1997 Corolla - Hood won't open.

[rakesh15]

( Not my car - but exactly same )

My car is 1997 Toyota Corolla ( No E, XE, or any such letters)
4 door, 4 Cyln, Automatic, Sedan kind of look .

My car hood is not opening.
I tried to pull up that button which is on driver’s side many times and even try plying with a screw driver from the front to that latch and spring mechanism.

Any clue or trick ?

Can anyone explain me with diagram and other tricks?

Thanks.

[srspicer]

Hello rakesh15,

You can try pushing down on the hood while someone pulls the hood release, try gently hitting the hood with a closed fist right over the hood release to loosen up the latch and spring. When these mechanisms rust or get full of road dirt, they will bind, preventing the latch from moving by the cable. Your cable could be stretched out or broken. Listen while you pull the hood release and should here noise from the latch if the cable is not broken.

Good luck!

Scott

[96coroll]

I agree. I was going to say knock the front of the hood with your fist while someone is pulling the inside.

I wouldn't know what to do if the cable actually broke. Maybe get there with a flash light and see if you can manually do it from the outside with a screw driver or something. Or maybe you'd have to remove a peice of you dash to pul lthe cable.

Just hopefully the fist thing works. Before you close it put a few drop of oil on the latch.

[srspicer]

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that, once you get the hood open, put some old motor oil on it to keep things lubricated and to keep the rust from re-forming!

Scott