Archived hood latch cable BUSTED!

[WayneIlfrey]

HELP

This morning I tried to open my hood and POP the hood cable came loose.

Does anyone know how I can get the hood open without the hood cable? I have to get to the engine because she is low on oil.



And can I buy a new cable and install it.



My truck is a '91 Dodge T. Diesel 250



Wayne

 

[Whitmore]

wayne, my buddie had the same thing happen to his 01 and I somehow entered it thru the grill and got it open, if you can look at another truck you will see how you can do it with a stiff piece of wire... ... ... ... . good luck... ... ... ... . Kevin

 

[Mopar Man]

Hood latch cable

I have had this haplpen on another vehicle (Trooper) and as not above, I had to remove the grille and some other parts to get to the latch. I did NOT have another Trooper handy to see how to do it, but if you can check out another Dodge like yours, you could plan your "attack" and go for it!! Good Luck

 

[fest3er]

Originally posted by WayneIlfrey
HELP
This morning I tried to open my hood and POP the hood cable came loose.
Does anyone know how I can get the hood open without the hood cable? I have to get to the engine because she is low on oil.

And can I buy a new cable and install it.

My truck is a '91 Dodge T. Diesel 250

Wayne

I was all set with a slick response. *Then* I noticed you have a 1st gen. Sigh.

See if you can reach up behind the bumper to the latch. If so, you might be able to pop the sheath out of its holder, grab what's left of the cable and pull. But if the cable broke off at the latch, you might be able to get an angled lever inside the latch and manually release it. If that fails, you might be able to unbolt the latch from the 'frame', open the hood, and reinstall.

I should think replacement cables would be available from Dodge or even an after-market supplier.

Fest3er

 

[nickleinonen]

once you do get it loose, how about removing the latch all together and going with hood pins isn't that what is popular currently . everything from souped up civics to soccer mom's minivan have them... some of the ricers even have the real ones [which is what you would need. ] and not the stick on ones. .



sorry about the trouble. . we had a cable break on the old cubevan. . i fixed it with a big[er] hammer. i don't think that is an option here. .

 

[JR2]

How much cable came off with the handle?? or did it break off right at the back of the handle. I had an 83 dodge gasser and the handle broke off... I found the housing for the cable and pulled it loose from under the dash and then cut it about a foot back from the end, being careful not to cut all the way through. What you want to do is get at the cable inside the housing. Once I got in there I just tied it in a loop and gave it a tug.

Now if it broke at the ther end you may have to take the entire truck apart to get at it..... or at least the front grill and such.

 

[WayneIlfrey]

GOT IT!

First of all a big thanks to all of you who chimed in on my hood latch problem.

I finally got it open, heres how.

First, I have a very large iron boilerplate bumper/grille on the front of the truck so getting past that to the grille wasn't working. I tried to get to it from underneath the truck but no luck there either.

I had a pretty good idea that the cable broke at the turn around the battery. Suddenly the idea light came on.

I started to remove the driver side headlight. I removed the whole assembly and was left with a hole about 6 inches in diameter. I reached is an started feeling around. I had SWMBO move the cable from inside the cab back and forth until i felt the cable moving, this allowed me to figure out where it broke. Sure enough, it was right there at the battery. With a little feeling around I found the other part of the cable, it was tight but I managed to break off some of the housing and get to the cable and pull. POP, the hood came open.

Thank God Above!

And thanks again all.

Wayne

 

[fest3er]

Re: GOT IT!

Originally posted by WayneIlfrey
First of all a big thanks to all of you who chimed in on my hood latch problem.
I finally got it open, heres how. ...

Great!

And thanks for reminding me. At 112K miles, I really need to yank mine and run some lube in it so I don't have *your* problem too soon!

Fest3er