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Ok so I’ve read every post and reply about this common problem but mine is a little more unique than most.
93 rhd FD. Completely stock R1.
i replaced my oem radiator with a Megan unit. It took some finessing to fit and keep factory airbox and smic. After getting everything buttoned up I closed the hood to check clearance so I could run and grab plugs for the AST delete. Come home and hood release is limp. Worst thing is I don’t have the battery in the car to pop the headlights. Read one thread that says pop headlights and pull bumper light and you can access the cable. This is a no go for me.
I’ve tried the coat hanger trick but am unable to hook onto the cable or the hole in the hood latch. Quite a few threads on this as well, but I couldn’t find any pictures of how anyone bent the hanger, which would be super helpful.
I also pulled the drivers wheel and got discouraged because of the stapled together inner fender.
I’m pretty frustrated. I know if I had a better idea of how to bend the clothes hanger it wouldnt be hard.
Black car in the driveway in 100* temps makes it difficult. Stock hood. Stock bumper. So gap is limited for sight into the latch. I’m open to any ideas here and appreciate any help.
Last edited by mymmeryloss; 06-09-20 at 04:11 PM.
Reason: Adding more info
You should be able to reach up under the front bumper, the grille area, with a hand an pop the latch with a finger. I had to do this when my cable snapped. Unless you have a FMIC now, you should have room.
You should be able to reach up under the front bumper, the grille area, with a hand an pop the latch with a finger. I had to do this when my cable snapped. Unless you have a FMIC now, you should have room.
I tried that. Maybe my arm is too fat. I’ll see if i can borrow a friend or see if my daughter can squeeze her arm up in there. Thanks for the reply.
I also pulled the drivers wheel and got discouraged because of the stapled together inner fender.
Don't worry about the staples, those just hold the thing together. It's the half dozen push pins you release to remove - or to at least bend back, the forward part of the liner, to access the bowden cable.....which should be on top of the rail.
If all else fails you may want to find a locksmith to come out and see if they can get it popped open. That's totally in their wheelhouse.
I think the fender liner isn't going to give you much of anything. Most likely the cable either snapped or came off the hood latch, which means the only way to get it open is to get the hood latch to disengage.
And PLEASE take your time with this. If you get frustrated, just walk off and come back later. It's something that's easy to get mad at and next thing you know you're taking a hole saw to the hood.
BTW, standing in front of the car, the inside part of the latch is pulled to the right to disengage the hood.
Do a Google image search on the hood latch, you can probably find some pictures of it to help give you an idea of what it looks like. The back side of it has the mechanism that needs to be pulled to the right.
It really seems like you may need to get the headlights up for access. I think I have a method for doing this.
- Jack up the car and put it on jack stands
- Remove the aluminum panel under the transmission
- Find the starter on the transmission, it should be on the RHD passenger side of the transmission. Should be very obvious.
- There's one terminal that has a rubber cap over it, that's the main positive power wire to the starter.
- Get a battery jump box, spare car battery and jumper cables, something that can supply 12v
- Inside the car, press the manual headlight up/down button on the dash so it's in
- Hook up the positive cable of the jump box to the main power wire to the starter. Make SURE it's just touching that wire and nothing else. Touch the negative wire of the jump box to the body of the transmission for a few seconds.
- If the switch is in, the headlights should pop up
If you get big sparks when you connect the negative terminal, STOP. I'm hoping the positive battery terminal is either in the air or not touching anything in the car.
Also, I don't know if the RHD hood latch is reversed or not. That may be frustrating.
This literally just happened to me a few days ago. What happened is the tip of the sheath broke and allowed the cable to slip off of the latch. So, when I pulled the hood release, it had nothing to catch and therefore wouldn’t pull the spring to release the hood.
I have some of those non-marring trim removal tools that I used to pry a bit of space between the hood and bumper(both stock). And then with a flash light I could see what the issue was.
I then came from underneath with some needlenose pliers, ‘grabbed’ the cable and placed it back on the latch. I was then able to go into the car and pop the hood with the release. If the cable won’t stay, a second person pulling the release while you support the cable would work.
Like you I wasn’t able to reach the cable with just my hand. So, I used the pliers. My car is also a jdm model and the cable connects on the left side (facing). I just used some spare wire to hold the cable in place until I order a replacement.
If you don’t have the trim tools, a screwdriver wrapped in tape would probably work just as well.
The green tip is what broke. I’m using wire to hold the cable in place until I get a replacement cable.
This literally just happened to me a few days ago. What happened is the tip of the sheath broke and allowed the cable to slip off of the latch. So, when I pulled the hood release, it had nothing to catch and therefore wouldn’t pull the spring to release the hood.
I have some of those non-marring trim removal tools that I used to pry a bit of space between the hood and bumper(both stock). And then with a flash light I could see what the issue was.
I then came from underneath with some needlenose pliers, ‘grabbed’ the cable and placed it back on the latch. I was then able to go into the car and pop the hood with the release. If the cable won’t stay, a second person pulling the release while you support the cable would work.
Like you I wasn’t able to reach the cable with just my hand. So, I used the pliers. My car is also a jdm model and the cable connects on the left side (facing). I just used some spare wire to hold the cable in place until I order a replacement.
If you don’t have the trim tools, a screwdriver wrapped in tape would probably work just as well.
The green tip is what broke. I’m using wire to hold the cable in place until I get a replacement cable.
Does your car have stock radiator and a/c? Im really not seeing how there’s enough space to reach up through from the bottom unless you have moved the radiator?
Still unable to figure out how to bend the clothes hanger to get to the latch.
figured I’d remove the fender liner and see if the cable was still connected. Get the wheel and inner liner pulled. Locate cable and pull and it pulls right out. Yippie.
So i decided to start calling locksmiths. Every one of then tell me to take it to a body shop haha. Yippie once again.
Lookd like I will be messing with the hanger for the I foreseeable future until I get it. I ain’t givin up yet fellas!
Although that sounds like a bullet proof plan, I am not sure of where i put the terminals off of the battery. That may be a last ditch effort for me. I’d hate to fry something grounding out that positive terminal.
Called a couple body shops. They said bring it on down. No battery in the car. Not pushing it on a trailer for a damn hood release issue. So the tinkering continues.
I'm surprised no locksmiths wanted to give it a try. That really seems to be in their wheel house.
Also, the picture above of a hood latch from a RHD car does look like it's a mirror image of the US hood latch. So you will pull the part inside towards the RHD driver's side of the car.
Don't know if having the car on jacks/remove the belly pan may do anything for getting to it from underneath.
Finally got it open! (With pictures to end all confusion)
Alright fellas I got it. Imma break this down for everyone since it was actually super easy and hopefully this thread can come in super handy.
First off I kept thinking that I needed to go at it from the frontmost point of the car over the top of the latch to release it. After some thinking and looking over pictures of the latch I realized, like many more before me, that I was looking at it all wrong.
You need to go from the RH side of the car by the headlights parallel with the opening in the bumper.
This is the hole you need to aim for. This is the angle you need to attack it from.
Next you dont need any special bends or anything in the coat hanger. I used the end that wraps around the hanger part of the hanger.
This is the bend from unwrapping the short end off of the hanger.
Insert at this angle until you feel it grab. Then pull towards you and the hood will pop.
A closer look at what you will be working with.
The green clip broke in half on mine just like so many others out there.
I sure hope this can be the end all thread to help anyone out there that encounters this problem. I will definitely be adding a secondary “emergency” release just incase I come across this problem again.
Thank you everyone for all of your help and Happy Brappin!!
I'm not sure if the RHD hood release cables are a different part than the LHD cables, you may want to research that. The LHD are easily available and not too pricey in the US.
Thanks for doing a good writeup on this, this will help out others in the future. Also REALLY good idea using the tape to protect the paint!
I'm not sure if the RHD hood release cables are a different part than the LHD cables, you may want to research that. The LHD are easily available and not too pricey in the US.
Thanks for doing a good writeup on this, this will help out others in the future. Also REALLY good idea using the tape to protect the paint!
Dale
Already got my new cable on order. Hopefully this one lasts another 20 years.
You can get your coat hanger in from the light bezel or even slide along the rubber molding to get even closer.
It seems for RHD you might want to enter the latch housing from the car LHS. The housing is open to that side.
For the S8 (99) front bumper it seems you can see daylight from underneath the latch, so you might be able to reach in through the front bumper opening..
Alright fellas I got it. Imma break this down for everyone since it was actually super easy and hopefully this thread can come in super handy.
First off I kept thinking that I needed to go at it from the frontmost point of the car over the top of the latch to release it. After some thinking and looking over pictures of the latch I realized, like many more before me, that I was looking at it all wrong.
You need to go from the RH side of the car by the headlights parallel with the opening in the bumper.
This is the hole you need to aim for. This is the angle you need to attack it from.
Next you dont need any special bends or anything in the coat hanger. I used the end that wraps around the hanger part of the hanger.
This is the bend from unwrapping the short end off of the hanger.
Insert at this angle until you feel it grab. Then pull towards you and the hood will pop.
A closer look at what you will be working with.
The green clip broke in half on mine just like so many others out there.
I sure hope this can be the end all thread to help anyone out there that encounters this problem. I will definitely be adding a secondary “emergency” release just incase I come across this problem again.
Thank you everyone for all of your help and Happy Brappin!!
Big thanks!!! First snafu of 2024 and helped A TON!!
Big thanks!!! First snafu of 2024 and helped A TON!!
🫶
I had to do this on my BMW and made an emergency hook years ago just for these occasions. Had to break it out again this past fall as the handle went limp (google "cable stretch"). The solution was to put two Brake cable Adjusters from a local Bicycle Shop on it (because two latches) to take up all of the extra slack.
This one adjusts total tension for both latches, while the Passenger side latch has the second adjuster on the Sheath tang so their tension can be synchronized. The Sheath Tang is the non-moving location that the green clip on a RHD FD goes into. If this is flopping around, all the motion/force never reaches the latch's internal lever to pop the hood.
Total cost: $4 for a permanent repair that's better than factory.
06-09-20, 04:10 PM
RHD FD hood won’t open
