Hood release loose, blaming dealer

Might just be a coincidence, but being the suspicious guy that I am, I suspect the dealer wrecked the cable while working under the hood. The hood wont open unless I grab the cable under the dash and pull. Pulling the handle under the dash doesn’t do enough.

I usually do maintenance myself. Never had a problem with the hood release. The rare time I go to dealer there’s this problem.
I know, I should chill and figure out how to fix it. But damn, suspicious me.

 

One does not simply wreck the cable with two fingers on the release pull. If he did, hes got a lucky wife. It may have just been its time Shit happens man, new cables not hard to run on these.

 

I didn’t necessarily mean intentionally, but accidentally could have happened. Maybe the guy got tangled up in the cable run somehow.

 

What did they work on? Those cables are pretty out of the way and ive replaced everything on my truck besides the motor lol

 

Could be the release lever too, I'm not too up on ours but I've had to replace them on other vehicles I have owned.

 

You have to pull release. If it's "stuck", what else is one to do than pull harder?
I wouldn't even fix it, I just keep a pair of pliers under the seat call it a day.

I'd only fix it if the cable was getting stuck. If you've ever had a hood fly open going down the road, you know it's an "experience".
One you never want to experience again.

 

They replaced the AC. The handle pulls easily, just doesn’t seem to pull enough cable to pop the hood.

 

AC compressor, condenser, evap core?

 

Inspect the cable where it attaches to the hood latch, maybe it wasn't installed properly.

 

Compressor and condenser. Not sure about the evap core. $3000 Cdn

 

oooooh ok, its likely routed incorrectly to the latch, this is the one thing that would result in this. You have to remove the rad support to get the condenser.

Take it back 100%

 

The dealer fixed it (no charge).
When I was there to demo the problem, this time there was no release happening at all. The dash lever was loose and the wire in behind could not be pulled any more. So that hood was totally inaccessible. They brought it to the back and did their thing. Told me the latch was just stuck from lack of lube. Hmmmm, okaaaay. Seems funny it suddenly got that "unlubed" at the time they took things apart to replace the AC. Anyway, it's all done.

 

you took a simple 20yo vehicle to a dealer?

 

I had one just jump up to the safety stop where I could see the whole hood move and with a loud clunk at 70 mph. (full size Thunderbird) Life flashed before my eyes and took at least 10 years off of it to boot.

 

I thought mine was broken at first too.
its not , and its not a matter of lubing the latch or adjusting the cable either, its an adjustment issue
there are two rubber bumpers under the hood that adjust height when turned , if you screw them all the way in the hood will not pop open , it just releases the latch and lays there dead. Then you have to access the secondary safety catch at the opening under the hood through the top of the grille and pry up with fingertips in the crack of the hood .
BUT When you unscrew the bumpers 3/4 turn or so the hood pops open on it's own with about an inch of clearance to reach in and catch the top part of the secondary lever .
The "fix" is screwing out the bumpers about 3/4 turn, close it, try again and it should pop up, then you can adjust them to where the hood sits flush but still pops.
I think it is an optional safety feature so the wind cant catch it in the event of accidentally being unlatched while driving
if you look in through the grille near the top there is another lever there for the secondary latch in addition to through the hood pop crack
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2008-hood-dosnt-pop-up-when-latch-is-pulled.276984/

 

This exactly! Solved my lame latch problem!