Opening a hood w/o the hood release.

[ninjaboyelroy]

Hi All,
I just joined the forum and hope you all can help me with this probelm.
I own a 96 LeSabre and the cable for my hood release is broken.
How can I open my hood? Does anyone Know any tricks?
I thought I'd ask before I took a hammer to it.
Thanks for all your consideration.

[Flatrater]

You need to remove the grille, find the cable end and tug on it hopefully it will release.

[tman]

how would you remove the grille with the hood shut?

[joshey]

with a hammer???

but seriously it would be beter to get on the ground reach way up in and yank the cable by hand(no pun intended)

[ninjaboyelroy]

I pulled the grill off but it didn't allow any more access than when it was on. Can't get my arm up high enough to reach from the back. I'll try jacking it up tomorrow.
Any other suggestions. Your kind replies are most appreciated.

[joshey]

smile takes out rip saw, then quickly makes short work of the latch

[avatar307]

Cut through the exterior of the cable with a pair of wire cutters. If you cut all the way through, it will make it a little more difficult, as you'll have to peel the sheath back to get to the inner cable. Then grab the wire with a pair of needle nose and jerk, the hood will come right open. Course, you'll have to replace the whole assembly if you ever want to open from inside the car again. LOL -C

[chasers247]

make sure the cable's sheath is properly restrained at the lever end. mine slipped off and i wasn't able to move the cable enough to open my hood.

[avatar307]

Thought I'd throw a quick note in here in reference to some of the earlier replies.

On my 1995 Buick LeSabre, you can remove the grill from the outside. It is held in by 6 Torx head bolts, that fasten through the grill and into the hood assembly. I'm not sure there's enough cable to open it this way, but you might be able to get a flat head screw driver in there and push the latch over manually.