Last updated: March 27, 2000

Hood Latch Fix

Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 15:33:25 PST
From: "Toni Fierro" (toni_fierro@hotmail.com)

>Guess what.  Murphy's Law struck.  I noticed a slight boost leak >today 
>while driving.  When I went to open the hood, nothing >happened.  I think I 
>dropped the hood from 8 inches instead of 6 >inches and the cable mooring 
>came loose.
>
>What's the best way to open the hood?

The latch the cable attaches to can be pulled down and this will release the hood. It's a bit of a major to get to. The only way I've found to release it is to hook a piece of wire around the latch and pull it downwards and to the left at the same time. If you can get access to another 3rd generation to visualise the latch and where the wire goes would be good then you will know exactly what I am talking about.

Others out there may want to hook up a wire permanently to this latch just in case theirs does the same.

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Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2000 04:16:00 -0800 (PST)
From: khoi ta (ta_rex7@yahoo.com)

I'm starting to see more of this problem as our cars get older. There's a green plastic cable holder that snap into the latch. Heat will cause the plastic to become brittle at which point it breaks. voila, your cable doesn't have any reaction point for it to pull the latch open. Anyway, this happened to me two years ago and it scared the crap out of me with vision of dremel and drilling into the hood.

Here are the things that don't work:

1. don't even bother trying to get at the latch from the bottom of the car;
2. don't even waste time trying to bang on the hood, jiggling and fantasizing that it's not happening.

Ok here's what worked for me and another list member:

1. Go get a steel rod with a diameter slightly bigger than a coat hanger that will fit into the gap between the bumper and the hood. also, get a new cable before you do all this.
   
   
2. position the car so that you get plenty of sunlight or get a halogen lamp so you can see into the gap.
   
   
3. when you look into the gap, you'll see the latch. in the middle of the latch, there is a hole.
   
   
4. insert the rod which you will have bent to, I think, an L-shape into the gap.
   
   
5. now, insert the end into the hole. lift up vertically.
   
   
6. keep trying, it's not rocket science. for clarity, try looking at another rx7 at a dealer or a miata. you'll see the hole that I'm talking about.
   
   
7. lift up