"William Wixon" wrote:

there have been a couple auto related (repair) posts recently, thought i'd
try mine.
a friend is telling me the handle inside her vehicle that actuates the
(engine compartment) hood-latch-release dangles free and doesn't pop the
hood. i'm thinking i'd like to try to help her. any tips/tricks on how to
open a hood who's latch is broken? i'm hoping there's some kind of trick
besides "a large pry bar" or "plasma cutter", etc.
i haven't looked at it in person yet, thought i'd ask here first so maybe
with your advice i can look like i know what i'm doing when she brings it
over. (i've been courting her for the past 9 months, help!)

b.w.


Determine if it is broke at the handle inside of the car or outside at the latch. The
approach changes depending. I hope it is broke inside the car.

Do you know someone with the same model of automobile? If so, a view under the hood if
you have to attack it there is going to be priceless.

There is a chance it isn't broken but a bit rusty. She pulled the release, it didn't
actually open the latch but the cable didn't retract giving you the loose handle. For
that, I'd have her wiggle the handle as you apply pressure downward to the hood latch. You
might get lucky. Mom's GMC has that issue if I don't spray white lithium on things
periodically.

Good Conservative girl I hope?

Wes

As a locksmith I have dealt with this problem on more than one occasion.

On a hood latch several things can bugger up the works.

First and most common is the hood latch is out of alignment and this
prevents the hood from popping up when the release is pulled.

To address this type of failure, have one person pull and hold the release,
while the other pulls up on the hood, If the hood opens, you can then
adjust the latch so the hood will pop up when the release is actuated.

Sometimes the internal cable will break. This can be a bear depending on
how cramped the engine compartment is. Here the idea is to come up from
underneath and release the latching mechanism. Sometimes you can get to the
outer cable cut it and grasp the inside cable with a pair of vise grips
(assuming the break is between the release and the point you can access.

Sometimes you need to study a similar car and formulate your method of
attack. You may be able to slip a thin tool up and in to actuate the latch
mechanism.

Sometimes the bolts holding the latch or strike can be accessed from
underneath or through the grill allowing you to get the hood open, or open
enough to release it.

Hopefully you have situation #1 as that is the easiest and the most common.

Good luck, and be sure to report back on what the problem was and how you
solved it.


--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.




"William Wixon" wrote in message
...
there have been a couple auto related (repair) posts recently, thought i'd
try mine.
a friend is telling me the handle inside her vehicle that actuates the
(engine compartment) hood-latch-release dangles free and doesn't pop the
hood. i'm thinking i'd like to try to help her. any tips/tricks on how
to
open a hood who's latch is broken? i'm hoping there's some kind of trick
besides "a large pry bar" or "plasma cutter", etc.
i haven't looked at it in person yet, thought i'd ask here first so maybe
with your advice i can look like i know what i'm doing when she brings it
over. (i've been courting her for the past 9 months, help!)

b.w.

"William Wixon" wrote in message
...
there have been a couple auto related (repair) posts recently, thought i'd
try mine.
a friend is telling me the handle inside her vehicle that actuates the
(engine compartment) hood-latch-release dangles free and doesn't pop the
hood. i'm thinking i'd like to try to help her. any tips/tricks on how
to open a hood who's latch is broken? i'm hoping there's some kind of
trick besides "a large pry bar" or "plasma cutter", etc.
i haven't looked at it in person yet, thought i'd ask here first so maybe
with your advice i can look like i know what i'm doing when she brings it
over. (i've been courting her for the past 9 months, help!)

b.w.


Step one would be to try to find a similar vehicle and look at a
"working" latch to see what might be wrong.
The last "broken" one I looked at had a spring on the end of the cable.
The cable end passed through the spring and was supposed to compress the
spring against the latch release and trip it. (I suppose the spring was to
make it "self-tensioning" and also to keep you from snapping the cable if
the latch got jammed.)
That spring was missing/broken, so the cable was "slack" but still
attached to the release lever... and the dash lever didn't have enough
travel to take up the excess slack and trip the release.
So, pulling the "loose" cable behind the dash lever with a pliers was
enough to trip the release.

there have been a couple auto related (repair) posts recently, thought i'd
try mine.
a friend is telling me the handle inside her vehicle that actuates the
(engine compartment) hood-latch-release dangles free and doesn't pop the
hood. i'm thinking i'd like to try to help her. any tips/tricks on how to
open a hood who's latch is broken? i'm hoping there's some kind of trick
besides "a large pry bar" or "plasma cutter", etc.
i haven't looked at it in person yet, thought i'd ask here first so maybe
with your advice i can look like i know what i'm doing when she brings it
over. (i've been courting her for the past 9 months, help!)

b.w.

William Wixon wrote:
there have been a couple auto related (repair) posts recently, thought i'd
try mine.
a friend is telling me the handle inside her vehicle that actuates the
(engine compartment) hood-latch-release dangles free and doesn't pop the
hood. i'm thinking i'd like to try to help her. any tips/tricks on how to
open a hood who's latch is broken? i'm hoping there's some kind of trick
besides "a large pry bar" or "plasma cutter", etc.
i haven't looked at it in person yet, thought i'd ask here first so maybe
with your advice i can look like i know what i'm doing when she brings it
over. (i've been courting her for the past 9 months, help!)

If no similar vehicle is handy, try googling "Hood release broken + (car
model"

That's what I did last time, and it was lotsa help.

Of course, after I spent an hour dismantling the hood latch through the
grill, I found the cable intact, but in need of lube.

AAAaaaaayyyyy...... think Fonzie getting a tune out of the juke box.

Hood latches get rusty. Have someone pull the handle slow and steady
while you thump the hood with your fist, right over the latch.

When / if it opens, spray the latch generously with WD-40 or similar.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"William Wixon" wrote in message
...
there have been a couple auto related (repair) posts recently, thought
i'd
try mine.
a friend is telling me the handle inside her vehicle that actuates the
(engine compartment) hood-latch-release dangles free and doesn't pop
the
hood. i'm thinking i'd like to try to help her. any tips/tricks on
how to
open a hood who's latch is broken? i'm hoping there's some kind of
trick
besides "a large pry bar" or "plasma cutter", etc.
i haven't looked at it in person yet, thought i'd ask here first so
maybe
with your advice i can look like i know what i'm doing when she brings
it
over. (i've been courting her for the past 9 months, help!)

b.w.

Did anybody mention adjusting the hood stops?
If too low, or too high, the latch won't release...



--

Richard Lamb

What's that Lassie? You say that William Wixon fell down the old
rec.crafts.metalworking mine and will die if we don't mount a rescue
by Mon, 24 May 2010 16:21:26 -0500:

there have been a couple auto related (repair) posts recently, thought i'd
try mine.
a friend is telling me the handle inside her vehicle that actuates the
(engine compartment) hood-latch-release dangles free and doesn't pop the
hood. i'm thinking i'd like to try to help her. any tips/tricks on how to
open a hood who's latch is broken? i'm hoping there's some kind of trick
besides "a large pry bar" or "plasma cutter", etc.
i haven't looked at it in person yet, thought i'd ask here first so maybe
with your advice i can look like i know what i'm doing when she brings it
over. (i've been courting her for the past 9 months, help!)

only thing I have to offer that hansen't been mentioned is that if you
can't get hold of the stub end of the cable at the release end, you
might try passing the whole cable through the firewall and working on
it from underneath of the fender/engine. If you grab the end of the
cable(inner and outer) with a large pair of vice-grips, and pull like
hell, you might stretch the outer part, thus pulling on the inner
part.

As others have said, push down/pull up on the hood during the attempt.
You may be able to spray some kind of lube. onto the latch first using
the little red straw that comes with the spray can.

--

Dan H.
northshore MA.

William Wixon wrote:
there have been a couple auto related (repair) posts recently, thought i'd
try mine.
a friend is telling me the handle inside her vehicle that actuates the
(engine compartment) hood-latch-release dangles free and doesn't pop the
hood. i'm thinking i'd like to try to help her. any tips/tricks on how to
open a hood who's latch is broken? i'm hoping there's some kind of trick
besides "a large pry bar" or "plasma cutter", etc.
i haven't looked at it in person yet, thought i'd ask here first so maybe
with your advice i can look like i know what i'm doing when she brings it
over. (i've been courting her for the past 9 months, help!)

b.w.



Grab a chunk of round stock about 24" long 3/8" works pretty well.
Make a U shaped piece out of 1/4" flat stock with the open part of the U
about 3/8" wide (you want it to slip over the hood cable)
On the ears of the U make a couple notches with a grinder that are
roughly the same size as the cable.
Weld the U to the end of the rod and weld a T piece on the other end.

To use the tool you slide it in a handy opening and grab the cable,
twist the entire cable so it grabs good and then pull the tool and cable
away from the latch.

The idea is that you pull the inner core and outer sheath together until
the latch pops.

I have made a bunch of these for the FD to use on vehicles with engine
fires or other problems where the hood has to be opened and you cannot
get to the interior handle.

--
Steve W.
(\___/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")