Another hood latch problem

[Ranger379]

hey guys, searched alot and didnt find anything that would help me. my moms 95 hood wont open. she took it to get oil change at a pennzoil shop. the place is a rip off. the broke the hood latch and didnt tell her. i went to check the oil and stuff last week and it wouldnt open. she went back to complain and they said, it was broke when she took it there and they opened it with a screw driver.

im not sure what is broken, and i couldnt figure out how to manually release it. the hood latch handle moves freely. there is about an inch of slack behind the latch handle. so im guessing maybe the cable is broken somewhere between the latch and the latch handle. i havent had time to mess with it yet since she is always working when ever im not. how do i manually open it? thanks!

 

[SeriousBiznes]

Oh I've had the same problem with mine. And I have to use a flat head screw driver to pop it up. If you don't find out how to open it By the morning I'll post some pics of where to pop it at thru the grill.

 

[Ranger379]

Oh I've had the same problem with mine. And I have to use a flat head screw driver to pop it up. If you don't find out how to open it By the morning I'll post some pics of where to pop it at thru the grill.

hey that would be great. i could only find one picture when iwas searching and it didnt really help. thanks

 

[SeriousBiznes]

OK I spoke too soon. I gotta figure out how to upload pics. I'm new here my self...lol

 

[SeriousBiznes]

well i can't upload because i'm not an "Elite Member" hahaha. If you want i can email them to you

 

[scottnh1970]

I just went through this last week. My dad's hood was stuck. He said its been that way for 6 months (time for oil change).

You need two people. On pulling the hood lever, the other in front of the truck pushing down on the hood lip (where the latch is located [center front of hood]) after each lever pull. I had to us both hands and push down hard in a jerk motion, then my dad pulled the lever. We did this 5-8 times back and forth. It finally opened. His hood shocks blew years ago so the full weight of the heavy hood has to pop up. Once up, I just lubed the latch and works perfect now.

 

[Ranger379]

On pulling the hood lever,

hood lever doesnt work. there is about an extra inch of slack behind the lever, im thinking the cable might have broken, im going to look at it again now, its 15 years old, and its been like 10 degrees out lately so maybe it just broke.

 

[Ranger379]

well i can't upload because i'm not an "Elite Member" hahaha. If you want i can email them to you

go to a pic hosting site, i use www.imageshack.com upload them there then copy/paste the link to them here.

 

[scottnh1970]

hood lever doesnt work. there is about an extra inch of slack behind the lever, im thinking the cable might have broken, im going to look at it again now, its 15 years old, and its been like 10 degrees out lately so maybe it just broke.

This was done on a very rusted 1998 V8 explorer. I had the same conditions. I thought the lever was toast. Not until the back and forth of pulling then pushing on the hood forced the latch to make a "click" sound. Then I pushed down again and the hood popped up to the secondary latch. If there is completely now tension on your hood lever then I would assume it is broke.

My hood lever had tension, but when I pulled it the was no reaction, no sound, nothing. It wasn't until we did many back and forths of pulling and pushing on the hood front did I here something—you have nothing to loose. Do it a hundred times...its free. It was 20 degrees out side when we did this and my dad let the truck sit outside for 6 months in PA. Like I said he tried opening it before 6 months ago and could'nt....assumed it was broke.

Also, try using pliers to pull the cable behind the lever. We did this as well. I was afraid of stretching the cable, but since the free fix, the cable works find now.

 

[Ranger379]

well im going to go see waht i can find out about it now.

 

[SeriousBiznes]

http://img211.imageshack.us/i/imag0122.jpg/

http://img410.imageshack.us/i/imag0121u.jpg/
If you can see that triangle shaped thing, there should be like a little gap at the top center. Stick the flat head in at an angle from the right. and pop it to the left. hope you understand.

 

[panamexplorer]

If you try the screwdriver and the latch is locked you will not be able to get in however you will damage your hood or grill. In the picture from the last thread you will see a small hook at the bottom right of the pic just to the left of the bolt with the large washer (it's almost out of the screen). That hook is the manual overide release. Now, do you have patience? if so, this is how to pop your hood. First on explorers a common problem is that the cable is fine, all is working, but the problem is that the steal plate holding the cable sleeve at the hood latch bends in over time until there is not enough pull to release. bending it back straight works, but a couple of times will break it so if you get it open weld the corner of the gap. Now... to open get a coat hanger and make a small hook facing away from you with a slight curve on the end...slide it into the grille to the right of the hood release bracket...just on top of the bracket under the main hold down jaw (that clips into the hood) is a small c hook...if you can get a hold of this manual overide and pull, your in.
Do yourself a favour and take a good look at how this works while the hood is up, because once you have done it the first time it's simple.

If you can't quite understand where this all is go to a wreckers and look at one or, do what I did.. I stopped and asked a guy at the supermarket if I could look at his Explorer!!

 

[Ranger379]

http://img211.imageshack.us/i/imag0122.jpg/

http://img410.imageshack.us/i/imag0121u.jpg/
If you can see that triangle shaped thing, there should be like a little gap at the top center. Stick the flat head in at an angle from the right. and pop it to the left. hope you understand.

o ok, thanks ill give it a shot tomorow. before i went to work i tried pulling the cable with pliers and that didnt work. mabye the hood latch itself if broken....

 

[Ranger379]

got it open. the cable is stretched. i see there is a kink in the wire and it has stretched. its not broken tho. i guess ill go to a junk yard. do you have to replace the cable and latch? or can i just get a whole new cable?

 

[scottnh1970]

I think just replace the cable. You will have to remove the latch housing from the truck to see under. There is a latch-lever with a hole in it where the cable is threaded through then tied off into a loop. Just cut it and tie the new one on.

Another idea before going to the junk yard is to cut the one you have shorter and reattach it since is stretched.

 

[SeriousBiznes]

good. did it work the way i said or u figured out another way

 

[tgirl]

My 2001 Mercury Mountaineer hood is recessed....pneudraulic lifts were shot. Cable is in tact and tried to open pulling cable behind grill with no luck. Can manually move the hood release but think the secondary is wedged. No amount of prying anywhere helps. Lubed it up very well but that didn't help either. Can't push down at all on the hood to release the pressure. Mechanic says I'll probably have to break the grill to get to the secondary mechanism. Is there a less intrusive method to get the hood open? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[curt1007]

My 2001 Mercury Mountaineer hood is recessed....pneudraulic lifts were shot. Cable is in tact and tried to open pulling cable behind grill with no luck. Can manually move the hood release but think the secondary is wedged. No amount of prying anywhere helps. Lubed it up very well but that didn't help either. Can't push down at all on the hood to release the pressure. Mechanic says I'll probably have to break the grill to get to the secondary mechanism. Is there a less intrusive method to get the hood open? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

I know these are annoying, try using pliers inside on that cable. Give it a hard pull. I use a pair of vise grips on mine, keep them in my door pocket all the time. Good luck

 

[drdoom]

Yeah my cable was damaged in a fire, it was at the same point. I replaced it with a Motorcraft cable. Works great now.

 

[tgirl]

Thanks Curt but.....I'm able to actuate that latch using a pair of pliers by reaching through the grill and pulling on the cable. It's the latch to the right of that one that's bound up.