Hood stuck shut!!!!!!
 

My cable to pop the hood is worn out and the hood is shut. The spring that holds the hood's latch shut is too strong for the worn out cable to pop the hood! What can I do? am I going to have to bend the hood to get it open, or is there another way.......surely someone else has had this prob before!

Mary

If the cable is still intact you can disconnect it from the hood latch pull handle and use some stout pliers to pull the cable itself. That should pop it. Tighten up the slack in the cable and reinstall.

I have wondered about this problem before, and I don't have an answer for you unfortunately.
On Jaquars there is an access hole in the wheel well where you can access the cable to pop the hood if it breaks inside the car. I don't know of anything like that on our cars though.
Worst case scenario, bend the hood, buy a new hood at a salvage yard (I bought one last week for $35) and have it painted to match. Probably get it done for $200 to $300.

I'm going to try the pliers and if all else fails I will bend it, but I am going to source a hood first, as the 4 1st gens I know of at local yard have the same prob/already bent hoods!

Thanks for the help

I will go out and look at my 80 here in about an hour, I will see if there is anyway to access the latch through the cowl.

This happened to me. What I ended up doing was taking off the cowl piece and the front valence. Then I unbolted the hood from the hinges, which gives you some wiggle room to move the hood around without bending it. Then with my Dad attacking the latch, and myself moving the hood so he had access, we were able to pop the latch and get the hood off. We managed to not bend the hood, but you have to be very careful.

^^ Yep, that's how you do it. Vise grips work the best.

man, I have pulled so rediculously hard on it....so I am going to try the dea of takingof the nose and reaching up under there....one can only hope....

have somebody push down on the center of the hood right over the latching mechanism. I had the same problem years ago, and it wasn't the cable, it was the spring and latch that were sticking, and causing the problem. when I had my friend push down on the latch, then I pulled the release, had my friend release where he was pushing, then he slid his fingers under the crack and lifted.

basically simply pulling on the cable pulled the striker a little but the striker caught on the edge and wouldn't go any further, by pushing on the hood above the latch, when I pulled the cable it allowed the striker to retract completely and it cleared the edge and opened.

kenn

/\Try that first. This happened on two of my first gens. One of them only needed a push/tap down each time before you pulled the hood release.

You might need to cut the cable and strip the black cover off so you'll get a better grip.

well, tried all of yall's suggestions, and the pulling of the nose and going under the hood turned out to be my only option, but I got it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had WD-40ed the crap out of it before it had gotten stuck...and I made sure it wasnt sticking...that spring is just over powering the cable, but I got it off!!!!!!!! Now to asess the engine to make sure I can get it running....

Thanks for the help.

Mary

Hows about if you removed the belly pan and reached up from the bottom with some long needle nosed plyers and grabbed the cable.

Wait a minute, you're a chick?

that wont work since the latch is in the middle of the firewall. that happened to me in my REPU. It costs me lots of beer, my voice from lots of swearing and stuff, and cuts in my arms. I ended up removing the remove the header and intake manifold to give me enough room to get it thru the passenger side.

Just birthed a baby on Feb 16(so yes).....

Congrats!
I see no reason for anyone to be shocked that a female has an interest in cars, even one as unique as these :bigthumb:

Good latch removal
 

My cable popped off the latch itself while my hood was shut I removed my wiper cowl and loosened the 4 bolts of the hood latch and the hood will pop right up.

Wait a minute.... the cowl screws and hood latch bolts are only accessible with the hood open.. Whatchu talking 'bout Willis?
(Also, this thread's been dead for 16 years).

I figured if a thread had useful information it wasn’t dead. I’m 18 and bought an 85 over the weekend. I bought it for 1800 with 51242 on it with a broken hood latch I removed the hood latch in the engine bay and cleaned it and put it back on then without thinking shut the hood so my hood latched and my hood release cable is broken. 1st I pulled back the weather stripping under the hood infront of the wiper cowl with a flathead. 2nd I removed my passenger side wiper arm which allowed the cowl to move a little then ended up prying in between the wiper cowl and part of the body infront of the windshield which exposed 3 or 4 pins you must pull out tongue and groove type deal. 3rd with a 13mm socket and ratchet I was able to loosen the 4 bolts that hold the hood latch on in the engine bay. (I believe the nuts are supposed to be attached to the body there but I cared more about getting my hood open since my air cleaner wasn’t installed) keep in mind when you loosen the 4 nuts the bolts that keep the latch attached in the bay will spin freely I pryed against the nut and body and kept loosening which worked. Once all 4 nuts are loose you can pry up on the hood where all 4 screws and loosen them with a Phillips then you can remove the wiper cowl so you can use a wrench and prying with a screw driver to remove the nuts. Then your hood is free

Now I'm thinking of putting an "emergency cable" on mine, accessible from underneath!

Welcome to the forum, make sure to post some photos. If you are doing a lot of restoration or an interesting project, you can start a thread in the "Build" section and share your progress.

I will be posting thank you how do you feel about hood pins? I was thinking the same

Mine is stock mostly so no hood pins for me, but it is a good solution if the factory system is compromised.

I was thinking a using something like the gas door popper to make the hood latch open but also keep the cable. If I did use an electric pooper, I would have it de-powered until needed. Wouldn't want to pop it by mistake,

loop a 14 awg wire where the release cable goes
tie bowline knot
threat it down the driver's side of engine bay
tie another knot at the end for identification and easy gripping
test it 7 times.