Hood cable issues - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

03-03-2003, 10:20 PM

Alright, here's the deal: After my unfortunate accident almost two months ago, all was reassembled and well.... except the hood cable. The end of the cable, where it hooks up to the spring on the hinge, broke clean off (wait... we kinda HAD to break it off because it was the only way to get under the hood to see where the anti-freeze was leaking from.) Well, I managed to get the old one out, but I just about flipped out trying to get the new one in. For the record, a pseudo-cable has been jerry-rigged out of a metal coat hanger for now. Works fine. But having a rusting white coat hanger sticking out between the headlight and header panel = gay. I tried to route the cable in through the fender to no avail. I can't see where the old one ran into the dash, it's somewhere behind the fuse box. Help! Since the hanger method is serving me well for now, I'm redoing the cable when it gets warm again . (#@!*^% Northeast winters!) How am I going to get the new cable in?!?!?!?!

DIRTBIKEZ · 03-03-2003, 11:35 PM

You can get some hoodpins like spills1969

.

Nick · 03-04-2003, 10:51 AM

get that drill out, its time for some hood pins!!!

03-04-2003, 05:37 PM

Hood pins... now that's a kick-ass idea! But since I have the cable already I might as well try to put it in. Nonetheless, I'm intrigued; how much is the average set of pins? Perhaps I'll consider it... 4 pins across the hood NASCAR style is cool and rice overkill at the same time!

nort0188 · 03-04-2003, 06:26 PM

UP Racing has hood pins. $25 USD for a pair, and I believe they're made by Sparco.

crazy_camry · 03-04-2003, 07:57 PM

with hood pins though doesn't it mean that anyone can pop your hood, there's no locking mechanism, is there?

white90dx · 03-05-2003, 03:08 AM

You should have watched how it went through the fender when you pulled it out the first time...

Anyway, I think I can get you started on your way to finding how the cable goes into the car. The cable runs from the front latch, behind the headlight and under the intake tube that runs under the fuse box. If you remove the battery, you should be able to access all you need to in that area. From there, it goes into the fender through the hole right next to the airbox. If you jack up the driver's side of the car and take off the fender liner, you can then see where it goes to the footwell. There are a few grommet there, one of which is meant for the cable. Inside the car, you can take off a trim panel or two, and it should all be visible. Good luck. Post back if you have any questions... (and choose to go back to stock instead of hood pins!)

-Charlie

03-05-2003, 08:09 AM

I decided I'm going back to stock. Too many security issues with the pins... even though they do look good; Charlie, I know where the cable's going under the hood, it's just in the fender and in the car that gets me. Whoever would have thought that a simple hood cable install could be such a %$!(&? Anyway I guess I will have to drop the inner fender- should be easy though. The car had been in another light front-end whack before I got it and the fender itself is only held on by like 4 bolts. I'm still looking for the screws holding the inner fender in place... I wonder if there even are any left in there! Scares me every time I go through the carwash

so that's something else I gots to fix. Thanks all for your help.

white90dx · 03-05-2003, 01:18 PM

Once you get the fender liner out of the way, it should be pretty easy to route things. Some of the fasteners are a bit tough, but you'll get it. I've run 0 gauge power wire on through there, so I'm sure there is plenty of room!

If you are talking about missing the inner fender cover (the plastic thing that goes near the tranny), don't worry about it. There are no electrical parts down there or anything. I have been running without that little trim piece for years.

-Charlie

03-15-2003, 09:37 PM

Finally got a break in the weather today and dropped the new cable in. I dropped the inner fender as white90dx suggested (had no idea there were like 5 bolts hidden by the tire! So THAT's why the tire had to come off

) The job took a couple of hours, and toward the end I was losing daylight fast; this was when a) I couldn't get the hinge assembly to line up right with the bolt holes, and b) the return spring raised hell. Once I got the cable through the orange rubber insulator in the fender (where the electrical wires are, as well) it practically routed itself. No disassembly of the dash was required. The job wasn't too bad, but not something I'd ever want to do again. Thanks again white90dx for your help.