Hey guys,

After searching the forum for a while, i wasn't able to find any reference to this problem, so i decided to give it a shot and see if anyone has any ideas.

I went to raise the hood on my '96 Disco today and it popped...kinda. The hood raised some, but only about an inch or so. Not even enough to engage the safety latch. I know cable stretch and breakage are pretty much THE causes for hood troubles lol. So this might be a little weird in that the cable is working just fine. It seems like the latch is working perfectly other than what i'm speculating is the striker is hitting something in there that's stopping it from actually raising any further. Brute force didn't help the situation either. Just got me worried that i was gonna warp the hood. haha
I've tried pretty much everything i can think of short of getting in there with a sawzall. Have any of you all encountered this before?

Thanks for your help

 

Figured it out!

This whole mess was my fault. But it's a good lesson in stacking tolerances!

I took the latch assembly off of the truck a while back to clean it and oil the cable. Well, when i put everything back on i must not have torqued down the bolts well enough. Where the strike plate has slotted holes, this allowed it to work its way rearward far enough to block the striker leaving the channel after several openings and closing. Managed to get the hood up far enough to just get my hands in up to the knuckle (bending the strike plate up in the process). After longer than i care to admit and some frankly unchristian outbursts the plate free came free and released the hood.

Moral of the story is make sure your holes line up

 

Mine did/does something like that. My solution is to pull the handle and push on the left rear of the hood at the same time.

 

Stupid idea, but did you push the handle back IN all the way (once the hood popped up)? On mine I have to work the lever in/out as it pops up. Pushing it back in a little allows it to pop up the rest of the way. I assume you tried that, but just throwing it out anyway....

 

Sounds like you might need a new hood latch return spring (LR014058). AB,RN, etc. has these for about $2. Not the best pic, but you'll get the idea.
And/Or if you have the hood cable with the trunnion, you can adjust the tension on the cable.

 

I replaced my hood release cable and parts last year. My hood release handle broke off and the vice grips were getting old. Took about 30 min and now it works great. With my new cable though, once I pull the release lever and pop the hood, I have to push it back in. It's wierd. But it works everytime now.

 

I have to push mine back in too

 

Had the prop rod come out of the hanger and get stuck keeping the hood from opening.

 

Thanks for the input, all. I actually got it figured out the day after i posted this, but somehow my post about it never got through moderation. What had happened was i took the hood latch off of the truck to clean it out and oil the cable. When i reattached everything, i didn't tighten down the bolts well enough. Since the bolt holes in the strike plate are actually slotted, this eventually allowed the plate to work its way rearward and prevent the hood striker from clearing it. My dad and i eventually wound up bending the strike plate, letting the hood raise about another half inch and allowing me to work my hands in far enough with a ten mil wrench to undo one side of the plate and let the hood open. It's a good case study in stacking tolerances. lol