1992 Loyale, Hood latch broke, can't get it open

[Blake1992Loyale]

I was working on my 1992 Loyale and went to open the hood and heard a pop. I guess I broke the cable or something.

 

Any tips on how to get the hood open now that the latch is broken? I'm in the middle of cleaning the IACV so I can't take it anywhere. 

[colemanapp]

you should be able to reach around the latch in front of the car and either find the broken cable and pull it or theres a lever it attaches to you can pull. Get a mirror to look at the backside of that latch area and you;ll get it. 

[rdweninger]

remove the front center grill ... then figure out how the latch works (ie., what lever is the cable pulling?).  Then pull that mechanism.

[DaveT]

there is a hole in the latch mech that you can poke a thin tool into to release it.  It's way easier to figure out if you have another car right there to work it out on with the hood up.  I think I got to it through the grill openings. 

[Blake1992Loyale]

I found the answer and got mine open. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/29299-how-to-unlatch-your-hood-when-the-cable-breaks-pictures/?hl=unlatch

... without breaking anything (else) 


I had this experience a couple days ago. Pulled the cable under the dash to unlatch the hood, and it pulled out :hangbang:

After reading some posts where grills got destroyed on the path to opening the hood, I figured there should be a better way. So, off to the junkyard I went to figure out how they work.

What I came up with took me about 30 seconds to do, and leaves the grill intack.

The first picture below shows the latching mechanism from the back. We want to push the latch that's circled to the right (yep, follow the arrow).

To make this easier, we'll undo the spring that pulls it left.

The second picture shows it from the outside.

Procedure:
1. I used a small flat head screw driver to pop the spring out. The spring promptly disappears back into the mechanism, which is fine; it's out of our way now.

2. Use the same screw driver to push through the hole the spring just went in to. I was able to do this with some fingers through the grill, and the other up from the bottom holding the screwdriver up.

As you can see from the first picture, the screwdriver needs to go in straight and level.

Some down pressure on the hood from a helper might also take some pressure off the latch to make it easier to release.

When you hit it correctly, it should clang like it usually does and release the hood.

Alternative method:
If your mechanism does not have a plastic backing on it. (Maybe they all do, my loyale didn't though). You may be able to reach up from the bottom with a long box-end wrench and grab the hook. You need to use the box end so that you have the right angle to catch it.


Hopefully this helps keep someone from needlessly destroying a grill if this happens to them. Or this could just be a reminder to go check all of your cables for fraying :beer:


keywords: hood latch stuck broken cable 

Edited January 12, 2017 by Blake1992Loyale