If your hood release cable breaks

Just thought I'd pass this along "just in case" this happens to you.
On my 96 Cherokee Country hood release cable went. That being the case, I couldn't open the hood. (not a good thing!). The following is the procedure for getting the hood open:
Remove grill, housing around BOTH headlights, remove headlights, then the metal housiing behind the bulbs. There are two bolts (one is in horz. the other vert. (think they're about 14-15mm heads). With both bolts out, the latches will come out and the hood will open. All this took all of about 15 minutes. With access to the engine compartment, you can now repair/replace the cable.It took the guys at my local Jeep dealership almost an hour to figure out the above procedure. Then only 20 minutes to fix the problem. Don't know if the cable set up is the same on all Jeeps, but I'm told it is on MOST Jeeps. Hope this bit is of use to you all...........Jerry

i just followed your directions and was able to do this repair myself, with almost zero problems, i have *very limited* experience with car repair.

I found the part on ebay for 20 bucks.

The repair place quoted me about 200 bucks for the repair. yeah!:rofl:

Thanks a lot for the info. I also have a '96 Cherokee Country and have noticed degradation of that cable. Info. will come in handy some day I believe. Good post!

Make sure you keep that thing lubricated!

I just squirted my '92 Cherokee cable ends and the release hardware with some silicon lubricant last month and it releases the hood much easier. This should be done on a REGULAR basis (every 6 months?).

Take Care,

Went to open my hood a couple months ago and ended up with the cable T handle in my hand. It's stupid the way they designed the cable right into the handle. My way of opening the hood was a litlle bit drastic. I cut the protective black cable which houses the actual cable from the cable mounting bracket, trimmed back about four inches of the black cable housing, got a eye bolt with 2 nuts and wrapped the release cable around the two nuts and tighted them down. This works better than the original cable worked and the repair or jerry rig only cost some extra parts and pieces I had in a junk drawer!!

Vehicle: 1988 Jeep Cherokee 2dr 6cyl.

The handle came off in my hand a few days ago. I was about to hack into the line, same as another jeeper here. Will follow your replacement proceedure, and look for the cable on ebay. Thank-you!

I got this vehicle for free from a friend, who needed it out of his way. I am already falling in love with the straight 4.0L 6. What a vehicle!

Bryan