hardon85

Hey guys I know this is common and I did search on this already and could not find a satisfactory answer. First off the hood latch on my Camaro has always stuck but in the past I was able to get it open just by tapping the hood or driving the car over a few bumps, unfortunately I have a dead battery and I can't get the hood open by tapping it and obviously it can't drive. I have tried to get my hand under there to grab the cable but there is very little room and once I'm up there I can't get any leverage to give a good tug on the cable. So my first question would be what is the best way to get this open? I did take off the plastic around the hood latch inside the car and the actual cable wasn't exposed so I couldn't get the extra pull that way. My 2nd question is what actually causes this? Is the latch out of adjustment? does the latch need to be lubed up? Or is the cable stretched? I would like to know why this happens so once I get the hood open I can fix it. Thanks in advance guys.

Maverick H1L

iTrader: (8)

Reach up under the car right in front of the radiator... You'll feel the back of the latch and the lever the cable connects to. Put one or 2 fingers on the lever and your thumb on the edge of the latch and pull to the driver's side. The hood should pop right open. Once the hood is open, remove the latch and clean the crap off of it before lubing it with lithium grease. It's possible the cable is either stretched or the sheath (the covering over the actual pull cable) is broken... Examine it to find out.

This works on Birds, not sure about Camaros that have the dual snorkel fuel injection air intake...

'87IROCZOWNER69

iTrader: (1)

When mine stuck on my Iroc I just shoved the nozzle of the WD-40 bottle in between the hood and the bumper and sprayed it alot. Then I made sure it was shut and pulled the latch after allowing it to soak. BTW getting new hood shocks helps to push the hood up to prevent this problem from occuring but you should always lube your parts as well.

90 camaro cj

also pull lightly on the spring to make it so it pops open further helps some too

UnderCover89TBI

iTrader: (25)

hit it harder. I like having to hit my hood. gives my car some flare. haha.

hardon85

Thank you guys for all your responses. I feel like such a retard I followed maverick's advice and still could not get the hood open. I guess the biggest problem is there is an X brace in front of the radiator that keeps me from maneuvering my hand around and also I don't know how the latch works or what it looks like so I don't really know what to look for but my next thing will be to try a couple cans of wd-40 and hope that works thanks again guys.

musclecar70sfan

iTrader: (1)

I actually had this problem with my TA... it didn't get quite to the point yours did hardon but I did have to try banging the hood and yanking the release cable several times to finally get it to pop open. I just fixed this a few days ago by buying a brand new latch off of ebay. My old one was actually quite worn and had lots of play in each of the parts and just didn't operate smoothly. I also replaced the cable since the casing on my was rotted away thanks to the previous owner(s) leaving a leaking battery in there, plus it was stretched I'm sure.

Maverick H1L

iTrader: (8)

Well, worse comes to worse, have someone pull on the release **** while you pull up on the front of the hood above the headlights. Just don't let them hold the release all the way out or the hood won't release as there's a catch in the lever on the latch.

If you're hitting the cross braces in front of the radiator, you're reaching too far back for the latch. The primary release lever on the latch gets pulled towards the driver's side, which is why the under car release is best done with the right hand. It's straight up from the x-braces but a little bit towards the nose of the car by about an inch.

:edit: I have a spare latch laying around somewhere that I can get a pic of tomorrow if I remember.

evilemokid94

iTrader: (6)

could also be bent or just old, on my old 90 the latch was bent to hell so i bought one off ebay and bever looked back, never regret it either, i have it laying in my spare tool box if i have problems with my current one

GanymedeElegy

iTrader: (1)

I found a latch off a 1990 Chevy full size van. They are the same latch and this one was much cleaner and had less wear. My hood never sticks anymore (:

hardon85

Thanks again guys for all of the advice. I have been super busy the last few days so I haven't had any time to try the new things out. But it looks like I will be replacing the latch whenever I can get it open. Maverick if you could get a picture that would be great then I would know what I'm looking for I have followed the cable all the way back to where it hooks into the latch but I can't get my hand on the other side to push over whatever needs to be pushed, and musclecar I have followed all of your threads I could find your car looks great by the way and sorry to hear about the paint (I'm sure you have it figured out by now) but when I finally get around to doing body work on my car I'd love to have you come to MN to help me lol you did an amazing job, but how difficult was it to replace your cable? I think I will probably do this too but just wondering what I'm in for. You guys are great thanks again.

Maverick H1L

iTrader: (8)

Replacing the cable isn't hard... Just 2 screws on the interior part behind the kick panel, pull the cable out of the levers on the latch when you get the hood open and can get the latch loose, and pull the cable out of the hole in the firewall.

I still need to dig out that latch...

musclecar70sfan

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the compliment! The paint issue resolved itself I'd say (scroll to the last few posts of this thread: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/body...screwed-2.html)

As for the difficulty of the work, it was very easy. Took me less than 20 minutes to replace the cable and latch. The only tips I can give you are that the plastic piece that holds the cable going through the firewall is threaded in; don't go yanking on it like I did at first lol. And check your cable first before you spend money on a new one; yours might be in good shape. The only reason I changed mine is because of the destroyed casing and the possibility of the cable breaking as a result.

drewmech

lol had my camaro 2 days when this happened to me. once i got the hood open the latch wouldnt close. Any way i pulled the kick panel to get ahold of the cable a pair of vise grips and solid jerk later hood opened like a champ. Fixing it properly was pretty straight forward as well.

Cleric69

The latch on my IROC sticks too. I just whisper sweetly to it and give it a few gentle caresses and a little wiggle on the front of the hood and it pops right open. I only talk dirty to her when I'm working the trunk latch. :-)

evilemokid94

iTrader: (6)

lmfao, quote of the day

RyanEricW

What causes it? Years of being driven over bumpy roads. See I had this same problem, and instead of buying a new latch, I repaired it easily with a dremel and some silglyde (napa only), or you prob could use some white lithium grease.

Not only was my latch gummed up, but it has a groove in the latch which prevented the arm to release. Also, I had to remove the metal holder from the hood as there was a groove in that as well. I fixed them both with a dremel tool, and always pops the first time now.

---------------

The best I can say is pull the hood release, and wiggle while moving the hood up and down to get the latch to move. It took me literally 20 minutes one time with someone's help (they pulled/released the latch) while I messed with the hood til it released. You can also try dousing it with WD-40 or PB blaster from in between or under the car.

Best of luck

hardon85

update.
IMG_20110509_192606.jpg

This has been driving me nuts, in case you guys are wondering how I got it, I wd-40d the crap out of it and then pulled up on the hood by the headlights while my wife was pushing and pulling the hood latch and about the 5th or 6th try it popped open.

But I lubed the latch better and it seems to move good but I think the cable is stretched, I'm not sure how far it's supposed to move but it doesn't look to me like it moves far enough. Would any of you guys be able to tell if I posted a video? If so I can. Again thanks again guys for all of your advice and help it was priceless.

P.S. I know my car is ugly but someday it will be pretty again this is the first picture I have posted on here of it too.

RyanEricW

Read my ****ing post. I don't type for ***** and giggles.

evilemokid94

iTrader: (6)

whoa buddy, calm down!! who pulled your cable the wrong way?!

'87IROCZOWNER69

iTrader: (1)

Yeah calm down, the reason to use WD-40 is because it is something everyone has and it can be easily applied to any part it needs to be put on (I just reapply once a month or so to ensure it stays properly lubed!)

Congrats to the OP! I like how you have the upgraded hood holder (swifter pole)! If you want to make sure it pops up better replacing the hood shocks makes the hood pop up way easier and you can scrap the Swifter!

Maverick H1L

iTrader: (8)

I'd prefer to use never-seize instead as it will never need to be touched again, even though it may look like crap and be a bit messy. I'd soak it in some degreaser for a day or so to make sure it comes clean before doing anything else. Getting the old crud off is very important...

Not sure why everyone has problems with these... My latch, with a broken release cable housing (the sheath was broken right where it turns the corner along the frame next to my battery), worked fine (replacing the cable now as the mount on the interior handle end broke). Weak hood spring and hood shocks and all.

hardon85

Thanks I'm glad you like my prop rod lol. Actually in this whole mess I pulled out the driver side kick panel and well I was at it I pulled up the carpet a little and there was about a dime sized hole where I could see the driveway. So my plans have changed a little. I had planned on doing the restoration in steps bodywork, interior, suspension/chassis/brakes and then the fun stuff of the motor upgrade but now I think I will do the interior and body work together since I will have to remove the carpet to replace or fix the floor anyway. But until we move into our new house with a decent garage where I can work on it all the time I will wait on doing things like hood struts and the reason I say that is (and I'm sure you don't really care) I don't know which hood I will go with I like the sunco hood but I also kind of like 91-92 Z28 hood, but the sunco hood is fiberglass which needs different hood struts.

Hey I actually did look at the latch and to be honest everything looked like it was in good shape, I didn't see any grooves anywhere on the latch and everything on the latch seemed to be tight, no play anywhere. Like I said it looks to me like the cable is stretched but maybe there is something I'm not seeing, so many people say they have latch trouble that I'm going to assume it's the latch and the cable but I don't know

We used to use anti sieze when we raced go-karts good stuff but it was messy but if it worked so who really cares.

On a side note when I was in high school I had figured out the trick of yanking the cable underneath to open the hoods of cars and I remember one night when I was in high school I made like $25 betting people I could open their hood from the outside of the car and nobody believed I could do it, I'm sure glad nobody had my car out there that night lol. I'm not sure what the hole deal was here as I posted above but again I thank all of you for your help.

Troys88GTANotch

I used WD40 to clean mine out and Slick50 One Grease PTFE lube, and mine hasnt sticked ever since... http://www.slick50.com/products/OtherProducts.htm

phenix91

Remove kick panel , 2 screws holding release handle pull out slack ,pull handle mine popped right up cable was stretched but good . Going to use fishing weight to adjust cable

mrestrictrplate

iTrader: (2)

Have someone pull on the hood relaease while you hit the hood by the latch with the palm of your hand. My 88 Formula had this problem when it was a few years old. Bang around in a few spots and it should open.