I have a Stylemaster coupe. I went to open the hood, I pulled the hood release, and it released all right, just not the hood. It feels like the cable either broke somewhere along the way, or more likely, just came loose at the latch. Any tips on how to get the hood open???
If you can get up between the grille and radiator, you can probably get to the bottom of the latch to open it. Usually though there's a pan down there in your way, I'd have to check a body manual to see if you can get it off from outside the car. Going to be a pain in the rear end that's for sure.
Mind had this big, ugly hole made with a chisel and a hammer... I was always afraid the same thing was going to happen to me. Good luck.
This happened to me twice on two different vehicles. Both times I had to take the grills off to reach the latch. Let me know if you need my help Jeff.
If you can get a long thin screwdriver or something like that in the gap between the hood and the grill you might be able to push back the latch (where the hood end attaches to the lock plate) I'd try this before trying to removed the grill, its a PITA. Is it possible the cable broke on the dash end? If so a pair of plyers might be able to grab the cable. http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/shop/1942_47/4247csm1103.htm
This what the latch should look like from above but you want to take a long screwdriver and push the arm of the latch where the cable goes through it from the bottom . You should be able to look through the top bars of the grill and see the latch. If you look at figure 4 in Historynw's link you can see how the latch sits in the panel and how the cable should pull it. If you can't get a straight shot at it with a screwdriver you might have to make a tool with a bend in it to catch the arm of the latch and push it back to release the hood. Someone with thin hands and arms might be able to reach thought the grill and push the latch but I'd bet that it is pretty well stuck. You might have someone put a bit of pressure down on the front of the hood when you try to push the latch back to relieve a bit of the pressure on the pin of the hood against the catch on the latch..
Any more suggestions? We tinkered on it today...the latch appears to be inaccessible. Totally. To remove the grill...step one. Open the hood. There has got to be a way. We can hear the cable at the front of the hood, so it is most likely broken at the latch.
you should be able to get a long screwdriver up from the bottom to lever on the toggle. it's a giant PITA, but it will work--you MAY have to drop the or drill a strategically located hole in the lower valance--
We cut a hole in the bottom valance. There is no type of access to any part of the latch. The safety latch is accessible enough, but the actual hood latch is completely encased. This is terrible.
Same thing happened to the previous owner of my 46. There is no way to access anything near the latch except through the grill. In my case the previous owner had to bend/break the grill bars to get enough room to pop the latch manually. No easy way out I'm afraid. On the 46-48's it's essential to keep close watch and lube/maintain the hood release cable on a regular basis.
you might want to start with spraying some penatrant on the area where you believe the hood latch is and let it soak to when you do get in there it will release without too much effort. ask the guys over at www.chevytalk.com bet they can help.
Yep, yep....it is right there. I had to look at some parts at chevsofthe40s to get the picture in my head as to what we need to manipulate. It is a "collar" around the bolt latch. Now I just need to figure out how to get the right tool in there to jam it open. It should be relatively easy now that I have a nice 8"x8" access hole.
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