Hood latch is stuck part closed: won't open and won't close

[myf16]

Today I recharged the AC, which required setting my big tank on top of the front crossmember. The tank must have depressed the hood latch, rotating it downward from its normal open position.

When I closed the hood it didn't close all the way. It's open about 3/4 inch and stuck there. Can't close it and can't open it. It appears to be aligned correctly left to right. The hood release lever will barely move and the hood won't open (I pulled up pretty hard) or close. What's your diagnosis?

P.S. Mine does not have anything that looks like the manual release in the photo at

How to: - Open hood without cable - Help! Hood won't open!

The hood on my 97 Ex won't open...i have tried pulling on the cable, with vise grips, having someone else push on the hood while pulling the cable, sticking a prybar between the hood and grille and applying gentle pressure, and a ridiculous amount of WD40. does anyone have any other tricks or...

www.explorerforum.com

I was able to locate the manual latch "hook" using this video

but even with that hook pushed fully to the drivers side nothing releases. I will try tomorrow with an assistant pulling the release handle under the dash.

 

[myf16]

With the hood stuck open a little, I have access to the two 8 mm bolt heads. Should I remove them in order to lift the hood and diagnose the problem?

 

[Mr. Alligator]

I have never had to do this, but have wondered if it would work…

maybe unbolt the two 8 mm bolts that you see in the “manual release” photo. Those are the bolts with the over sized washers. The hood release cable would still be attached, but maybe it could be released by un clipping the cable once you could see it. Maybe you would be able open the hood far enough to release the jammed latch.

Your second post seems to have this idea. If you can mark the positions of the 8mm bolts it would be helpful, as this is your hood latch adjustment and will save you some time and effort on reassembly. I am not sure about this entire approach, though. If nothing else worked, like pulling and pushing, I would try it.

Please post your results.

Good luck!

 

[myf16]

The cable release pulls the hook exactly like the screwdriver trick does. So that's not the problem. The release mechanism is working.

I think the hood is jammed onto the latch assembly and NOT actually latched. If I detach the latch assembly from the vehicle I will have no way to apply force to separate the hood from the latch assembly.

I think I need a couple of NFL linemen to lift the hood. Any other ideas?

One thought: The problem must be the secondary catch, not the primary. I can't move the secondary release lever more than half an inch. I guess this means I need to push DOWN on the hood enough to move the secondary release lever?

 

[Mbrooks420]

The hood isn’t terribly strong. A few linemen would fold it into a taco.

If it were me I’d remove the hood latch, and then cut it off and replace it with a junked unit.

 

[myf16]

Success! I loosed one of the 8 mm bolts then I heard a pop as that side of the assembly moved downward. I checked and the hood was free.

After opening the hood I released the latch from inside the car. I remounted the latch assembly in its original position with 1 mm, and all was back to normal.

 

[Mr. Alligator]

^^^^ solved.

You had to do something, and that worked.

Well done.