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Hood Latch Release


tposton
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You need help getting it up, eh? ;)

 

Does the cable move at all or no? In the cold weather it could have frozen. Aside from that, if it moves, the cable probably broke...take a flashlight and look behind the hood latch handle mount under the dash to see if it broke at the handle and see if there's some cable still sticking out of the hole a little so you can grab it with Vise-Grips to open your hood. If you can see a short end of the broken cable on the end of the handle but not poking out of the cable sheath, you may have luck cutting some of the sheath away until the cable is exposed so you can use the Vise-Grips.

 

Aside from cutting a hole in the front edge of the hood, I don't really see a way to reach the latch end. Anyone else?

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Try 88's suggestion first. See if the lever is attached to the cable. If so, see if the cable is attached to the latch by grabbing the cable and trying to pull it further than the lever would. If it pulls another inch of slack, she's busted and you may need to use creative force and sacrifice your grill to get at it. Even if the cable pulls on the latch, it is possible that the latch won't release of the mechanism is buggered. Have someone lift up on the hood while you pull the release. See if it pops up an inch or whatever then. If so, you can continue to open it from the front. Once open, troubeshoot the mechanism by latching on a D-ring or screwdriver (with the hood still up) and have someone else pulling the lever to see what's refusing to move. Maybe a good shot of PB or similar might free things up but I wouldn't trust it not to fail on me on a cold rainy day when a belt breaks and I can't get under the hood to fix it. That would suck.

 

If you determine that the cable has detached from the latch, post again and maybe someone with a 91 or similar can open theirs, examine the latch and mechanism and see if there might be a way to get at it from underneath or a way to get at it. Isn't one of us a former wrencher from a Nissan stealership? How would a dealer approach this?

Edited by k9sar
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While working at the Ford Stealership we had a vehicle come in with a broken cable at the latch end. As K9 said, they had to mess up the grill in order to force the latch to release the hood striker. They put the vehicle on a lift and tried to unbolt the latch from different angles, but it was just impossible to get to. Hopefully you still have a cable to grab hold to!

Good Luck.

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While working at the Ford Stealership we had a vehicle come in with a broken cable at the latch end. As K9 said, they had to mess up the grill in order to force the latch to release the hood striker. They put the vehicle on a lift and tried to unbolt the latch from different angles, but it was just impossible to get to. Hopefully you still have a cable to grab hold to!

Good Luck.

Cable is still attached to handle and will pull out an inch or so, 'bout like normal except nothing seems to happen at the latch end. Thanks for the responses---if the ice ever melts around here I'll keep messin' with it.

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My hood wouldn't pop up for years until I got the bright idea of putting some PB Blaster on it. I could pull the latch/realease, but the hood wouldn't pop up like it was supposed to. However, it released the mechanism, so I could still go lift the hood.

 

I suggest following k9sar's advice and have someone pull up on the hood while you pull the latch/release in the truck.

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This happened to me when i first tried to open the hood on my new to me 95. What you have to sure of is when you you give the release in the truck a good tug, make sure the person outside lifts at the exact same time that you pull it. Worked perfectly for me and haven't had a problem since. It works if you time it right.

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Well if its frozen shut... your pretty much screwed until you can get it to melt... or you could always put it on a cargo container and ship it down here and I'll take a look at it...

 

Or but on my 90 the other day it got stuck too.. try banging a little in the middle with you hand and sometimes it just needs a bit, to wake up... if your pulling on it as much as you say, pray its just not popping up and like the others said see if someone else can pick it up...

 

Good Luck, cuz if its that cold and you can't get her open... you know something easy is gonna screw up that one evening it's drizzling and just above freezing and you took on that double shift drinking...

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To open my hood I have to pull the latch and reach over my windshield and give the hood a little pound with my hand and then it pops...

Have not really givin it any thought or time as to why, but it works... Try that...

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red finder has it right in my book. A two person effort initially. Since I have a bug smacker on my hood it adds additional weight to my hood and subsequently the spring can't quite push the hood up when the latch is released. What I have found is that the two black rubber hood stops on the rad support must vibrate out of adjustment and subsequently let the hood lower farther down than what you need and then the spring really can't function as it's intended it. So once you do get the hood open try unscrewing or screwing these hood stops a little to use them as a "preload" for when you pull on the release lever. What I have found with mine is if my hood is level and square with my quarter panels my hood opens every time even with the bug smacker. Mind you it doesn't jump to attention but it does unlatch.

 

Once you do get it open, clean all the crud out of the latch mechanism and lube her up real good.

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To open my hood I have to pull the latch and reach over my windshield and give the hood a little pound with my hand and then it pops...

Have not really givin it any thought or time as to why, but it works... Try that...

hey---nailed it--just an open-handed slap on the left rear corner and it popped up like a champ---now I guess I got no excuse for not replacing that bypass hose and/or water pump

Thanks for the help

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