Car Hood Won't Open

If your car hood won't open you need to find an immediate fix to this problem as this can seriously hinder you from servicing your car if something goes wrong. All the vital components and systems of an automobile are located inside the hood, and you will need to open the hood often in order to check if your car is functioning properly, and in order to maintain an acceptable level of performance.

Opening a car hood is a very simple task, but if you find that the car hood won't open easily, then something is seriously wrong. The most important aspect of opening a car hood is achieving access to all the various car parts that are present inside the hood of the vehicle.

How to Open the Hood
There are 2 latches that get into action when you pull the lever, and these are known as the primary latch and the secondary latch. The primary latch is usually located inside the hood while the secondary latch is located outside the hood, and both latches must work in tandem with each other, or else the car hood won't open.

Once you pull the primary lever the hood will rise a bit, and now you will need to release the secondary latch manually to open the hood completely. The reason for having two latches is that if you accidentally pull the primary latch while driving, the hood won't open completely as it will obstruct the drivers vision if this happens.

Any fault or damage to either of these latches or their mechanism, will result in the hood not opening. If this is the case your car hood won't close either, and this will have to be fixed by a mechanic in a car repair shop.

Reasons Why Car Hood Won't Open
Usually there is a simple lever in every vehicle that enables the hood to be opened. If you are unable to locate this lever, you will not know how to open a car hood. Also, if your vehicle is a fairly old model, you will not have an instant lever like this, and you will have to manually pull up the hood to open it once you have released the latch on the face of the hood.

Many times the lever that opens the hood stops functioning because of a disconnected or damaged cable. You will know that the cable is dysfunctional if you pull the lever and feel no resistance. There is either a break somewhere along the cable, or it has simply come unstuck from the release mechanism inside the hood. As a result of this, your car hood won't open.

An important thing to remember is that if your car hood won't open you must not attempt to force the hood to open. Doing so may damage some cables and levers inside, and this damage can be costlier to repair. You should visit a mechanic or call one to where your car is and ask him to fix the problem. The mechanism that opens a car hood is a very simple one, and if you are literate in the field of automobiles you can even attempt to fix the problem yourself.

Some latches don't open due to the presence of rust on them, or because they freeze up due to low temperature. So in case your car hood won't open, pull it slightly while someone simultaneously pushes the primary latch or lever from inside the vehicle.

This is one of the most elementary problems regarding automobiles that one may have to face, and it can be fixed very easily. Do not despair if your car hood won't open, and do not try to pry it open with undue force.