Engine hood won't open-Help Please

[Roger]

You won't believe what a dumb thing I did today. I was waxing my van (95 Ford Club Wagon) and opened the hood to wipe around the edge of the body by the engine compartment. When done, I dropped the hood to close it but my rag got caught on the hood latch mechanism as it shut. Now it is jammed and the hood will not open. I managed to pull all but about a 2 inch square piece of the rag free, but what is left is enough to freeze up the mechanism I guess. When I reach into the grill and pull the hood release lever, it moves. But the hood will not pop up. I even had my son pull up on the hood as I did this, but it won't budge.

Any ideas short of going to the dealer???

Its always something!

Thanks

 

[Dan4510]

Roger,

Try pushing down on the hood while pulling the release. I did the same thing a few years back when mechanicing and this finally helped. It just takes patience.

Dan

 

[mrchecker]

Think a rag in there is bad? Try a coat - yours, and you're wearing it!

I did this on my old Dodge pickup, had to try to wriggle out of my coat(still zipped), the get the hood open and the coat back on before I froze to death. Worst thing was I was at a gas station, checking my oil. Why don't things like that happen when there's nobody watching?

 

[RussellA]

quote:

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Think a rag in there is bad? Try a coat - yours, and you're wearing it! I did this on my old Dodge pickup, had to try to wriggle out of my coat(still zipped), the get the hood open and the coat back on before I froze to death. Worst thing was I was at a gas station, checking my oil. Why don't things like that happen when there's nobody watching?

---

We need a thread on worse moments. Back in college friend of mine (really it wasn't me) was driving back to his parents place at night on a little desolate 2 lane highway. He spilled a "big gulp" coke on his pants so he pulled over at the entrance to this plant because it was lit and he had warmups in the trunk. He was in the process of changing his pants and had the wet ones off, when a car approached and looked like it was slowing. He put it in gear and drove, still in his underwear, well as you would guess , the COP LIGHTS came on the car and he got pulled over. He said to the officer " I guess you're wondering why I'm in my underwear" . Cop just said "Not really, we've had some break-ins into that plant back there and wanted to see why your were parked there". Then let him go.

 

[Roger]

I still haven't managed to open that #*@%^!!! hood, but at least I'm laughing about it now. Thanks for the stories guys.

 

[timzak]

If it wasn't such a dumb suggestion, I'd say reach in there with a long lighter, catch the remaining piece of cloth on fire, let it burn up. But an open flame anywhere near your engine compartment is, like I said, dumb.

 

[RussellA]

quote:

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If it wasn't such a dumb suggestion, I'd say reach in there with a long lighter, catch the remaining piece of cloth on fire, let it burn up. But an open flame anywhere near your engine compartment is, like I said, dumb.

---

I see , then the fire department cuts it open with the jaws of life. Maybe we need to think out of box.

1) Park it in South Central Los Angeles and wait from someone to come by to steal it . They alway pop the hood first to unhook the alarm.

2) Have wife or some female drive it to full service gas station (if you can still find one) and ask them to check the oil. They probably will figure how to open it instead of look dumb infront of a female.

3) Take it to jiffy lube and have them change the oil. No, they'll just drain the old oil, say the heck with it and give back to you without oil

4) catch Discover channels "Monster Garage" and get pointers from them. Bet you it starts with a cuting torch


But really , good luck.

 

[Mike_dup1]

You could just drive it for sometime as is and hope the rag will wear away and the hood will come free?


OR

Take out the grill and get at the bolts that hold the latch in. If you loosen most of them, it might be enough to release the hood.

OR

Take it to a good body shop and tell them the hood won't open. Play dumb, tell them the last time it was open was when the lube place changed you oil.

The body shop guys may know how to release it without damage.

 

[pscholte]

I've got an idea...sell the car!

 

[Roger]

YEEEHHHAAAAAA! It's open!

I must confess I seriously considered the suggestion to set the rag on fire, but figured I ought to try a couple of cold beers 1st to calm myself down and stimulate my best thinking. A bunch of WD40, a really long screw driver and some boy power helped too, but in the final analysis I feel I still owe a lot to those beers. The kids pried the hood up enough so I could see under it to where the latch and the rag were. Shot the rag with the WD40 and keep pushing on it with the screw driver to where it finally worked free enough that it gave way when we keep trying to open the hood.

 

[RussellA]

YES!

 

[Rick in PA]

I'm surprized nobody has suggested selling the car.

 

[timzak]

Good job, Roger! Glad you got it taken care of.

 

[DH]

Solution:

Put 2 big blocks of ice under a tree with a heavy limb directly overhead. Throw a heavy rope, with a hook on one end over the limb. Using ramps, drive the front tires onto the big blocks of ice and latch the hook under the front edge of your hood. Take up the slack and tie the hook-free rope end to the trunk of the tree While sitting in a chair, reach through the grill and manually pull the latch and hold it. Don't let go. As the ice melts the car will be slowly lowered. The rope should pull the hood open. This should take no more than 6 or 8 hours.