Stuck hood latch on 1996 chrysler concorde- Possible broken cable

I would check to see if the hood release moves when the inside lever is pulled then pushed, if not the cable and latch mechanism may need lubrication or be broken.

pull lever a little so you can remove cable from the retainer and using a pliers or tool grab cable and pull back on cable (lot of cables stretch ) if broken cable will slide easy if not should release latch when opened adjust and lube latch

you can use needle nose pliers pull the hood release cable on inside car where cable broke from handle.needle nose pliers will help you enough to pull cable to open hood so you can replace fix hood release handle and cable.

Might just be stuck. Have someone pull the release as you FIRMLY pound on the front of the hood in the middle with your fist (NOT A HAMMER ! ! ! !).

If that works and it opens, get some WD40 and spray the latch and cable, lever, etc... and then work the release lever before closing it again. If the cable has broken....... it is very difficult to release without some automotive knowledge. I'm betting it is just stuck...


Good Luck.

try going through grill with a coat hanger, and try to release hood latch. sometimes this will work. if not go from under front of car with a few extensions and try to remove it. the hood latch !!

Under the car:
You will be able to open the hood if you pull off your splash guard and use a long long flat head screwdriver or something like that. You'll see the hood latch in front of the radiator with the cable attached to it at the top near the hood, put it on the drivers side edge of the bottom of the latch and pry to the passenger side, the lever moves from the drivers side to the passengers side, the cable basically pulls the top of it to achieve this. so your doing the same thing on the bottom with the screwdriver.


Release the latch from underneath by the lever that you have to pry towards the passenger side. Then open the hood, and replace the safety release mechanism broken cable.

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there should be a lever that is on the bottom edge of dash that is under the steering wheel along the trim. if the handle is broken you can use pliers to grab the cable and pull it to get the hood to realse. if you found all that and i seems to work ok then when pulling the release lever have a friend hit or shake the hood to get it to pop up a little so that you can open it all the way.

can you reach the cable itself?,or is it broke at the hood latch?IF its not broken at the outside latch, try to follow the cable,un-hook it from the handle and pull on the wire cable to open it.IF its broken at the latch itself,you are going to have to reach the latch through the grille and try to pull the lever the cable connects to.That part is no fun at all..!!

On each side of the latch there is an 8mm screw that can be removed through the front, between the hood and grill They are aprox 6" apart.

The latch itself has two locator pins that slide into the front suppoprt behind the grill.

After removing the two screws, gently pry the whole latch away from the support. The hood can be raised, taking the latch with it.

Access to the release lever is behind the latch. It is now exposed.
pull the tiny release lever toward the drivers side and latch will come loose. Good luck!

Is there any part of the cable inside the cabin that you can pull with a pair of pliers? I suggest that you try that. You may need to disassemble it from the pull handle to make that work.