HELP! Can't Open Hood - Cable Snapped.

[scruffboy]

I have an 89 N/A Supra that I recently took to inspection. I failed for emissions and with some quidance and doing some reading, I found the O2 Sensor was practicaly falling off. I bougt a new one (Bosch) and installed it. Spent another 1/2 hour looking for second O2 Sensor till I realized I was looking at pics of a Calif. setup, lol. So the other day I go outside to get under the hood and check some of the other things I saw in the emmissions manual (dash pot, etc.) but when I pulled the hood lever nothing happened. The wire was there so I pulled on it but no tension. This is a brand new hood latch as the car had some front end damage which I have had fixed. I bought the parts and had them installed by a bodyshop guy I know. I am assuming he used the old cable to connect to the new latch and now it's broke. I got under car and was able to push up on lift handle with a stick, but that does not undo the locking mechanism when the hood is in the all the way down position. Any suggestions on how to get in. I was thinking of removing the little plastic radiator grill (there are 2 of them on the 89's, between the turn-signals and center-piece. Anyone out there ever have this problem? Or am I really the only person on the planet something like this could happen to?

Sincerely,

James in NJ

[j3pz]

you are the only perosn in the universe that this could happen to, sorry

[SKILMATIC]

Originally Posted by scruffboy

I have an 89 N/A Supra that I recently took to inspection. I failed for emissions and with some quidance and doing some reading, I found the O2 Sensor was practicaly falling off. I bougt a new one (Bosch) and installed it. Spent another 1/2 hour looking for second O2 Sensor till I realized I was looking at pics of a Calif. setup, lol. So the other day I go outside to get under the hood and check some of the other things I saw in the emmissions manual (dash pot, etc.) but when I pulled the hood lever nothing happened. The wire was there so I pulled on it but no tension. This is a brand new hood latch as the car had some front end damage which I have had fixed. I bought the parts and had them installed by a bodyshop guy I know. I am assuming he used the old cable to connect to the new latch and now it's broke. I got under car and was able to push up on lift handle with a stick, but that does not undo the locking mechanism when the hood is in the all the way down position. Any suggestions on how to get in. I was thinking of removing the little plastic radiator grill (there are 2 of them on the 89's, between the turn-signals and center-piece. Anyone out there ever have this problem? Or am I really the only person on the planet something like this could happen to?

Sincerely,

James in NJ

Wow, this is a dilemna. Its sounds easy but its really not. The only thing I can think of is you are going to have to take off your quarter panels in the front and romove the hood. Unless you can get it to unclock you are going to have to do this.

[joel w]

huh??? not to be an ass, but how would you remove the fenders and hood, If the fender and hood bolts are under the hood and he cant open it??

you should be able to reach up under the front and release the latch with a screwdriver manually...then the second latch as normal

[SKILMATIC]

Originally Posted by joel williams

huh??? not to be an ass, but how would you remove the fenders and hood, If the fender and hood bolts are under the hood and he cant open it??

you should be able to reach up under the front and release the latch with a screwdriver manually...then the second latch as normal

Oh no worries dude. Maybe I should have explained better. You see the wheel well can be removed which are held together with plastic snaps all across the well. Then once you remove those you can get to the bolts that hold the fenders and so on and so forth. It is a pain in the a$$. Ive done it before on my mk2. Btw, I wouldve had your same assessment but the thing is he tried that already and it didnt work. That is why I had to come up with the alternative. Sorry for the confusion dude.

[joel w]

ok no prob. ill look at mine in the am , but i thought i could see the lever and cable from under the front lip, but i havent actually tried to manually pop it...

[SKILMATIC]

Originally Posted by joel williams

ok no prob. ill look at mine in the am , but i thought i could see the lever and cable from under the front lip, but i havent actually tried to manually pop it...

Btw, out of curiousity someone told me that the turbo kit for your mk3 is mostly transferable to my mk2. Do you know if this is true?

[Justin727]

Originally Posted by SKILMATIC

Wow, this is a dilemna. Its sounds easy but its really not. The only thing I can think of is you are going to have to take off your quarter panels in the front and romove the hood. Unless you can get it to unclock you are going to have to do this.

you have to open the hood to remove the panels. If you reach under the front bumper to the latch you might be able to push the spring and it should pop open.