post.
 






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