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Here's my recap of replacing the hood release cable on a 1998 LS400. Original Symptom:The main symptom I had before was when I pulled the hood release lever (by driver's left knee) it didn't spring back into place. When the hood release doesn't spring back into place, the hood won't shut anymore because the hood latch is still in a closed condition. This started 3-4 years ago. I lived with it by manually getting it to spring back into place by a few different options: a. sprayed with WD-40 where I could and pulled the lever a number of times until it sprung back b. used a screwdriver in the hood latch itself to manually pry the cable toward the passenger side headlight c. switched to a stronger spring inside the hood latch ($3 spring and 30 minutes of my time) but that didn't work well because the hood release cable was too rusted/bound by then. d. hooked up a string of plastic tie-down cables to the hood cable in the latch so I could manually pull the cable back into place. This worked well but wasn't the right solution. Finally I determined to just fix it properly, posted initially to this site to get help, and purchased a new cable $30... I just completed the repair this afternoon and it took about 2 1/2 hours in total. If I had to do it over again it would take probably an hour. Replacement steps I took: Opened Hood and removed the hood latch mechanism. Three bolts (the bottom one is under a plastic cover - pry off cover) Jacked up front left of car, put in Jack Stand as backup for safety, and removed front left tire. I removed most of the wheel well plastic liner (removed about 8 bolts and 6 screws in the wheel well) -- just enough so I could pull the liner toward the engine compartment and bend it down enough to see. I read where others removed even more liner screws/bolts or removed the whole liner completely, but that wasn't necessary as I could do all of the work with just temporarily bending the liner down about a foot from the top. From inside the car I removed the old cable from the hood release by the driver's left knee. Just slide it out and over. From under the wheel well, I opened the three plastic harnesses that the old cable ran through so I could work with the old cable. From under the wheel well, I pulled 1/2 of the old cable out of the firewall. A few sprays of WD-40 helped with the cable's rubber housing through the firewall's rubber grommet. I took a wire hanger (cut it and straightened it) and pushed it from the wheel well through the firewall grommet and into the drivers compartment area. I created a small bend/hook in the wire hanger in the end still in the wheel well and wrapped it around the new cable end, and then fished it into the driver's compartment and attached it to the hood release lever. Removed the old cable from the hood latch and removed it entirely (pulled it into the wheel well) after noting where it entered from the wheel well into the engine compartment behind the drivers headlight. Note: I did NOT need to loosen or remove the driver's headlight or turn signal. I directed the new cable from the wheel well into the engine compartment through the same hole as I removed the old cable. Just pushed it through and it followed under the rail until I could pull it from the front of the car. Attached the new cable to the hood latch and reattached the hood latch to the front frame, tightening the three bolts I removed. Re-attach the new cable to the three clips in the wheel well in the same way the old cable went. Re-attach the wheel well cover by replacing the bolts and screws I removed. Put on wheel/tire, etc. Finished. The hood release opens and springs back just like brand new! In hindsight I should have replaced it years ago when I first noticed the difficulty, but back then I wasn't sure what the real problem was. I also found this for a 1998 GS300 which was similar, but not exactly the same. http://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-second-generation/408674-diy-hood-latch-cable-replacement-2.html

Thank you for the reply. I purchased a cable and will do the repair sometime over the next few weekends.

In case this may help, my '98 LS400 had a temperature sensor issue a couple years ago. It started giving inaccurate outside temps, usually 4-8 degrees warmer than ambient temp. Then it fluctuated more wildly over time until eventually it read -22 degrees and it stuck there. Lexus wanted $60 to just check it out. Instead I found the outside sensor under the front bumper, just a little to the passenger side of the front license plate and clipped underneath, and took it out. The problem was easy to see immediately because the wires heading into the sensor clip/connector had corroded. I purchased a connector online (part # 90980-11070) and stripped the existing corroded wires and re-attached the wires to the new connector. I also purchased a new temperature sensor for about $30, but that probably wasn't necessary. Bottom line about 30 minutes of work and now the temperature sensor works great!

I have a '98 LS400 and the hood release cable binds, so that the hood won't close without manual intervention to pull the hood release cable back to its original position. I believe the cable needs to be replaced. Does anyone know if the cable runs through the front driver's side wheel well, or only under the hood area? Lexus said they want $600 to fix and I believe the part is about $30, so I'd like to try to fix it myself with this forum's assistance. Thank you, Keith