brake Posted December 15, 2011 Report Share Posted December 15, 2011 My hood release cable must have snapped because it went slack when I opened the hood earlier. I can open the hood manually from up in front of the radiator, but it's either fishing my hand up there or lay on the ground to look for it. I'm guessing it snapped at/around the switch but I was wondering if there was a common place for these things to snap? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brake Posted December 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2011 They're only 10 bucks on RockAuto and I need to order a bunch of stuff anyway, but if I could redneck it up in the meantime it would be sweet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94 olds vert Posted December 15, 2011 Report Share Posted December 15, 2011 I rednecked mine about 2 years ago and it's been working fine. I just took some steel cable and attached it to the mechanism and now I can reach under my bumper and pop the hood open. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brake Posted December 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2011 Good call. Gonna do that up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairdo12 Posted December 15, 2011 Report Share Posted December 15, 2011 On my old Lumina, it snapped right around the spot near the air filter box. There is a bend there, the sheathing dried out and cracked allowing moisure to get in and rusted the cable through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brake Posted December 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2011 I'll look there first! I bought a cable from RockAuto anyway...until my new one gets here it will be rednecked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brake Posted December 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2011 How much of a bitch is it to replace? My RockAuto goodies should be here soon and there's a hood cable in there somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breakdown Posted December 21, 2011 Report Share Posted December 21, 2011 I had one go on original AJAM. AJAM had a hood bra, so coat hanger wrapped in electrical tape (stretched out of course) out the side and when it was wedged between the hood and headlight, couldn't notice it unless you tried! More convenience too!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artemis Posted December 21, 2011 Report Share Posted December 21, 2011 How much of a bitch is it to replace? My RockAuto goodies should be here soon and there's a hood cable in there somewhere. Some people may tell you its a cake walk. I've done it twice and for the most part its pretty easy EXCEPT for one thing. The rubber grommet with the thread that needs to be screwed into the firewall... thats a pain in the ass. Just awkward really to get it twisted properly in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brake Posted December 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2011 I had one go on original AJAM. AJAM had a hood bra, so coat hanger wrapped in electrical tape (stretched out of course) out the side and when it was wedged between the hood and headlight, couldn't notice it unless you tried! More convenience too!! AJAM? I've got it rigged up so I can reach under the front clip and grab the coiled up cable and pull on it to open the hood. I'm assuming the grommet is down under the brake booster somewhere really convenient. Would it be easier to get at from underneath (car on a hoist?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AL Posted December 21, 2011 Report Share Posted December 21, 2011 AJAM is his 92(ish) Cutlass Sedan he used to have Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brake Posted December 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2011 oh, cool. thanks much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowtieguy Posted December 22, 2011 Report Share Posted December 22, 2011 A trick that works well when replacing the cable is to get a length of mecanics wire. Unhook the cable from the hood latch and tie the wire around the end of the cable. From inside the car pull the old cable out. Tie the new cable onto the wire and pull back through. You may have to remove some components under the hood to get the new cable to feed through but this will help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breakdown Posted December 22, 2011 Report Share Posted December 22, 2011 AJAM is his 92(ish) Cutlass Sedan he used to have 1993 BGA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brake Posted January 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 replacing the cable was actually quite easy. not much need to be removed. took me like an hour tops and most of that was routing the new cable and putting my interior trim back on. i don't know if the grommet is perfectly flush with the firewall though - going to try and pull it through a little bit from the engine compartment side and see if that helps. thanks for the advice guys. goodbye redneck hood cable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brake Posted January 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) BTW it is Dorman part 912004 if anyone needs a new cable. All I had to do was unscrew the floor-mounted hood release bezel/surround - 2x phillips head screws - to get it out of the way. Since the hood cable is completely slack (it's broke, isn't it?) you should be able to pull the handle up all of the way now to gain access to release the old piece of cable. It kind of clips/slides into a groove in the plastic handle itself. The sheath of the cable is also held in but only by friction - Not hard to see what needs to be done there. Remove the piece of trim that runs along the bottom of the drivers door and up into the A pillar....you should be able to pull back the carpet far enough to trace/feel where the cable passes through the bulkhead. Get it? Got it? Good. You're done inside the car for now assuming the only thing holding the cable in on that end is the firewall grommet. Under the hood you can look down beneath the brake booster and see where the cable emerges..wiggle the cable around at either end so you can see it move to verify which one you're working with. Now, yank that fucker right out through the firewall so 100% of the cable is in the engine compartment...now it's just a matter of feeding the new cable through. Once the new cable is fed through the firewall it's prettymuch just a game of tracing the old hood release cable and unclipping it while clipping the new one in. You could even zip tie the new cable to the old one - Hey, I'm not here to judge. application: [TABLE][TR=class: part0] [TD]BUICK[/TD] [TD]REGAL[/TD] [TD](1989 - 1996)[/TD] [/TR] [TR=class: part1] [TD]CHEVROLET[/TD] [TD]LUMINA[/TD] [TD](1990 - 1994)[/TD] [/TR] [TR=class: part0] [TD]OLDSMOBILE[/TD] [TD]CUTLASS SUPREME[/TD] [TD](1989 - 1997)[/TD] [/TR] [TR=class: part1] [TD]PONTIAC[/TD] [TD]GRAND PRIX[/TD] [TD](1989 - 1996)[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] You will need a few tools...phillips head screwdriver and some needle nose pliers for manipulating the latch/hood release to remove the old cable and then clamp down around the new one. Some other random tools may be needed depending on how much crap is in your engine bay. My 96 Grand Prix was easy, I just had to unbolt/clip a few bunches of wire to get them out of my way. Edited January 4, 2012 by brake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artemis Posted January 5, 2012 Report Share Posted January 5, 2012 Thats nice that you made a write-up after doing it yourself. Should be good for whoever needs to do this next and doesn't know how. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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