mountaineer

[chrissye41]

98 Mercury Mountaineer, hood "jammed" won't budge a bit, pulling hood release does absolutely NADA !..HELP !

[rhandwor]

The vehicle needs to be on jack stands so you can get under it. I use a long screwdriver and go up from the bottom and move the latch lever. Then I usually go to the dealer and buy a new cable. Or you can get one at the junk yard. Normally the cable breaks or it just may need oiled properly.You may need someone to help you pull up when you move the lever.

[shorod]

Can you tell if the cable for the hood release is still good? Sometimes there's just too much pressure against the hood latch and you can have someone push down firmly on the hood above the latch area while another person pulls out on the hood release. While the release is still pulled out, release the pressure on the hood and see if it pops up to the safety catch. If it does, then figure out who left their screwdriver/wrench/socket between the hood and and the fender lip. If that wasn't the issue, then clean and lubricate the hood latch with a dry lubricant.

If it's obvious that the cable is not making the connection between the release lever and the latch and the problem isn't just where the cable connects to the release lever, then the suggestions by rhandwor are probably your only option.

-Rod