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Hood stuck. Latch won't release the hood up (the first cable actuated latch, not the hand-actuated safety second one). Pushing down and pulling on the hood does not do anything. Cable and pull handle inside seem fine, no resistance felt. So looks like either the cable or something else broke someplace or got disconnected or the latch is stuck.
No problem says I, surely I can wiggle a screwdriver in there through the grille and get it to release. But no, this is a Toyota. Nowhere to insert a tool up front that I can see through the grille. The latch assembly is behind a solid metal panel.
Looking from underneath it appears that there is a metal shield under the cable so it can't be reached. The latch assembly is also closed on the bottom and looks like steel.
So, pretty much casual thief-proof.
At that point it's starting to look more difficult than anticipated, if not downright bad. As in the only way in there appears to be to either break off the grille or cut bits off and get some sort of access -if lucky- through the front/top, or somehow cut open the bottom of the latch assembly and hope that I can unlatch the thing through there. Not easy to reach that, though. Fleeting thoughts of cutting up a hole in the hood and then filling it later with a MUD hood ornament are discarded for the time being, tempting as they may be....
So at that point, I figure let's start with the easy stuff. I check things from underneath and figure out where I could spray some oil in from the front that may or may not reach the latch mechanism. I do that. 2 minutes later I push down forcefully on the hood and this time, CLUNK, it released. (Had tried that several times before to no avail.) And interestingly, now when I pull the handle inside, it releases with a much more assertive noisy clang than it did before.
Soo, I was lucky, cuz a first look did not reveal any easy or non-damaging solution. Looking at the latch assembly it seems to be held by 3 bolts. One low in the middle seems easy to get to through the grille. However, the upper 2 not so much. Maybe with a swivel socket attachment but more likely not without cutting off bits of the grille. I imagine that with the 3 bolts off, the assembly may come off and possibly dangle down and the inner mechanism may be accessible. Or it may lift up enough to be accessed through the gap under the hood. Maybe not, don't know. If you can unbolt it, cutting the cable inside the cabin might make it possible to lift it all out with the hood.
So a few PM suggestions to avoid the problem or make it easier to address if it does happen to you:
- First and easiest: oil or grease both latches while you can still open the hood. Put some grease on the hood U-shaped hook, mine is rough and a bit rusty where the latch wore off the paint. Did it all and I will do this regularly from now on. (Never done it before, never crossed my mind.)
- Have a good look around and plan for the worst. Figure out where everything is and take a couple of pics (and post them here for posterity).
- See if there is some minor surgery of the grille you can do that could help access or that could make it easier to remove the grille with minimum damage with the hood closed. I saw 2 screws reachable only from the top with hood open. Maybe those could be modified, maybe inverted to make it possible to remove the grille with hood closed. Will have a look.
- See if there is anywhere you can attach an emergency release cable. Did not look possible without cutting open the side or bottom of the latch assembly, but maybe do that.
- Remove the latch assembly, and cut out an access hole in it that you can use to release the latch, probably best at the bottom. Sure beats doing it from under the truck under duress. Not to mention in the middle of the desert with few tools. I like this idea. I may do it. You'd want to plug the hole with silicone or something easy to remove, to avoid dirt getting up in there. Or maybe easier, drill a hole through the front panel to access the latch assembly though the grille. But then everybody else can do it too.
- Have a more serious look at the thing and see if I missed an obvious way to convince it to open. Too late for me tonight, though. But will update if I do see something later on.
- Check this thread -or others- and see if some smarter guy or gal offered the perfect easy solution.
Soo, anyway, for sure oil the dang thing next time you're in there!
Hood stuck. Latch won't release the hood up (the first cable actuated latch, not the hand-actuated safety second one). Pushing down and pulling on the hood does not do anything. Cable and pull handle inside seem fine, no resistance felt. So looks like either the cable or something else broke someplace or got disconnected or the latch is stuck.
No problem says I, surely I can wiggle a screwdriver in there through the grille and get it to release. But no, this is a Toyota. Nowhere to insert a tool up front that I can see through the grille. The latch assembly is behind a solid metal panel.
Looking from underneath it appears that there is a metal shield under the cable so it can't be reached. The latch assembly is also closed on the bottom and looks like steel.
So, pretty much casual thief-proof.
At that point it's starting to look more difficult than anticipated, if not downright bad. As in the only way in there appears to be to either break off the grille or cut bits off and get some sort of access -if lucky- through the front/top, or somehow cut open the bottom of the latch assembly and hope that I can unlatch the thing through there. Not easy to reach that, though. Fleeting thoughts of cutting up a hole in the hood and then filling it later with a MUD hood ornament are discarded for the time being, tempting as they may be....
So at that point, I figure let's start with the easy stuff. I check things from underneath and figure out where I could spray some oil in from the front that may or may not reach the latch mechanism. I do that. 2 minutes later I push down forcefully on the hood and this time, CLUNK, it released. (Had tried that several times before to no avail.) And interestingly, now when I pull the handle inside, it releases with a much more assertive noisy clang than it did before.
Soo, I was lucky, cuz a first look did not reveal any easy or non-damaging solution. Looking at the latch assembly it seems to be held by 3 bolts. One low in the middle seems easy to get to through the grille. However, the upper 2 not so much. Maybe with a swivel socket attachment but more likely not without cutting off bits of the grille. I imagine that with the 3 bolts off, the assembly may come off and possibly dangle down and the inner mechanism may be accessible. Or it may lift up enough to be accessed through the gap under the hood. Maybe not, don't know. If you can unbolt it, cutting the cable inside the cabin might make it possible to lift it all out with the hood.
So a few PM suggestions to avoid the problem or make it easier to address if it does happen to you:
- First and easiest: oil or grease both latches while you can still open the hood. Put some grease on the hood U-shaped hook, mine is rough and a bit rusty where the latch wore off the paint. Did it all and I will do this regularly from now on. (Never done it before, never crossed my mind.)
- Have a good look around and plan for the worst. Figure out where everything is and take a couple of pics (and post them here for posterity).
- See if there is some minor surgery of the grille you can do that could help access or that could make it easier to remove the grille with minimum damage with the hood closed. I saw 2 screws reachable only from the top with hood open. Maybe those could be modified, maybe inverted to make it possible to remove the grille with hood closed. Will have a look.
- See if there is anywhere you can attach an emergency release cable. Did not look possible without cutting open the side or bottom of the latch assembly, but maybe do that.
- Remove the latch assembly, and cut out an access hole in it that you can use to release the latch, probably best at the bottom. Sure beats doing it from under the truck under duress. Not to mention in the middle of the desert with few tools. I like this idea. I may do it. You'd want to plug the hole with silicone or something easy to remove, to avoid dirt getting up in there. Or maybe easier, drill a hole through the front panel to access the latch assembly though the grille. But then everybody else can do it too.
- Have a more serious look at the thing and see if I missed an obvious way to convince it to open. Too late for me tonight, though. But will update if I do see something later on.
- Check this thread -or others- and see if some smarter guy or gal offered the perfect easy solution.
Soo, anyway, for sure oil the dang thing next time you're in there!
