Just purchased a 99 ranger Friday. Just got home from a backpacking trip and my son tells me the hood wont open. Looking for suggestions on how to get it open can barley see the latch between the grill and hood. but there must be a way but I can't think of it right now. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

is the hood latch inside the cab releasing the hood? or did the cable snap or what?

 

cable does not appear to be broken but it does seem to be stretched. Tried to pull cable and at same time pull up on hood but no luck.

 

While I was gone my son and a friend tried to get it open and I think they pulled to hard on the cable.

 

i'd say pull the hood release off and pull on the cable end with pliers or vice grips.

 

Are you saying to pull it from inside the cab? or is there a way to get a hold of it through the grill?

 

I'm sure you already know this but the cable release in the cab only unhooks the hood. The safety latch on the hood still has the hood locked down. You have to push your fingers inside the engine compartment and move the lock to the left and then the hood will open fully. But I'm sure you already know that

 

well, i don't really know because my grill's already busted out so i can see mine plain as day. pulling the hood release inside off is less labor intensive and you'll know right away what's wrong with it. you may be able to get tools in from under the bumper in between the grill and radiator but go from inside the cab first because that'll tell you whether the cable's stretched, broken, or your release lever might just be screwed up. if the release mechanism itself is broken, you'll have to try and sneak in a pick or something to slide the release over to get the hood open.

 

A bit of a longshot, but try pushing down on the hood while someone is pulling the release inside. It could just be jammed from being adjusted too tight.

 

Like the above post says. It takes two people to open sometimes. Push down on the front edge of the hood 20-30 pounds of push then have somebody pull the inside hood release. My wife's 99 Explorer has been like that for 5-6 years. Sometimes I can do the push and then pull the release by myself, other times it takes two people. I have lubed the crap out of the latch and cable, but it makes little difference. Maybe loosening the latch and repositioning it would work, but I know how to open it now, so I never fixed it.

 

got it open used a long flat blade screwdriver and pushed the secondary release over and lightly smacked it while holding it over then pulled the release in the cab and it poped open. used some lithium grease on the mechanism and worked it thru its paces a couple of times then tried the hood and seems to be fine now. Thank you all for your input I do appreciate it.