DIY: Hood latch in engine bay broke? Read before this happens to you!

[VR6OOM]

So I was trying to regap these...

For this car...

By pulling them out with this...

And I paid an extra $28 to get it here fast because my car's plugs needed to be regapped bad. Well it arrived and bam...hood cable popped out of it's groove! So I went and bought a drill with bits after reading the vortex to give me some ideas. I popped the hood and drilled away not really sure of where to drill. This post is to help alleviate YOU from doing what I failed to do...do it in 10 minutes!

1) Remove the grill. There are a couple screws that support your grill from the radiator support. Mine (fortunately) were broke so it made pulling it easy. There are a couple tabs that run along the bottom off the grill that require a small flat head screwdriver to get out. You'll see how it comes off if you've never done it before.

2) Locate your hood latch. It will look like this minus the holes...

3) Drill a hole big enough for your flathead screwdriver. The hole closest to my finger was the hole I used...unfortunately for the black metal cover around my latch it was the last hole I drilled!

4) Look through the hole with a flashlight and you'll see a little gap between two pieces of metal that's pretty obvious. It will be about 1/3" into your hole. Use your screwdriver to push it towards the driver's side of the car.

5) This is the culprit that came out. Follow the cable and you'll see the little "ball" hooked into that groove thingy. THAT is what you push on with your screwdriver!

Modified by VR6OOM at 9:46 PM 7-13-2006

[VR6OOM]

I can't let you guys not benefit from my screw up

[SnubbedMK3]

And this will only happen once you realize your hood wont unlatch?

How old is your car?

[TheLateIsadore]

Nice walkthrough Props!

[LG6R]

Wow this is like a DIY on how to steal a car.

[VR6OOM]

Quote, originally posted by MerryBerry »

Wow this is like a DIY on how to steal a car.

I can't prevent what people will do in their spare time. But really...how can someone get into your CABIN through the engine bay? Well I guess I'm off to the drawing board!


Modified by VR6OOM at 10:16 AM 7-14-2006

[Dan J Reed]

Quote, originally posted by VR6OOM »

I can't prevent what people will do in their spare time. But really...how can someone get into your CABIN through the engine bay? Well I guess I'm off to the drawing board!

Its easier than you think.

Too easy infact.

[VR6OOM]

Quote, originally posted by Dan J Reed »

Its easier than you think. Too easy infact.

Oh that sucks man! Sorry.

[bkenzer]

Nice write up. Similar to what I did. Instead of drilling a hole I removed the bracket covering the hood latch with a 12" extension and ratchet. Then proceeded to pop the hood using a screw driver.