kwvsp Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billydpowell Posted April 15, 2014 Share Posted April 15, 2014 I have had 5 different 99's and all have worked well, so I cant give you any help, but did not want you to think we were ignoring you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sha4000 Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Sorry for the 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 Sorry for the late reply but you have to go through the fender liner. bo-10.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwvsp Posted April 19, 2014 Author Share Posted April 19, 2014 Thank you for the reply. I purchased a cable and will do the repair sometime over the next few weekends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sha4000 Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 It looks pretty simple and straight forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwvsp Posted April 22, 2014 Author Share Posted April 22, 2014 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 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landar Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Wow, nice write-up, Keith. Thanks for taking the time to report back with the details! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sha4000 Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Good write up and glad you finally took care of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john west Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 Thank you to all that contributed to this challenge. I'm looking forward to correcting the binding hood cable of my daily driver '98 LS400 as soon as the winter weather breaks (215,000 miles and continues to come as close to a being a "perfect" auto that I have ever experienced). To add to my Lexus experience, I also own a '93 SC400. Both vehicles I purchased new. I also purchased new a Mercedes CLS 500. Amazingly, neither Lexus has any oil leakage. At 50,000 miles the Mercedes has oil seeping cam cover gaskets. Learned my lesson...no more Mercedes in my future. jwwindy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeead Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 OK. Sounds like great instructions. I will be attempting this repair tomorrow. I got the new cable and hood lock delivered to me today. Will post my experience. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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