Does anyone have any ideas on how to go about opening a hood that's stuck? I've searched on the web and tried most of the common fixes, but to no avail.

The tension in the cable has loosened. You can hear the latch mechanism working, but it doesn't pop open. I've tried going in from under the front of the car and I've tried pulling the cable with some needle nose pliers....still no fix.

Any ideas? Does the service manual address this problem? Car is out of warranty, so I'm trying to avoid the stealship!

Thanks...

 

no one has any advice?

 

I would say the plyers but that already didnt work :/
i have never encountered this problem so im not much help..sorry

 

Dude I just went out side to see what your talking about and my hood is bent! WTF!? Dam Mazda service guys bent my hood!
Humm out of warranty you say? I would just call them (Your Dealer) and ask how they would do it. Tellem your like stranded

 

... ouch.

 

Try this one.....

Get a mate to press down firmly (not too firmly!!) on the hood in the area of the latch while you operate the release....

Good luck. The only other alternative is to come up from underneath, removing bits that are in the way.

 

Thanks for the advice...I've tried both of those approaches, but no luck. A friend who does body work is going to look at things tomorrow a.m. I'll keep you guys posted on the outcome.

 

Hoping the cable is still attached to the latch, I would attempt taking the hood release apart from under the dash, then grabbing it with a pair of pliers.

 

Problem solved...some how the cable managed to come out of the latch mechanism under the hood. We were able to get a wrench on the 2 bolts that hold the latch on the hood by gently prying the hood open. After those bolts were out the hood came right up! Only took about 15 min.

 

Awesome news.

Does it look like the cable will just need to be re-tightened to the mechanism?

 

wasn't needed...the plastic piece near the end of the cable under the hood was out of the groove that it normally sat in. After we repositioned it everything worked fine!

Initally, I was worred that we were going to have to drill a circular hole above the latch b/c everything else we tried failed to work...that would've been a real bummer.

 

Good result!! (fix info filed away @ back of skull and hopefully never needed.....)