finicky hood release

[sixleggedinsect]

sometimes it just gets stuck shut, and i have to jump up and down on the hood, and eventually pry it up with my fingernails. i havent done extensive exploratory surgery, but before i get dirty- has anyone has this problem before (and if so, where was the problem?)

thanks

[denisond3]

Its not that rare. The mechanism might just need oiled, or it may have been closed hard enough to bend the metal the latch mounts to. That piece in front of the radiator is thin and easy to move out of alignment by hand - or even by someone leaning against the front of the radiator/a.c.condenser to hard. It could also be that the bolts holding the hood to the hinges are loose and have let the hood shift a little. When you go to align the hood - have the car sitting on a flat surface.
Its really important for the 'safety latch' to be working right.
Something I like to do for my old cars, is to hook up a piece of steel wire to the latch release, in such a way that I can lie under the car and get the hood to open. Since the regular hood release cable will -eventually- snap.

[sixleggedinsect]

Originally Posted by denisond3

Something I like to do for my old cars, is to hook up a piece of steel wire to the latch release, in such a way that I can lie under the car and get the hood to open. Since the regular hood release cable will -eventually- snap.

I finally got around to poking around under the hood to see if there was an easy way to add in a secondary release wire. it isnt as obvious as i hoped- the latch mech seems buried between plates so i wont be able to attach anything/drill anything without taking the bits and pieces apart.

well, i didnt spend much time thinking about it. it was freezing and dark, and i wont be reaquainted with my car for a couple weeks- but just in case:

has anyone done something like this on an escort before? was there an easy way? or did you already have everything taken apart?

thanks

[tripletdaddy]

It sounds like the primary latch isn't fully releasing. Ditto on the lubrication. I've seen the secondary or safety latch components get bent or everything seems to be out of alignment. Either latch problem usually requires fishing at it to get it to open. On another vehicle, the hood release cable had stretched so that you couldn't pull it far enough to release the primary latch. To fix the problem without replacing the cable, since it didn't have an adjustment, I added some split washers between the latch release lever and the cable end ball. I opened them to go on the cable with a screwdriver and then pinched them shut with pliers.

[denisond3]

Our Escort is in a suburb of Wash. D.C. this month. We will be driving it back down here (Rio Grande valley of TX ) at the end of Feb. Since the hood release will likely fail someday at an inconvenient time; I intend to hook up an extra release mechanism, & could 'show & tell' how I do it. You first need to unclip/remove that center plastic 'grille' piece, in order to have access to the latch mechanism (or to replace the headlamps). I learned how to undo the clips by breaking a couple of them first. Then it was easy to unclip replacements from a wreck in a pick-n-pull yard & put mine back together.