How to open hood when.............

[badmix]

The cable breaks?

This hasnt happened to me, but my buddy has a POS car that he cant get the hood open. So, this got me thinking. If my cable ever breaks, how would I open the hood.

So, how do you open the hood if the cable breaks at the latch end (on the rad support)??

 

[K85 Octane]

good question

I've heard about people cutting the inner wheel well and getting to the broken cable that way. Or cutting the hood near the latch and opening it that way. Not sure if you can get to anything with the grill removed or not. I think it all requires cutting.


In response to this question. Where can I get a new cable?

 

[K5_Fla]

Depends what grille you have… I heard some can get something in there to move the latch with some patience. I have a 89-91 grille (K5) which would require removing the inter fender or breaking the grille. I went through this pain a while back… keep breaking cables… new repo ones at LMC, etc are cheap as hell. I finally found the Dorman replacement was best one. However… I put a backup cable in place in case it breaks again. Ran a small cable (like thick picture frame wire) down the front and secured it.

 

[big dan]

I dont know of a way to get to the latch without the hood open.

Ive had this happen to me. If you pry the hood up a little you can get to the two bolts that hold the latch on with a ratchet and extension. Thats how I got mine, my hood was already bent a little so I dont know the extent of the damage to a good hood but I didnt notice mine get any worse.

The backup cable is a good idea. I bought a truck once that had a cable dangling down in behind the grill and hole cut in the grill to reach it. Guess the po got tired of breaking cables as well.

 

[ryoken]

yup, depending on what grill ya have, you can sometimes get in there with a long hose puller.. like this..

just look for the little arm that the cable hooks to...

 

[rbk587]

hood cable

been there and done it....happened on my '87 k-5.right here on the forum a guy told me to take a socket drive with extension and wedge it between grill and hood and remove bolts to latch.took some patience but did it and worked like a charm.

 

[shiner2001]

Reminds me of the time I couldn't get the hood on my Vette open.

First, just set it on fire:

After that, the nice fireman will insist on getting in there for you (despite the fact the cable has melted), any way he can (to disconnect the battery). (Not gonna lie, I know I had to be smirking when he broke his axe on the fiberglass hood).