Hood release broke

KVEGAVK18

MEMBER
2016 KIA OPTIMA
0.6L
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
5,000 MILES

I took my car listed above to get an oil change. The guy working asked me to pop the hood, I pulled on the lever inside and nothing happened. He came over and was pulling on it. Still nothing as they were checking out the hood I kept pulling on the lever then it just popped right off. The guys said there is no cable available for them to pull on to open the hood. I need an oil change and have no idea what to do? Please help. Thanks!

Sunday, October 27th, 2019 AT 10:01 AM

3 Replies

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

Hi,

Down where the handle is, there should be a cable that is supposed to be connected to the handle. When you pull the handle is pulls this cable that is run out to the latch that holds the hood down.

If you look at the attachments, you will see in the first one that the handle is attached with a screw at the top. Clearly with yours breaking, I imagine this screw is still there. Remove the screw and look for the cable that would attach to this handle.

If you grab this with a pair of vice grips then you should just be able to pull the cable and release the hood assume the handle was the issue.

The second attachment just shows how this cable runs out to the latch and connects to release it when it is pulled.

Maybe if you take a picture of you handle that broke, I can get a better idea but this sounds like what your issue is. Once you get the oil change you will need to replace the handle.

Images (Click to make bigger)