Not sure if this has been covered… on my ‘97 LX450 the hood release lever was not functioning very well for the last year or so; particularly in cold weather… the underhood latch would often not reset and the lever would not return to the closed position …. Finally ordered a new factory cable from an ebay vendor and installed it last weekend. There may have been some debris in the latch mechanism that contributed to the problem but the pic tells the story.
R&R was straightforward per the FSM … 4 things that I noted however: 1) the FSM identifies two ‘ retaining clips that have to be released under the hood - these turned out to be zip ties and once found were simple to manage 2) not mentioned in the FSM but I pulled the battery and the battery ‘box’ out to ensure I was feeding the cable the right way 3) IAW the FSM the cable is released from the in cabin hood release lever then pulled out from the engine compartment …I tied a stout long length of synthetic ‘twine’ to the in cabin end before I pulled the old cable out … this was very useful as I attached the twine to the new cable to pull it back into the cabin via the same route it was in originally. Saved a lot of effort … there is a small rubber ‘boot’ at the firewall the cable goes through and a little silicon and prepositioning of the cable end makes this stage of the 'return pull’ easier, and 4) the cables have a piece of marker tape on the in cabin end and this is to position the cable properly oriented in a small clip inside the cabin/under dash.
Here’s my old cable
R&R was straightforward per the FSM … 4 things that I noted however: 1) the FSM identifies two ‘ retaining clips that have to be released under the hood - these turned out to be zip ties and once found were simple to manage 2) not mentioned in the FSM but I pulled the battery and the battery ‘box’ out to ensure I was feeding the cable the right way 3) IAW the FSM the cable is released from the in cabin hood release lever then pulled out from the engine compartment …I tied a stout long length of synthetic ‘twine’ to the in cabin end before I pulled the old cable out … this was very useful as I attached the twine to the new cable to pull it back into the cabin via the same route it was in originally. Saved a lot of effort … there is a small rubber ‘boot’ at the firewall the cable goes through and a little silicon and prepositioning of the cable end makes this stage of the 'return pull’ easier, and 4) the cables have a piece of marker tape on the in cabin end and this is to position the cable properly oriented in a small clip inside the cabin/under dash.
Here’s my old cable
Last edited: