coolfez

Hi all,

93 Civic LX, auto.

Left the car at home for the summer and my parents though they would do me a favor by taking it in to get it inspected. Big mistake since someone pulled on the hood latch too hard and the cable broke. I just found out a few days ago when I tried to check the oil level!

Bad thing is, I am not at home anymore, 500 miles away so can't really go to the shop and demand they fix it.

What do I do? I really need to replace the upper and lower control arms but can't be done without the hood opening. I have look at several threads out there but can't find anything that worked.

Here is what I have tried:

1. use long screw driver to slide in the gap and tried to unlatch it

2. used a plier to try and pull the cable

3. took off driver side wheel and the mud guards but can't find any way to access it.


I did hear you can reach through the slot in the grill? But have no idea what I am doing.


This is not a picture of my car but it's the same model. I did take the license plate off.

Thanks!

MindBomber

jack up the car, remove drivers side front tire, remove splash guard, reach over with a screw driver and press the release. It's the definition of a pain, but can be done with some patience. The good news is a cable should be less than $20 from a dealership, you could have any mechanic handle this for you, they'd likely charge an hours labour.

coolfez

Thanks for the reply.

I already tried that but had no idea what I was doing down there. (on my post i mistakenly said I removed the mud guards, I actually did remove the splash guards).

Am I pushing with a screw driver or doing a pulling motion? How far is the latch in term of where the honda H emblem is on the hood? Thanks!


p.s. once I get it open, can I drive around with it not latched all the way? I'm not going anywhere long distance, like 2 miles non highway every day. Only for like a week or so.

lazlong

^^ You're trying to pry the latch sideways. Sideways in relation to the car, I think towards the driver's side. If you can't get it take it to any mechanic and they can usually do it right then. Usually takes 5 minutes and they won't charge ya very much.

Not very safe to drive that way, period. If you have to drive like that take some precautions like a bungee from the latch down the bumper to the underside of the car. Maybe tie it down with some wire.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

the hood cable should be tied to the car body under the driver wheel well. just cut the metal inside out of the plastic cover. then tie enough cable around a tool to get a good grip to pull on it.