The hood latch on my 1998 Explorer won't open.

[uenvyit]

1998 ford explorer, my hood latch wont open the hood, is there an extra emercency latch somewhere reachable or how do i get my hood open, thank you for your help.

 

[uenvyit]

20 veiws and not 1 suggestion cmon guys, i need to get my hood up

 

[mic98xlt]

There are no hidden emergency hood release levers. I'm not trying to insult you but first make sure you are pulling the right lever under the dash. Make sure you can physically see the cable pull inside the black surround jacket when the lever is pulled. Try pulling on the thin metal cable inside of the black jacket by the lever and see if that releases the hood or if the cable pull out completely then it's broken inside somewhere. My experience with my Explorers is that the cable that goes from the lever to the hood can break or the latch itself is frozen on the hood where it attaches just above the front grille. Sometimes pushing and pulling like crazy on the hood area by the latch while someone inside repeatedly pulls the lever will relieve the pressure and the hood will open. On my son's Honda I had to sacrifice and cut out the front grille to get to the bolts of the latch itself. I was then able to simply unbolt the latch from the body of the car. Good luck.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! I've moved your thread into the stock 95-01 section. Look for the end of the release cable where the handle cracked off. Grab the end with a Vice Grip, and pull on the cable to open the hood.

 

[gijoecam]

Generally what happens on an Explorer is that the end of the cable jacket where it connects to the hood latch applies enough pressure that it bends the little tab on the hood latch, essentially making the cable too short. If you get someone to pull on the handle and hold it, it *may* be possible to get a screwdriver or hook in there and pull the cable the extra little bit it needs to get the hood to pop. (I've been meaning to snag a pic of mine for clarity) If/when you get it open, bending the tab back will help, but if it happens enough, it could eventually fatigue that ear and break it off all together.

Good luck!

 

[TheMadOne]

Hi, i am new here but i had the exact same problem. The way i managed to get it open was by having the girlfriend pull the handle inside the car and me pressing down on the center of the hood.

The more permanent fix for me was to put some grease into the latch that holds the hood in place. You can test if it works by closing the latch with a screwdriver and then pulling the handle, if it doesnt pop open it will keep the hood closed so when you get it open you want to keep working on it untill it pops with the hood open ;-)

 

[pinpal454]

I finally got fed up with my hood latch, and disconnected the cable altogether, then I cut the front of the latch plate off. Now all I have to do to open the hood is reach into the grille, and pull the latch by hand. Really simple! and am I glad I did it...It makes getting under the hood SO much easier! But don't do this if you live in a high-crime area LOL

 

[gmarkie]

Generally what happens on an Explorer is that the end of the cable jacket where it connects to the hood latch applies enough pressure that it bends the little tab on the hood latch, essentially making the cable too short. If you get someone to pull on the handle and hold it, it *may* be possible to get a screwdriver or hook in there and pull the cable the extra little bit it needs to get the hood to pop. (I've been meaning to snag a pic of mine for clarity) If/when you get it open, bending the tab back will help, but if it happens enough, it could eventually fatigue that ear and break it off all together.

Good luck!

Thanks for the "pull the cable the extra little bit" suggestion as it worked for me. Seems the cable was too short. I remedied by pulling out the cable housing at the latch housing and insert a homemade space from a plastic piece that allows the cable to slide easily and now gives the extra little bit of "length" that the cable needs to open the latch. I had it originally a bit too long and it wouldn't latch so a piece of spacer about 3/4 inch works well and fixed my problem. Thanks people! Love my
98 Mountaineer.