I have a 1997 F150 Supercab. I tried to release the hood today using the handle in the cab, but the lock under the hood did not release. There does not seem to be much tension on the cable between the handle and the front of the hood. Any ideas? Before I can get it fixed, is there a secondary way of releasing the hood?

 

You might have a broken cable I don't know of any other way to open it without doing damage to the hood or grill.

 

This happened to me on a 74 Oldsmobile and the mechanic reached up from the front grille area and pulled on the cable to get the hood to release. Then he hooked up a wire as a secondary release in case the cable broke again.

 

had the same problem on my 91 f150. all i did was to reach through the grille to the lock assembly. feel the cable and follow it to the latch. reach in and pull it toward the drivers side. this is the latch that is hooked on to the cable. not the one that ties into the hood. it poped rt open. then i lubed it up and even with the slack i could still open it from the cab. hope this helps.

 

Don't know which grille you have on your 97 to know if you can reach through and grab it or not. it runs along the top, if you shine a flashlight up there, you should be able to see it.

Don't know if it takes the same route as my 01 SCrew or not, but it seems to run through the sheet metal back plate behind the driver's side headlight, and through the inner fender well liner.

Maybe taking the fender well liner out, and see if you can grab it there ?

When you pulled the release, did it feel slack when you pulled it the first time ?

Also did you try applying downward pressure on the hood ?

I ask as maybe the cable is not broken, but maybe the latch is stuck, and a little downward pressure on the hood might jar it loose ??

Just some items to try, not sure on any of them.

Good luck

 

I just had the case where my hood would not close (latch) after opening it... I took the latch out, and found that a little spring had broken in half.. The spring pulls a bracket inside the latch mechanism into the default (closed) position. The cable end goes into this bracket, so when you pull on the release lever, the resistance you feel is that spring... I think a broken spring would result in the hood popping open, then not latching. Sounds like your cable has broken... I guess it depends on where the cable break is as to how to get the hood open... You need to either grab what is left of the cable to pull it, but if it broke off at the latch itself, you'll have to somehow move that bracket to the open position (screwdriver?)....