How do you open a hood?

[Mudderoy]

How do you open the hood of a XJ when the latch stops working?

Can opener?

I've never had this happen before. It's Murphy's law I tell you!

I changed out an injector last night and I wanted to double check for fuel leaks this morning and no hood open!

So I'm sure I'll figure it out, but anyone else had the experience of trying to open a hood when the latch cable doesn't work?

How'd you do it?

[msmoorenburg]

How do you open the hood of a XJ when the latch stops working?

Can opener?

I've never had this happen before. It's Murphy's law I tell you!

I changed out an injector last night and I wanted to double check for fuel leaks this morning and no hood open!

So I'm sure I'll figure it out, but anyone else had the experience of trying to open a hood when the latch cable doesn't work?

How'd you do it?



Have torch will travel :driving:


j/k I can get it open. ether it broke at latch or the handle by the dash. Worst case the grill will have to be removed

[ArmyGuy45]

Coat hanger?

[Mudderoy]

Coat hanger?

Maybe, I was thinking long screwdriver. Luckily I have a 1999 that I can open (hopefully) to have a close look at the latch.

[OrangeXJ]

I'm guessing the cable release is not working?

[Mudderoy]

I'm guessing the cable release is not working?

Exactly. Sorry I thought I said that in the post. It was in my head I promise! :rotfl2:

[danoid45]

mine did that i pulled the latch from inside, and i lucked out the cable broke there so i remove some of the shielding and used vise grips to pull cable and it opens up but you must push vise grips back forward and move latch under hood back also to be able to close it. been working for me for awhile now.

[Mudderoy]

mine did that i pulled the latch from inside, and i lucked out the cable broke there so i remove some of the shielding and used vise grips to pull cable and it opens up but you must push vise grips back forward and move latch under hood back also to be able to close it. been working for me for awhile now.

I'll have to look at it closely. Mine didn't give like it broke when I pulled on it this morning, it was just loose. My feeling was it is unhooked under the hood.

[XJMJeep]

Here's a tip from ComancheClub.com
Looks like a PITA but might help

http://www.comancheclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=872

[bluedragon436]

Yeah I was disassembling my front end of my XJ when the water pump went out, and the hood latch handle popped off in my hand on the side of the road.. Needless to say I was able to finally break into it, but I don't remember how off hand.. But got that cable replaced, although it still feels way too hard to pull.. I think I'm going to grease down the latches before I head out on my deployment.. so once you figure out how to get it open Tony, maybe we should make a **sticky** writeup on how to do it... for future needs of the members!!

[cantab27]

problem solved................

http://i469.photobucket.com/albums/rr52/cantab27/Image0136.jpg

no no , youre welcome...:D:D

[4.3LXJ]

Tony, that have one latch or two?

[Mudderoy]

Tony, that have one latch or two?

two with a safety in the middle.

[4x4Dalton]

problem solved................

http://i469.photobucket.com/albums/rr52/cantab27/Image0136.jpg

no no , youre welcome...:D:D

Oh come on now ya for got the most important piece of equipment....duct tape :D

[4.3LXJ]

Ok, here is how you do it.

Pull the headlight bezel and seal beams out. Remove the can that holds them by using a needle nose plier to unhook the springs the hold one side in. If you don't touch the screws, then you don't have to readjust the headlights. Behind the can, there are two bolts. One, the horizontal bolt you can see. The other is vertical up underneath. You will have to find that one by brail. Remove them and the latch will come loose. Repeat on the other side.

[Mudderoy]

I mean you need to be a safe cracker to get in to the ****ing Jeep Cherokee engine bay! Well at least from the top!

Anyway I knew from the start that I would find a way in but I wanted to start a thread since I didn't remember seeing it covered here already.

I did a search just before leaving work to see how other people had done it.

One person said that if you don't have the skid plate in the front it was fairly easy to reach up from under the Jeep and unlatch the lock.

I got under the Jeep and you can actually see the metal bracket that the cable runs to.

With my lift the length of my arm was a little short to reach the lock. I had to build a little thing to lay on that raised me up about 8 to 10 inches, then if I stretched I could get my hand around the rod that runs across the front of the hood. I still couldn't move it to unlatch the hood though.

Finally I just grabbed the cable and pulled it free from the bracket. Desperate, tired, sweaty and very dirty I just pulled on it in the same direction you'd pull from inside the cab, and CLICK the hood opened.

After opening the hood I tried to figure out what happened. It wasn't a broken cable everything was hooked up as normal.

Finally I figured it out. The cable that I removed from the bracket must have already been out of the bracket. It the outside covering of the cable is not locked into that bracket the handle inside will pull out a good 2 to 3 inches and just appear to be disconnected when what it's doing is moving the outter cover of the cable instead of the cable.

Boy what a pain in the ass! I am seriously considering removing all that crap and installing hood pins. This whole thing started this morning when I wanted to pop the hood and do a final check for fuel leaks after changing the number one injector last night.

I seriously considered not driving the 98 to work simply because it would be a very bad situation to have an engine fire and NO way to get to the fire because I couldn't open the hood!

Something to consider and this is not an issue on the TJ, why? Hood latches!

307

308

So you see here where the outside covering of the braided cable is in this bracket? If I remove it from the bracket the handle inside the cab does the exact same thing it was doing this morning, just lose.
309

[cantab27]

result mate.........its the little things like that just makes em worth having...tis a jeep thing

[LizardRunner]

Well, at least you now know a good way to keep folks from being able to steal your battery or other bits from under your hood.:D