The lever assembly is broken. I yanked off the trim piece and I've got the end of the cable but pulling on it does nothing. I assume it has come disconnected under the hood.

I crawled under the car and I can get my hand all the way up to the hood release in the middle (the one you have to push up once you've popped the hood from inside the car) I tried yanking and pulling on various parts of it from different directions and I can't get it to pop.

Is the actual hood release (the one popped by the cable) somewhere besides the middle? Anyone have any experience with this problem? Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

Put a pair of vice-grips on the cableand have someone pull up and or lightly push down then pull up on the hood. If you have resistanceon the cable,then most likely the cableis not broken, but your mechanism (under the hood) is rusty. I had this with both my 91 and 94. You'll get it open, just don't overbend or break the safety release ( the one you use when the hood is popped.
WD40 or the like are good to get the mechanism working freely once you get it open ,but once it is working, use lithium grease or something similar. WD is not meant for a lasting lubricant. Good luck

 

Ok....

I had my wife hold the vise grips and pull with all her strength. I tried pushing down and pulling up on the hood and I got nothing. No response whatsoever.

You say if I've got resistance on the cable than it's probably not broken? The cable is definitely pulled out further into the cabin than it should be and it doesn't budge when I try to pull further. I can push it in a little bit... like feeding the cable back through the shield, but that doesn't do anything either.

I really need to know how to pop it from underneath.

Thanks!

 

Ok, I took the grille off... which was incredibly easy. Just 4 torx head screws and she pops right out.

The cable had come detached. I re-attached it and tried pulling on it from inside the cabin and I still got no love so I just had to stick a screwdriver in the mechanism and give it a tap to the right with a hammer.

So, not only was the release mechanism frozen up pretty bad but the tension spring under the hood was pretty rusty and stiff. I'm guessing those two things in combination made it next to impossible to get open.

Looks like I'll be making a junkyard run this weekend.

Thanks for the help!