Hood Latch / Lock

[Dederic]

I am a current owner of a Lexus Es-300. This car has been through quite a history, expecially recently when my brother didn't repair a hairline crack in the radiator, so what happened is the engine died, and it recently went through an engine replacement. Somehow during this period, the Hood Lock Control Cable had broken. So I can't open the hood, and it is locked. There is no way to get at it though the grill, and it doesn't look like it's going to happen from the bottom either. I pulled off the driverside wheel, removed the moulding and tried to pull on the cord hoping that it had broken somewhere between there and the thing you pull on rather than broke from the actual latch, but no dice. I am stuck in a pretty big bind here, and it would be break if someone could shed some light on the subject.

Thanks alot, Dederic

[Toysrme]

Well I'll keep it short.

Post a few pictures (or send them to me) of the car on a jackstand, with the wheel off, in broad daylight & I'll try to come up with a way to un-latch the hood. Why am I being anal about it? Security. You, will obviously think I'm joking.

Well, the great Maxima headlight scandel proved to everyone how the internet can cause a huge security risk to explode.

So I'm not telling without some pics~!

I'm sorry 'cause I feel bad, but that's my deal. :(

[Dederic]

Fair enough, I'll post some pics tomarrow, because obviously it is to dark to do it right now. But thanks for the response.

[Dederic]

Here they are!!!

[Toysrme]

Ok, the cable is in a sheath.

Lay your seat back in a comfortable upside down positition. Cut a few inches of seath off the cable.

Grab it with a set of pliers & pull. If there is no resistance, go back to the driver's wheel well.

Take the wheel well out. The pink area is about where the cable will be.

That's what it looks like in the bay. A view I hope you can have soon!

I couldn't find a descent way to do it through the grill. The cable is tucked in an unworkable position & the latch housing itself is boxed in to keep people from tampering it. :\

It's possible to unbolt the hold downpart -2*10mm nuts, but it's not really feasable while the hood is down. You could try it with a small 10mm wrench, like what's in the toolkit. But I'm not sure if it would work.

I don't think you could dremel it off. That would be semi possible with a flex shaft and a ton of light.

[SnesleyWipes]

Well I'll keep it short.

Post a few pictures (or send them to me) of the car on a jackstand, with the wheel off, in broad daylight & I'll try to come up with a way to un-latch the hood. Why am I being anal about it? Security. You, will obviously think I'm joking.

Well, the great Maxima headlight scandel proved to everyone how the internet can cause a huge security risk to explode.

So I'm not telling without some pics~!

I'm sorry 'cause I feel bad, but that's my deal. :(

←

Toys, I have said it once, and I'll say it again...you are a friggen genius!

[reveresbest]

Same problem, no solutions. Any thoughts? Help.

[reveresbest]

On 9/18/2005 at 6:25 PM, Dederic said:

I am a current owner of a Lexus Es-300. This car has been through quite a history, expecially recently when my brother didn't repair a hairline crack in the radiator, so what happened is the engine died, and it recently went through an engine replacement. Somehow during this period, the Hood Lock Control Cable had broken. So I can't open the hood, and it is locked. There is no way to get at it though the grill, and it doesn't look like it's going to happen from the bottom either. I pulled off the driverside wheel, removed the moulding and tried to pull on the cord hoping that it had broken somewhere between there and the thing you pull on rather than broke from the actual latch, but no dice. I am stuck in a pretty big bind here, and it would be break if someone could shed some light on the subject.

Thanks alot, Dederic

Same problem,ever figure this out? What did you end up doing?