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Hi all, here’s one I didn’t expect; thought I’d check the oil when I stopped for gas tonight, pulled the hood release and the hood didn’t “pop”. I’ve tried pulling the cable with my fingers from inside the car, tried pulling on the sheath near the latch itself and tried tensioning the sheath while a helper pulls the release lever inside the van. I’m giving up for the night because I’m bound to do something unnecessary so I thought I’d ask for other ideas.
I don’t love the idea of cutting apart the grill to get at the latch itself but if it comes to that I guess that’s what I’ll do.
Thanks all
Greg
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Try having 1 or 2 helpers. One to push down hard on the hood and another to pull the latch from under the dash while you go from under the car up again with a hook/pick tool to pull on the latch cable again. I had the same problem on a car last week. 😉
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY294hzrwYM (but this is for a explore)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY294hzrwYM (but this is for one that won’t close)
I hope this can give you a little help. Good luck!
thanks for that, I’ll give it a try when I get the chance.
I’m thinking as a backup plan that I’ll try and detach the latch from the body. I might have to drill holes in the grill big enough for a 10mm socket but it might not look too bad in the end.
Good luck!
Before you go drilling holes in expensive body parts, think about the tools you’re using…. You might be able to use 1/4 inch (everything) including a 10mm universal socket or universal adapter.
If you don’t have the tools, I would suggest taking it to a shop before drilling into the grill. They won’t have a labor rate for that in their manual but should only take about .5 hours X their labor rate.
If you go to the shop, buy a new latch from the junk yard (their should be many of this type of car there) before hand. After they open the hood, replace that latch in their parking lot before closing the hood again.
I have a Honda Odyssey coming into my shop tomorrow or the next day…. I’ll have a look at it when it comes and see if I have better advice for you then. If you haven’t already took care of the problem. LOL!
OK, finally got it – turned out all I needed was a better set of pliers. Using bent-tip needle node pliers I was able to pull the cable far enough to pop the latch. I also pushed down on the hood while pulling as you mentioned so thanks! The cable sheath had popped out of its clip in the latch assembly which is why I couldn’t get enough tension on the cable to pop the latch before. It seems to work now (though it probably wouldn’t hurt to replace the cable). I squirted a little WD40 on it to see if it would improve anything. Hopefully that doesn’t just hold dirt.
Prior to that I tried using a flexible extension on a 1/4in racthet to reach the one bolt I couldn’t get at otherwise and I was almost able to get a decent grip on the bolt but not quite. I think if I could have found my 1/4in universal I might have been able to loosen that bolt but as it turned out I didn’t need to.
Glad you were able to get that solved. This is a common problem with Honda’s and it’s usually the latch assembly that’s at fault. Sometimes the cable itself has a problem but it’s very common for the components of the latch to stick. You could replace it but another option would be to remove it, have it sand blasted and reconditioned and then reinstall it. It’s just the pivot pin that gets rusted up and doesn’t allow the latch to move properly.
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