I've got a 99 quad cab, and I cant get the darn hood release to work . I pull the handle in the cab... and nothing. Took the handle off, tried manually pulling the cable a bit farther, and nothing. Tried reaching up from underneath, and nothing again. Was working great till just this morning! Any help is GREATLY appreciated. The only option I can think of is just to run down to the fire station & whoop out the jaws of life...

 

Mine did that. it was a pain. A clip came off somewhere, i don't remember exactly where, but it was on the latch somewhere. On mine, the cable would pull and the hood would popup like normal. It was the saftey latch that messed up. If I remember right, I had to make a long hook to reach up and pull it. It was a pain in the keester. All you can do is get a light and start figuring it out.

 

Mine did that once before also. This time I cant get it to "pop up" I can pull the cable even manually and it still wont pop up. Thanks
Craig

 

I had the same problem on an old car once, had to have someone pushing DOWN on the hood while I pulled the cable and then they could let up on the hood and lift it. Hope you can get if figured out before you need to resort to the 'jaws of life'.

 

This happened to me the problem is the latch and linking it has become bent and is binding the real problem is if your hood comes open while responding to a fire call it could rip the hood off when I did get mine open I had to compare it to another it really did not look bent till i compared it good luck getting it open try the two people method

 

Finally found the solution... Follow these few simple steps:

1. Cuss
2. Swear
3. Shine a flashlight in and look at the latch mechanism.
4. Take a screwdriver of your choice and poke at the latch mechanism several times. Doesnt really matter where you poke it...
5. Repeat steps one through three.
6. Walk around yard cussing & stomping your feet.
7. Try the latch again.
8. Pull up on the saftey latch and raise hood to full height.

Hope this will help someone in the future!!

Actually... I have no clue why it wouldnt raise or why it finally popped open. I think I may have popped on the drivers corner of the hood.
Thanks all
Craig

 

My old ford someone had to pull on the release while someone else went out and hit the hood with the palm of the hand,hard,but not quite hard enough to dent it..

 

I've seen Henry Winkler use that method once or twice...

"AAAAAYYY!"

 

Where do ya think I got it?

 

So the big question is, what are we opening the hood for?

 

My windshield washer fluid reservoir was empty. The only other reason I could think of to open the hood, is the occasional fluid(s) check/change... battery replacement... or in the one case when the starter stuck. But hey, 190k miles. Some stuff is gonna go bad!

Craig

 

Did you ever get it open?
How?

 

I used to have a 77 monte carlo---forest green---white vinyl top---ugly.

To open the hood you had to:
1, pull the latch
2, get out and hit the hood
3, pull latch again
4, open hood.

To get the headlights working you:
1, pulled the switch
2, pop each fender with the palm of hand
3, lights then come on
4, repeat process in reverse order to turn off.

I always kept an umbrella in the car because to start it:
1. Turn ignition to start
2. Poke starter with umbrella
3. Drive car.

All these problems went away when my brother T-boned a Hyundai, crushing the Hyundai, and scuffing my bumper, after that everything worked just fine. I even threw away the oily umbrella.

Wierdest solution to a problem I've ever had. Don't recommend experimenting with it though.

 

i am going to add this to my dodge factory service book

 

You could always drill a hole in the hood right over were the wiper fluid goes in so you don't have to open the hood again.