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Hood latch broken.. but a little different

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YamDSM

10+ Year Contributor
43
0
Jan 13, 2012
Cresson, Texas
First of all I've come to the conclusion that my car hates my soul. A couple days ago I just got done replacing the cps sensor, fixed a shredded plug, and fixed a couple grounds so I closed the hood and walked inside victorious. Now I go out to replace the radiator and my damn hood won't open. Every thread I've read says that the lever inside has slack and its just the cable that's broken but my latch is completely stuck there. It's got so much tension on it that I'm afraid I'll break if I keep pulling. Can anyone please shed some light on this before I curl up and the back seat and cry deeply. I finally got her back up and running in tip top shape and all that's left is to replace the radiator.
 
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Me and my brother already tried and I tried getting a long screwdriver in there to turn the latch, I got it turned all the way but nothing. It's like something is putting tension on the cable because I can't even move the lever inside at all.
 
Disconnect the cable from the hood pop under the dash. It probably shred inside the cabling and wont come back.
 
K I'll try that all I have to do is remove the lower part of the dash and then it's just two bolts holding it on right?
 
K I'll try that all I have to do is remove the lower part of the dash and then it's just two bolts holding it on right?

I haven't been in my dsm for a while but you should be able to disconnect the cable without doing anything. Just take a pornographic position under the dash and check it out.
 
I haven't been in my dsm for a while but you should be able to disconnect the cable without doing anything. Just take a pornographic position under the dash and check it out.

Haha I just checked it out, took off the cable and tried pulling it with a needle nose but that sucker is stuck in there. I tried moving the latch under the hood with a screwdriver I got it all the way over but it won't pop open. I had a little ground issue( didn't connect the ground back to the fusebox) and the little plastic flap behind the drivers headlight caught fire:ohdamn: I'm still hitting myself in the head over that, my fourth but first car that's ever caught fire even if it was for a second. Could that have melted the sleeve around the cable I'm afraid it did:confused:
 
I had a similar problem on my 84 supra, I sprayed some lube on the latch and in the cable waited for a while and just slowly worked at loosening it up. I got it open but after a couple times opening and closing it got stuck again so I cut it off and got a new one the next time I got my hood open. You could try lubing the latch, that might work but I suggest ripping out the old pull cord and putting a new on in ### having a recurring problem like that is really annoying.
 
your right, your car hates you dude! good luck...

I think its because I yelled at her LOL now she's giving me some payback but that just means I have to make it up to her

I had a similar problem on my 84 supra, I sprayed some lube on the latch and in the cable waited for a while and just slowly worked at loosening it up. I got it open but after a couple times opening and closing it got stuck again so I cut it off and got a new one the next time I got my hood open. You could try lubing the latch, that might work but I suggest ripping out the old pull cord and putting a new on in ### having a recurring problem like that is really annoying.

I really hope that's what it is but it just happened out of the blue and was popping open just fine before. I'll try that in the morning though thanks
 
Maybe try jacking the car up and seeing if you can reach the latch from the bottom maybe? If you can get to the side bolts on the bumper take those off and you might have a little more wiggle room
 
Maybe try jacking the car up and seeing if you can reach the latch from the bottom maybe? If you can get to the side bolts on the bumper take those off and you might have a little more wiggle room

I tried that too and its pretty much impossible since the latch is completely covered by the front part of the hood.. I just tried lubing the latch and that didn't work. I think my only option now is to cut off the brackets then yank it out of there. It wouldn't be a bad thing though I could get new brackets, latch, and cable then be done with it.
 
well I'd leave that as a complete last ditch effort! Why spend more on all new parts when you may just need one. I'll see if I can get my hood to open with out the pull cord and tell you how i did it. But im sure its your pull cord for sure, these latches are pretty sheltered so I think its the lest likely of all the parts to malfunction.

......wait nvm I didnt see you were a 2g!! my bad man. I dont know if the setups similar or not between the 1g and 2g.
 
On a 2g You can reach you arm through the front bumper cover and pull the hood release cable, It will open that way. Since the burn is behind where you will be pulling. The reason the hood wont release when you use the screw driver, is because you are only moving the lever that is activated by your hand once you have already released the primary latch from inside the car. If you still have all of your plastic guards behind your front bumper cover, you will have to rip them out, or jack up your car enough to where you can slide your arm between the plastic and the radiator. Hope this helps!
*EDIT*
Circled in red are where plastic pop rivits will be. Just pull those out, reach your arm up through the plastic, and under the metal bracket closer to the driver side. You will feel the cable and you will be able to pull the cable and release the primary latch.
 

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sounds like you got a DSM... i remember my car died on me when i was going to take my sister on a test drive to show her how much better it was compared to my honda haha
 
Well thanks to love DSM I got it open today now I got to get trade my radiator in for the right one since autozone gave me one for an automatic trans:banghead:
 
HELL YEAH! GO ME! I apologize for the capitalization. I just get happy when I help people!

Lol don't apologize you deserve it. Ever day I was getting closer to take a saw to my hood glad I didn't. Now I have to get a new cable and everythings good! Oh yea I found out that my radiator works with both so that's good too.
 
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