Broken hood release cable

I have never done this on a Prius or even really looked into it. But couple of different ways comes to my mind.

-Going wrought upper front grille. Its narrow but it might be enough. You might be able to remove divider peace with saw and then fix it afterword if you need extra room?
-Removing front bumper cover partially. Remove lower splash shield and bumper cover from anything except under the hood and then going in thought bottom.
-Removing bottom grill and going through it.
-Just remove lower slash shield and go in from that

No matter what method(s) you choose it would be good to have another gen 2 Prius with hood open and radiator support cover (plastic peace) removed so you can look what you should be doing.

To open it you have basically three options.
-You can unlatch it by doing what the cable was doing. But it can be rusty and hard to open since it already broke your cable.
-You can unscrew three bolts and open the hood with latch still attached.
-Or you can break the latch with drill.

 

I have the same problem with my 2005 prius. Cable broke and I cannot find a way to open it. Did you eventually come up with a solution?

 

It pays to keep that latch well lubricated.

 

Can anyone help, while removing interior panel the small black spring that goes in the inside (the car_under steering wheel) hood release lever popped out (its not bent or broken) and damned if i can figure out how it fits back under there properly. Can someone tell me or send me a shot of theirs installed?
Thanks

 

My friend's done it for me a few months back. The nub at the end of the cable pulls a slotted lever it sits in toward the left drive side if the car.

That lever is accessible at the top of the engine side of the center of the radiator support. A remote camera and a long screwdriver will make the job a lot easier. Place the car on ramps, crawl under the car with your feet pointed out the front, look up and find the slot where the nub of the cable is attached. Use the screwdriver and push the lever to the left. The hood latch will pop open about an inch.

You may want to look at another Prius, before starting to see how the hood cable and latch lever works and releases.

 

Here is what I would try to do: first get a coat hanger and form it straight with a hook on the end. Then position it through the grill to catch the cable wire inside the release mechanism and pull. If that fails then get out a 1/4" ratchet with long extension and swivel head to remove the two 10mm bolts that secure the latch mechanism. its difficult.