Uh oh... Hood cable broken! Is there an easy way to manually get the hood open?

See that big rivet the rusted one the mechanism has to move back and forth on that pivot. Looks like the mechanism has never seen any lubrication in 10 years. Dry as a bone. That's why the cable busted. Looks like the condenser has never been cleaned before either.

 

Sorry man, but it was lubricated a couple months ago with some wet chain oil I use on my bike - I did an additional spray of Triflow just the beginning of the month too since the car had seen some wet highway time. The action was pretty good, but that's unfortunately what it looks like after driving a few hundred miles on the highway in the rain. I imagine that you would be shocked at how grimy the engine bay looks after a long cold winter here in the salt states because salty, dirty road spray gets practically everywhere in the bay after long highway drives.

Last serious car was just before that (I did plugs and throttle body cleaning) when I good-enough-waxed it for the winter. Our lawn guys love to blow leaves and crap into the street where the car is parked so the condenser gets to look like that here in the we-actually-have-fall (and the dirt and crap that comes with that season) midwest.

I do what I can, but honestly I have this car because it's low-need (doesn't constantly need my maintenance attention) and my plate is full with other, more pressing, more serious matters (that I don't care to talk about on the internet). Despite the fact that I'm attached to it, I'm honestly about to just dump it anyway. At this point I just want to keep it running it until Porsche actually releases the Taycan wagon (ahem...Sport Turismo), so I'll do everything necessary (and then some) to make the car safe, but at 270k+ miles, I couldn't care less about the long term.

I really appreciate your insights (because I feel like you often add useful mechanical insights), but man you really seem to have an axe to grind here (criticizing every owner you can point that rancor at).

 

Update: I got my parts. Got the three bolts out, but I give up.

Getting those three bolts out took a little doing - I needed two modest extensions and a 10mm socket to do the job. They needed more torque than a 1/4" ratchet could deliver, so I ended up using a 3/8" (same setup with two extensions). A universal joint would have helped with the two top bolts because they're at a difficult angle to get at.

With the latch mechanism free, you have to wiggle the entire latch mechanism (still attached to the hood) so that it clears the plastic shrouds and covers that surround it. I spent 2 1/2 hours trying to get this mechanism to clear to no avail (outside in 35 degree weather) and I give up. I'm bringing this to a pro.

I should note that if you have the built-in factory alarm system, there's also an electrical connector you have to take off. I'm pretty sure I saw some of the wiring behind the metal on the right side of the mechanism, but I couldn't get at it to do anything about it.

 

Probably half the battle is having a heated garage. It's punishing working near freezing.

 

Wanted to add some notes to this thread, as I used the information here (and another priuschat thread Can't open hood | PriusChat ) to successfully pop the hood from the outside.

In my case, the cable wasn't actually broken, the 12v battery was dead so the fob didn't work and my manual keys didn't work either (I got the car used, and always used the fob... I'm getting a new set of manual keys asap). So we needed to open the hood without access to the interior of the car, in order to could charge the battery with jumper cables, and get the fob working again.

a_gray_prius's photos from this thread were very helpful, they clearly show the bolts you need to undo. We basically followed what Barry Gervin suggested in the other thread. We removed the lower plastic grille, and I was able to insert both hands up to my elbows into it, reaching up to the bolts. It actually turned out to be very helpful to use both arms under the grille, to create the necessary leverage on our wrenches. At first we tried bending back the protective metal "box" in the left side of the latch mechanism and poking inside without unscrewing anything (based on something else I saw online that I can't find a link to now) but that didn't work for us.

It took two of us working for a couple hours to undo the three bolts. We sprayed the PB Blaster "penetrating catalyst" liberally on the bolts, multiple times, before and after multiple attempts to unscrew them. Although I have no hard proof, my hunch is that this made a huge difference -- it ultimately didn't take very much *force* to unscrew the bolts, just finesse. Most of the time was spent trying to get the right angle so that our socket wrench could grip the nut (It was actually pretty hard to see everything that's going on under there).

We had two different ratcheting socket wrenches (one of them with a flex-head), and two different extenders.

The left nut was the easiest, you could reach it with the socket wrench directly, if you used the wrench head to push some plastic "up" out of the way a little bit.

The right nut looked hard, but was actually not too bad. There is a spring-held metal part you need to push out of the way (part of the secondary release lever) -- we just were able to lift it up with the wrench directly, and then were able to fit the socket wrench there with no extender, again pushing some plastic up with the wrench head in order to get the right angle.

The middle nut looked easy, but was actually the hardest. We couldn't use the socket wrench directly on it because of the middle metal divider which pushed against the wrench head, and we couldn't use the extenders to turn the wrench from outside the grille, since there is another bolt which is in the path of the extender. Ultimately we managed to make it work using a single extender that was at an angle due to the bolt in the way, but the angle was slight enough that it still gripped the bolt. The wrench head then had enough room inside the grille.

Once all three bolts were removed, we were able to do the same thing as Barry Gervin in the other thread -- jiggle the mechanism around, and then reach behind it from the right and manually pull the latch with our fingers, the undo the secondary latch normally.This meant that we didn't have to do any of the cutting/bending of the plastic that other people have suggested.

Then finally with the hood up we could jump-start the car... Imagine our joy when the car alarm started blasting as soon as we connected the final clamp!

 

I seem to have the same issue. I just bought this car 2007 Prius base six months ago. And it occurred to me, I had never looked under the hood. I had someone inspect and purchase it for me as it was 400 miles away. Went to check the oil and refill wiper fluid and I can’t get the damn hood to open! When I pull on the cabin release hatch there is no give or pop noise. Just wondering, in a normal functioning part should I be able to see or feel the cable underneath this latch? It’s a bit concave And recessed (the underside of this latch) and I do not see or feel a cable

 

As for opening:

- note the comments - my '04 also has a little metal cover that I couldn't get past today. Per the comment, this can be pried back enough with a screwdriver to get access for the stick to make it work quickly and simply.

After that, get an OEM cable (or better), and don't let it close again - although if you've tried the video's steps a few times you might be able to do it easily.

 

Thanks for that!

In the interest of trust-but-verify, I was hoping you’d wrap up by doing it with the hood latched.

 

I made that video and the essential bit about bending the tab back form most Gen II priuses into a Wiki: Gen 2 Hood Won’t Open - how to open | PriusChat

In the Wiki, I added photos of the angle to use for the stick/rod and the mechanism inside you're aiming at as well as the tab you'll likely need to bend back.

 

New here and had the dead battery and hood release that felt sloppy and not opening the hood. I thought severed cable. Can hear the cable working all the way to the hood so I knew it wasn't broken from lever to hood. Was going to start the process of removing the grill as directed here. But first I tried slipping a plastic wedge at the front of the hood where the latch is. Was able to take up about 1/8" slop out and with a tight hood I tried the inside hood latch again and it worked. Looks like my son closed the hood w/o securing the hood stand.
Just throwing that out there if it helps. Glade I didnt have to remove all the front.

 

I used @C Wagner’s video, plus bent the enclosure back but the mechanism was stiff enough that despite me hitting the mechanism with a long stick I couldn’t get it to release. I also borrowed an endoscope that attaches to USB-C and got a pic of the mechanism, but it wouldn’t go.

so yesterday I put PB Blaster on the 3 bolts, then today I pulled the 3 bolts, wedged the hood up slightly, pulled the wire connector for the hood sensor (took a bit, it was gunky) and wiggled things until I got the plastic shroud up enough to just push the lever by hand and release the hood.

The hood release cable snapped at the latch end, so I fashioned a cable for now which I fed out the grill, to let me pull the lock and raise the hood, using 1mm wire and side-by-side wire pass thru crimp connectors.

I figure I’ll probably get someone else to replace the hood release cable properly, but for now it opens for the next oil change.

 

This is what the hood latch looks like, and the area with the green arrow is the piece you need to bend back. the slot faces outward, that is, away from the passenger compartment, so you can reach in with a flat blade screwdriver, into the slot, and just bend it out of the way. The small spring visible behind the piece you're bending back is attached to the lever you need to hit with the rod.

 

I find myself just wondering ... do people who check the oil at every fill-up get plagued by broken hood cables much?