Hood release broken

My hood release is broken on a 91 Civic LX. I took it to get an oil change,
and not even the shop could get it open. Anyone know how to get around it?
Only thing left by the hood release is the wire and the black cable that
holds it.

 

Is the hood release lever (down near the left knee of the driver) broken? Or is
the end of the cable with the little "stopper" on it (to hold it in the release
lever mechanism) gone?

Two years ago with my own 1991 Civic LX, I rigged up my car jack so that the
wire (with little "stopper" still attached) that was left attached to the jack's
top. The "stopper" just slipped through a hole in the top of the jack and held,
IIRC.

I used a few scraps of wood to prop the jack at an angle in the footwell while I
extended the jack. Worked fine, though watch closely for the hood popping and
overextending the cable. That's easy to do.

The 1991 Civic Chilton's manual has a pretty good illustration of the cable's
path, should you want to try to replace it. www.autozone.com may have this
illustration, too. Click on "Free Repair Guides," put in car info, etc. select
"Body and Trim," then "Hood." Also
http://www.honda.co.uk/owner/CRXManual/62SH200/14-61.pdf looks the same as my
Chilton's.

 

Bad design. However, you did pretty good.

The handle on my 98 Civic broke about a year ago.
I keep a pliers under the seat. The handle was better,
but it works.

 

I do still have the stopper on it. It was just the lever mechanism that
broke. I may try the jack simply because pliers don't do the job, and I've
tried all kinds of leverage.

Thanks

 

You found how the sheathing of the cable has a groove that fits into the notch a
few inches "upstream" of the lever, right?

Except for this one instance, I was always able (for like five years!) to use
pliers once I got the groove into the notch and the correct angle. Bit of a pain
but do-able.

Assuming the mounting is okay, it's probably worth buying a new lever mechanism
online at, say, http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/home.htm .

That's no insurance it won't break again, unfortunately. It's a famously lousy
design...

Good luck.

 

one would think this would be covered under a hidden warranty...

 

I went to the wrecker and got one for my 98 Civic. I was
going to do it myself, but ended up getting the dealer to
do it while it was in on my last visit before warranty
expiration.

And now that I know the design is weak, I am just very
careful, especially in our cold winters up here, since the
cold makes the plastic very brittle.

t

 

Okay, now even bigger problem. I've tried the pliers to no avail. I yanked
and janked and got nowheres but trouble. Now the cable is starting to
strip. I checked my Haynes manual and it says the only way to replace is by
opening the hood and pulling it out from that direction. Thanks!

Any advice? Basically, I'm trying to open the hood without using the cable
release. Anyone know how I can do this?

Many thanks in advance,
Brock Angelo

 

Just posting a solution:
I took this to my mechanic and they were able to pull out the front grill.
It is a single piece of black plastic. Once they got this out, they were
able to fish out the wire (which had broken). They opened the hood, then
pulled the cable out through the engine compartment.

The release for the hood is right at the front under the grill, so (since my
car is totalled and looks don't matter) they mounted it sticking out of the
front grill, instead of running a new wire through. Now all I have to do is
give a tug at the front of the car. But for those of you who don't have a
totalled car, you could easily replace once you get it out.

So, if your hood release is broken and your cable breaks: remove the black
plastic grill in the front and fish it out that way.
HTH