bgiloni

I know there have been many threads on this issue, hopefully this request is a little different. Like many Vette owner of this era, my hood wont open. Not much tension on the handle when I pull the hood release, left side does open, right side doesn't. I have the emergency tool to open the hood, tried for an hour and a half today, can't find the right spot to put it. I wonder if someone can shoot a couple of pictures of the right side hood release mechanism, at least I'll know what direction to head in. Any other advice and/or tips greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Bernie

Stephenms

Like many of these cars the right side is the first to go! I had to remove my passenger tire and inner wheel well (15 minutes) and shove a screw driver into the mechanism and twist the screw driver till the hood popped. It's not so bad. Once I got it open I ordered a Genuine GM cable from my local dealership since I had a bad run in with an aftermarket brand making the cables too short. If you don't have that kind of luxury, use some sort of metal cable ties on the lock lever so you can get them open again. I hear it's easier with the tool but I didn't have any problems going in through the wheel well.

There's a video on google about where to locate the lock lever and where to potion your tool.

Cliff Harris

This video shows how it's done:

Den14

If you try to use this kind of tool, make sure you have someone pushing down on the hood above the latch area to get some of the tension off. You may even try this method before you attempt the fishing tool. Have someone pushing on the driver side of the hood while pulling on the inside lever. Good luck and install the extra pulls that sit under the wipers after you get it open. Simple to install and priceless after you have this happen. Trust me, I know.

Den14

I got all the parts I needed to make them from ACE Hardware for around seven Dollars and spent an hour putting them in. If you have any questions ,get a hold of me. Good luck!

MrRenoman

MrRenoman

I do this to all the cars I work on. It's cheap insurance and I find people using the cables to open the hood instead of the hood release.

puzzigully

I have the same problem,

watching the video over and over is fine, but it doesn't show you were to insert the tool with regard to the seal that is between the body/door/hood...is the tool supposed to go over the top of it, or next to the body? or somewhere else?

It's easy to see when to hood is open - but the problem is that it's not!

also you cant get the tool into the little "tray" where the mechanism is, because of the bend...its unclear as to how you're supposed to achieve this with the hood closed.

Thanks

puzzigully

Ok,

Got it open by going over the top of the seal with the "point" facing inboard, until I felt it hit the stop (in front of the Spring), then rotated it so it now faced vertically down.
Then moved it to the mark I put on the tool (using a friends c4) that lined up with the edge of the gutter trim, then rotated it counter clockwise (was doing drivers side) whilst raising the rear to make sure the point would push the latch inboard.

Took 5-6 goes, but got it!

Once you have the "point" in the tray, you can feel the lever.

I'll add a pic of what had caused the problem, but it was the cable pulling out of "lever flat Spring"

It's not as easy as others suggest.

My advice is to find a friendly c4 owner who will let you use his car to practice on before you attempt it on yours.

puzzigully

This what I found when I got the hood open



The Spring tab had been forced open

hcbph

Once you get it back in place, add safety cables as noted. You might always want to add wire ties to hold the cable in position.