I pulled the lever in the cab to pop the hood and it worked fine. Then I went out to lift up the hood and the button there is no longer connected so even though the hood released by an inch or two, I cannot open the hood. I can look in there and see that the little bar that goes from the button on the bottom of the hood (near the bumper) to the actual latch above the radiator is disconnected. The problem is that I don't know how to reconnect it, or where to reconnect it, and since the hood won't open, there is not enough access for me to see what is going on. I am confident that I can fix this if I can just get the hood open. Any suggestions?

 

had the same thing happen to me.. well similiar.. my latch was bent slightly.. Just find yourself a wire coat hanger.. make a hook.. and slide it in there and you should be able to latch on to the latch and get the hood open.

 

So it is a question of pulling down then that will cause the hook to unlatch?

 

you should be able to get to the *finger* for a lack of a better word ..that hooks the core support.. on my 95 ram.. its just to the left of center thru the top of the grill.
just hook on to it and pull out, the hood should open right up.

 

i just took the latch loose from the hood. its two bolts and you need about 24" of extensions. after you take the two bolts out of the hood then you can just lift it up.
grab a towel or a jacket to hold tightly on the latch (its under pressure) and mess with the release tab thingamajig. the re attach it to the hood.

 

With tristatehunter's advice on where the latch is located, I was able to see the hole that the linkage had fallen out of. From there, I was able to manuever the linkage back into the hole and pop the hood with the button.
I rigged some wire to hold the linkage in the hole and now wonder what was originally there to hold it in place? It looks like there maybe was some sort of plastic clip that has broken off?

Anyway, crisis averted and at least I was able to get the hood open. The next big project is finding the source of my major oil leak so that I don't have to keep filling it with oil - man this thing is thirsty and it is going to be a big job finding the leak since there is oil everywhere under there.

 

An oil hemorrhage, never a good sign.
If your lucky maybe its the valve cover gasket[s].

 

Yeah, it aint good, but I have been just ignoring it (aside from regularly topping off the oil) for about two years now. I wish it was the valve cover gasket, but it sure looks like it is coming from somewhere right in the front of the engine - down there where it is very difficult to access or to see what is going on.

 

Try to take some pics and maybe we can help! But, it sounds like the intake manifold is loose, maybe the valve covers/heads.

 

I got a 1996 Dodge Dakota sport. and my hood will not latch shut. The only latch that catches is the finger on the hood. It wont fully latch.... I checked the hood release cable and it works just fine. but my latch just isnt catching...