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Hood latch stuck?

Tiny
ANGELO PASILLAS
  • MEMBER
  • 1998 FORD EXPLORER
  • 4.0L
  • 6 CYL
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 186,981 MILES
My hood is jammed. I've tried pulling the latch from inside the grill and had someone else push down on the hood while doing so and nothing happened. I need help big time because I need to check if I need oil or not and other fluids
Saturday, February 28th, 2015 AT 3:33 PM

7 Replies

Tiny
HMAC300
  • MECHANIC
  • 48,601 POSTS
If cable is not broken have an assistant pull it and bang hood near latch it may poop up to open. Then lube the latch. If cable is broken you'll have to try releasing latch from bottom.
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Sunday, March 1st, 2015 AT 8:51 AM
Tiny
PAM KING
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
  • 1997 FORD EXPLORER
  • 220,000 MILES
Hood stuck. Somehow a person who shall remain nameless, engaged the hood latch into the locking position before dropping the hood down. Latch is not engaged or sitting in the space for it to be but somehow it is wedged tight. Hood release (although it is not latched) will not budge. Under dash release has no tension to cable.
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Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020 AT 12:09 PM (Merged)
Tiny
HARRY P
  • MECHANIC
  • 2,292 POSTS
It does sound like it is just really wedged into place, unfortunately. What you will need to do is simply pry up on it until it comes out. Then you can bend parts back to being straight using pliers and a good, strong, screwdriver. It is possible that you will have to replace the latch. The local junk yard ought to have one.

Work on prying it back open and let us know how it goes for you. We will go from there.
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Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020 AT 12:09 PM (Merged)
Tiny
PAM KING
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
I have used several different things to pry it, obviously not hard enough, lol. I thought maybe using one of those bladder things that are used to get doors open by the tow truck guys may work. I will let you know how it works out.
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Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020 AT 12:09 PM (Merged)
Tiny
HARRY P
  • MECHANIC
  • 2,292 POSTS
Okay. Definitely keep us posted. If I think of any other tricks I will post it/them.
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Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020 AT 12:09 PM (Merged)
Tiny
BCARETIREE
  • MEMBER
  • 1 POST
  • 1997 FORD EXPLORER
  • 6 CYL
  • 4WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 139,000 MILES
1. UNDER DASH HOOD LATCH. My battery went down and while trying to open the hood, the underdash latch would not spring the outside hood latch. QUESTION: How do you open the hood on this vehicle if the under dash hood latch does not allow you to open the hood from the outside?

2. HOW TO OPEN DOORS. After trying to open the hood, I locked the doors to go inside the house. Upon returning, neither the remote control nor the 5-digit code would open any of the doors or the rear hatch (it clicks like a battery problem) - apparently due to the battery problem (I replaced the battery in the remote control, w/no change); and the key would not open the door or rear latch locks. Now I'm locked out of the vehicle completely.
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Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020 AT 12:09 PM (Merged)
Tiny
BLUELIGHTNIN6
  • MECHANIC
  • 16,542 POSTS
Hello and thanks for the donation!

You don't have a key to manually unlock the door?

To open the hood, you may have to go underneath the front of vehicle and reach up through any openign possible to push over the hood latch. Once open, lubricate the latch with WD40 and ensure the cable is attached and not kinked anywhere.
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Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020 AT 12:09 PM (Merged)

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