Hood Won't Open!!!

Pulled the plastic hood release in the footwell to open the hood and nothing happened. Does anyone know how to manual open the hood or how to access the cable and release mechanism?

have someone pull up on the hood as you pull the lever

Your car is afraid to let you under the hood. It thinks you might get rid of the coolant reservoir, the washer fluid holder, the air cleaner, the fans, etc.

Originally Posted by WireHarp

Your car is afraid to let you under the hood. It thinks you might get rid of the coolant reservoir, the washer fluid holder, the air cleaner, the fans, etc.

Originally Posted by mkodama

Pulled the plastic hood release in the footwell to open the hood and nothing happened. Does anyone know how to manual open the hood or how to access the cable and release mechanism?

Does that plastic hood release lever move around freely (i.e. it's loose, not screwed in all the way), or do you feel like it's pulling on something, but the hood just won't open?

It happened to me before- Dang, have some1 to help you because it is a bi**h

Originally Posted by WireHarp

Your car is afraid to let you under the hood. It thinks you might get rid of the coolant reservoir, the washer fluid holder, the air cleaner, the fans, etc.

..............BURRRRN.

Only kidding. This may seem trivial and condescending to ask, but you are releasing the grill-lever correct? Best of luck. Can I ask(excitedly), what are you doing under the hood?

If the lever feels loose when you pull it, the cable wire from the lever to the latch may have disconnected somehow. I ran into this problem when I swapped my hood awhile back.

I just took off the kidney grills, loosened the latch and forcefully wiggled the hood from side to side. Eventually, the hood popped right open. Good luck.

Originally Posted by WireHarp

Your car is afraid to let you under the hood. It thinks you might get rid of the coolant reservoir, the washer fluid holder, the air cleaner, the fans, etc.

Ahahaha, yeah, maybe it doesn't like the forceful diet I'm putting it on. I'm trying to make my car anorexic, and it just closes it's mouth...

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the cable pulled out because the lever feels like it isn't attached to anything. I also have a feeling that this might be related to the damage the previous owner induced on my car.

How do you remove he kidney grills?

Originally Posted by mkodama

How do you remove he kidney grills?

hood needs to be up to remove them. there are tabs all around the back.

Photo 1.

Remove kidney grills. It may cost a new set ($50) but it beats taking it to the shop and spending the money.

Photo 2.3.4.

Take an allen wrench and release the hood pins that hood down the hood, this is covered by a rubber flap below. This might take a while since you'll have limited space. The hoods pins have to be taken completely out to release the hood.

Photo 5. and 6.

Here's probably where your problem is. This is the connector cable adapter from the interior latch to the hood is probably unclipped. You'll have to add a couple of small nuts and washer to create tension (if cable is stretched) and then zip ty the connecting adapter to elimnate the part to unclip again. Remember to install the hood pins to the original position. You see the original marks.


You can now relax that you got it back open. I did.

Thank you so much!

wish i saw this thread earlier today haha. i was trying to align my hood today and had the same problem, took me literally all day to get it to open. as many mentioned what to do above, i ended up popping out my kidney grills. then loosen the latches and it popped open.

lesson learned, don't ever force your hood to close if it doesn't want to in the first place.

Seems really easy to break the kidney grills and at $32 a piece, they ain't cheap. I kinda want to wait 'til my mechanic is back in town but at the same time I want to fix it ASAP. What sucks right now is that I NEED to open the hood because my turn indicator bulb came loose.

Great news, while driving home today, the hood popped open. Luckily I wasn't driving very fast and luckily the second stage latch did it's job.

Alright, is there an easy way to access the latches? It looks like you have to remove a cross-member to get to them. Because the problem is with the latches. One or both of them aren't very well connected to the cable.

Just for future reference if anyone needs to fix this.

1. Take apart the trunk release latch in the driver. Grab the exposed cable with some pliers and pull.
2. You should be able to open the hood like normal now.
3. Using some torx bits, remove the latches and apply a liberal amount of grease. This is the cause of the problem.
4. On the driver's side of the engine bay, right above the front wheel you will see the hood release cable go in and out of a plastic housing. This housing has just a small clip holding it closed and will unclip with a light pull. This is where the cable housing often slips around. Modify this by either slipping on a few nuts, or strap in place with a zip tie, or put a bicycle cable housing cap on the end of the cable housing (the best way).

Originally Posted by mkodama

Just for future reference if anyone needs to fix this.

1. Take apart the trunk release latch in the driver. Grab the exposed cable with some pliers and pull.
2. You should be able to open the hood like normal now.
3. Using some torx bits, remove the latches and apply a liberal amount of grease. This is the cause of the problem.
4. On the driver's side of the engine bay, right above the front wheel you will see the hood release cable go in and out of a plastic housing. This housing has just a small clip holding it closed and will unclip with a light pull. This is where the cable housing often slips around. Modify this by either slipping on a few nuts, or strap in place with a zip tie, or put a bicycle cable housing cap on the end of the cable housing (the best way).

I'm confused. My hood is depressed past the normal resting place... After mechanic looked at it. I pull the handle and there is no release. It is not loose so there is tensio n. just hood won't open.
What size torx? I have the kidneys out