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Hood latch Help

jredd823

New Member
Joined
February 19, 2010
Messages
5
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0
City, State
salisbury, md
Year, Model & Trim Level
1998
After recently changing the shift tube assemly in my girlfriends 98 explorer, i noticed that the hood wouldn't open. i put the issue off until a later day(being lazy) and today is that day. i had intended to change the oil in the truck. i drained the pan and changed the filterand i couldn't get the hood open. i pulled on the latch repeatedly with no luck. i did a google search and saw the many fixes for this issue on this site. i tried the screwdriver to open the hood manually through the grill. i dont know if i am doing it wrong but this didnt open the hood. i got frustrated and pulled as much of the cable as i could into the cabin of the truck and still couldnt get it opened. i got desperate and cut the grill enough to get my hand in there i can feel where the hood is supposed to be disengaged on the bottom of the hood latch. i moved it to the right with my hand, but this didnt open the hood. is there anything i am missing. i am doing all of this alone btw. any help is greatly appreciated
 






can you get a wrench/socket in there and unbolt it? I'm pretty sure its just one bolt on each side. I accidentally closed the hood on a rattle can cap one day, and it actually somehow wedged my hood closed.. had to take a pry bar and smash the cap into piece so the pressure was released... any chance there is something wedged in there?

since there is a hole in the guard now, can you get some snips in and cut the cable to the latch, then pull the cable with needle nose from there? try and pull up and down on the hood while you pull on the cable.
 






If you can enlist a helper, have them push down on the hood while you
pull on the cable with pliers. This takes some of the pressure off of
the latch.
 






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