hooziewhatsit Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 ... 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 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganM Posted February 24, 2005 Share Posted February 24, 2005 Great stuff thanks for posting this. Man I've been there before and did that suck. Acutally happend on my wife's Buick also. Funny enough the Loyale I just picked up had it happen also; they rigged out a wire that sticks out the grill attached to the latch.... I just went with hood pins on my wife and I's cars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wintersubaru Posted February 24, 2005 Share Posted February 24, 2005 When my cable broke all i had to do was reach up under the bumper pop off the plastic back and grab the latch and pull with my finger.Pops open as easy as if the cable was still working ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooziewhatsit Posted February 24, 2005 Author Share Posted February 24, 2005 When my cable broke all i had to do was reach up under the bumper pop off the plastic back and grab the latch and pull with my finger.Pops open as easy as if the cable was still working ! Do you have A/C in your car? If you don't, I presume the AC radiator wouldn't be there, then there would be plenty of room to open it that way. All the cars I looked at had the AC rad, so there wasn't enough room to even take off the plastic bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vegablade Posted February 24, 2005 Share Posted February 24, 2005 how hard is it to install hood pins? my car may need them in a while my wire is starting to get loose. my dads pontiac may need them too. pictures maybe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wintersubaru Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 Do you have A/C in your car? If you don't, I presume the AC radiator wouldn't be there, then there would be plenty of room to open it that way. All the cars I looked at had the AC rad, so there wasn't enough room to even take off the plastic bit. my ac never worked since i bought the car so i stripped off all the extra weight.since i live in an area of a state that dont have emisions i took all but two of my vacume lines off and poked the cat out since it was getting clogged anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torxxx Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 EA82s should all be open. All the ones I've seen at work have been. For us skinny guys, reach up from under the bumper on the drivers side of the center support (where the hood latch is) You'll feel the arm with the spring on it. leave the spring on, just pull on the lil arm stickin out. hehe, I did that for two years until I broke my grill out jumpin through snowbanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belizeanbus Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 Thanks for posting this... The cable on my 90 Loyale is at the point where I feel like it's going to break everytime I pull it. It's tight, and pulling the lever inside the car requires a lot of force. Anyone know a trick to loosen this up and prolong it's life? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooziewhatsit Posted February 26, 2005 Author Share Posted February 26, 2005 Thanks for posting this... The cable on my 90 Loyale is at the point where I feel like it's going to break everytime I pull it. It's tight, and pulling the lever inside the car requires a lot of force. Anyone know a trick to loosen this up and prolong it's life? Thanks I'd spray some WD-40 or equivalent in the latch mechanism to start. You could also try some at the handle under the dash, although it won't be able to seep in very far. If those don't work I guess you could either take the cable out, hang it up, then pour the lubricant down it (what I did with the new cable), or cut a slice in the outer covering at a high point and do the same thing. Then seal it back up afterwards. This'll probably find it's way into the USRM in a few more days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
royboy159 Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 Wish I had this info back when my cable broke. A/C core made it a tough job. Got grill off without damage though. For quick repair I just cut old stranded cable to one foot length, looped the end for a pull, and let it hang. A year later, I still haven't done proper repair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet82 Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 Guess my SAWZALL answer would be wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spolizzano Posted April 17, 2005 Share Posted April 17, 2005 Thanks! hooziewhatsit. My hood cable just broke today and your idea for the fix worked great. I decided not to replace the cable and instead threaded the pull end of the broken cable through the grill and it works fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torxxx Posted April 18, 2005 Share Posted April 18, 2005 yup thats the best way to take care of it. Use the broken cable since it breaks at the release itsself, pop the release spring off on the passenger side of the release and then reach up with a long flathead screwdriver and hit the release lever ont he right side of the release mechanism. Unbolt the mechanism, tie the old cable to the release, run the wire across the car, thread it through the top of the marker light between that and then fender and then tie a lil loop on the end. heh, I've had to do that to 4 cars at work this week. ran out of spare good release cables. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuddhaRoadkill Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 Thanks all. I was about to bust out my grill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 Everyone needs a can of white lithium grease - spray the mechanism and you won't be breaking cables... they break sometimes even here on the rustless coast. Since I've taken to spraying all of mine with white lithium when I do the door hinges and all that - nary a problem to be found. GD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nvexplorer Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 Driving up to the lake one afternoon my water pump shaft literally broke. I was lucky enough to have that happen in a place where I could pull off. I go to open the hood and the hood releases, but the cable kept pulling. There were some spokes laying alongside the road there and the end is large enough that I just slipped it in where the cable used to be and have been using that ever since. The spoke hasn't ever come out of the latch and I have it bent in such a way that I can hook it behind the grill to keep it hidden and it stays in place even with some offroading. I just got lucky that day. That was also the first time my loyale broke down and the first time I had done any major replacing of parts. Timing covers were a pita. Did the belts while the covers were off. Been running great ever since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subarian Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 Guess my SAWZALL answer would be wrong? That's such a relative thing. It would definitely get it open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeefaRu Posted November 13, 2007 Share Posted November 13, 2007 I just used a coat hanger from the driver side looking diagonally up from under the bumper. AC condenser made hanger the only option - I hooked it in, pulled and good to go. My question is - how do you replace the whole shebang? - cable housing handle and all? When I pulled it after it "broke" the end pulled into the cable housing and I can't push it back out from the other side. I'd like to replace the whole unit with something from the J.Y. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooziewhatsit Posted November 14, 2007 Author Share Posted November 14, 2007 yep, you'll want to replace the entire cable; sheath and all. You'll need to undo the two bolts holding the handle end to the car, as well as all the tiedowns along the way. I believe it's held into the latch mechanism, so you'll have to take that off also. So, you'll have to remove the grill, then the three (?) bolts holding the latch to the front support. May need to loosen the radiator bolts to give it more room for the cable to slide through. Then, just need to feed the new cable from the cabin through the rubber seal and up to the front. Then you can clip the end into the latch, and put everything back together. Should be pretty straightforward when you see it in the junkyard. Oh yea, when you pull your cable out, tie a string to it before you pull it through into the cabin. Then you have something to guide it back out with. -Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeefaRu Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 USMB has become my new small repairs mechanic -- except a lot smarter. Thanks a bunch! This place is the shnizzit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny88GL Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 I wish I had this problem.. my primary latch won't grab the hood and i've been stupidly riding with the secondary. Well enough of that nonsense, i'm going out into the cold to fix it right now. First thing, and highest priority on my todo list today, because in the unlikely (but too possible) event that the hood flies open and breaks my windshield on the highway, the other stuff on the todo list would probably get pushed back another day. screw that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny88GL Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 fixed. removed grill. removed back plastic.. unhooked a spring, widened the latches housing area, i think the latch was offset so i reset it and now it works good as new. All of a sudden i have a new appreciation for those ricer hood latches, simplicity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake1992Loyale Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 Thanks! I had this happen yesterday and got it open today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Cortado Posted November 3, 2017 Share Posted November 3, 2017 Happened to me just now! I love all the collective smarts of this forum! The SAWZALL was my next choice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skeebaru Posted May 18, 2019 Share Posted May 18, 2019 Beautiful! Worked like a charm, saves a mess of work. Thank you for coming up with a genius solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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