So I did this yesterday. Got the old radiator switched out with a new one. Put everything back together. Realized I needed 1 more gallon of coolant. Closed hood. Went to Wally Mart for a jug of coolant. Pulled tab to pop hood. Now the hood won't OPEN! Before you say, that's easy, just jack up the van and used a screwdriver to press on hood cable. Not possible since it's blocked by radiator, transmission cooler and oil cooler. The top crossmember likely blocks the access in which the latch is mounted on. The pull tab in the car still works which means it's not broken from that end. I was able to hook the cable from the driver side of the hood but it is not doing anything to pop the hood. Any ideas short of cutting into the hood and installing a fake blower to "cover" up the incident just to get the hood latch to open.
NickD
HalfDork
4/9/16 12:51 p.m.
Have somebody work the cable while you thump the hood along the leading edge. Sometimes they stick and that'll pop them loos. Or get your fingers under the leading edge and lift up while they work the handle back and forth
NickD wrote:
Have somebody work the cable while you thump the hood along the leading edge. Sometimes they stick and that'll pop them loos. Or get your fingers under the leading edge and lift up while they work the handle back and forth
I had 3 friends with me doing that yesterday. It didn't work. 
2 hours later today, me and a buddy still couldn't get it to open. My hands hurt like hell
I would consider busting the grill before I punch a hole in the hood
Spray pb blaster or wd liberally everywhere near the hood latch and pray?
Did you leave something on the upper support and now it is between hood and support creating major resistance at the hood release? Does the release tab and cable have normal travel or does it stop sooner then it use to. As Antihero stated, attempt to lubricate latch and push down on hood above latch then pull cable.
outasite wrote:
Did you leave something on the upper support and now it is between hood and support creating major resistance at the hood release? Does the release tab and cable have normal travel or does it stop sooner then it use to. As Antihero stated, attempt to lubricate latch and push down on hood above latch then pull cable.
Hood is flush like always. Release tab travel is normal. It just won't pop up enough for me to lift it a little like always to unlatch it. I sprayed some Kroil last night. Will venture out shortly and see what happens.
Hey mate, I'm about to do a radiator on my 2005.. If yours is like mine, I figured out how to release it from underneath. Grab a beer, take a fiver, then get the under tray off as I get the pics uploaded..
Okay, here's what we're working with, front & top view:
Now, the tab that we need to press (towards the driver side) is here. I pointed to it with a pick, it's the "shadow" under the big spring in the forefront of the picture:
So, from underneath, grab a long screwdriver and go right up between the radiator fans, and press that tab towards the drivers side of the car. It'll take a fair bit of pressure since you won't have good leverage that far away:
Hope this helps!
Just an FYI: I'm going to send you a message on the forum, too.. I don't know if you have notifications turned on for this, and I don't want you to waste another three hours on it :)
Cheers.
Oh, and I would think that I could get a pry bar off the radiator fan shroud if you need more leverage, but you will probably crack the fan shroud..
https://imgur.com/a/PrM8L
The above link shows all I can see in the 2 pictures. Bottom one is a little more clear. It looks like it's not latched at all and is caught on something.
I'll jack the van up again and see if I can even see the space you posted in your picture to release it if it's even there
WonkoTheSane wrote:
Okay, here's what we're working with, front & top view:
Now, the tab that we need to press (towards the driver side) is here. I pointed to it with a pick, it's the "shadow" under the big spring in the forefront of the picture:
So, from underneath, grab a long screwdriver and go right up between the radiator fans, and press that tab towards the drivers side of the car. It'll take a fair bit of pressure since you won't have good leverage that far away:
Hope this helps!
Just an FYI: I'm going to send you a message on the forum, too.. I don't know if you have notifications turned on for this, and I don't want you to waste another three hours on it :)
Cheers.
http://i.imgur.com/A4axEWg.jpg
Mine is different and blocked by radiator fan shroud.
Not easily romovable either. 5 bolts
Curses! In that case, I'd try to wedge the hood open enough to get the two 10mm bolts that hold the whole mechanism on. You can see the left one in my first picture, the right one is under the handle..
Edit:I meant to say I was assuming your fan shroud was 5 bolts.. I can't imagine they were daft enough to use 5 bolts for the mechanism, right?
5 hours later with 3 different friends. No such luck. use of flexible socket is no help because hood is not high enough and the hard plastic barrier protecting the top part of the hose/radiator makes it impossible to widen the gap. It goes up too high. Plenty of scraped knuckles among us and the lip of the hood is taking a beating with bends/cracked paint.
