Hood Release seems stuck/broken

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maini

Well-known member
Joined
May 14, 2014
Messages
145
Location
NorCal Bay Area
I have this issue currently, not sure what happened but the cable moves freely and does not unlock or release the hood. I have tried everything I could find on this forum and the internet. I have tried going through the large door to no avail. Tried going below the car after removing the bottom cover again go go. I have the repair manuals but again nothing there.

The cable seems to be moving the mechanism a freely but either some spring is broken or something else has happened. I opened the hood just a month ago to fill the washer fluid and no issues.

Looking forward to some ideas to try as I don't know what else to do now.

Thanks in advance
 
One of the problems with the Leaf is the hood release. There is nothing wrong with it, but since you do not need regular checking under the hood, the latch starts to get hard to open from lack of use and rust.

First pull the inside lever until the hood pops up.

with a flashlight and a can of wd40, spray the hinge of the handle paddle latch. If you have to close the hood and repeat several times, you will get the hood open.

When you get the hood open, spray the hinges with wd40, oil, or silicone, or grease.. move parts until they move freely.
 
PrairieLEAF said:
Hmm...you might try having someone press down on the hood while you pull the hood release, and try to pull up the hood while the release is tensioned.

I have tried that several times. Last night I sprayed some WD40 the best I could into the hood through a nozzle.
 
powersurge said:
One of the problems with the Leaf is the hood release. There is nothing wrong with it, but since you do not need regular checking under the hood, the latch starts to get hard to open from lack of use and rust.

First pull the inside lever until the hood pops up.

with a flashlight and a can of wd40, spray the hinge of the handle paddle latch. If you have to close the hood and repeat several times, you will get the hood open.

When you get the hood open, spray the hinges with wd40, oil, or silicone, or grease.. move parts until they move freely.

The wire seems loose although I can hear it moving something. The hood does not pop up at all. I haven't tried extreme measures yet but maybe I do that next.
 
Ok so I fixed the issue. I had to go through the charging port area. Remove the plastic shroud there, this was bait complicated and I damaged it a bit, but later on I saw that if you know the location of the clips etc it can be pulled out.
Then remove that small light in the charging port area, through that hole shine a torch and locate the main clip from the hood which will be the same color as your car. Get a long screw driver and position it at the base of the Clip. Take a rubber mallet and give it a big blow and the hood popped up.

THE PROBLEM was that the hood release cable had somehow jumped out of its notch which holds the cable sheath itself. So even though the cable was fine and correctly connected it wasn't effective. Maybe if I had removed the cable from inside the car and pulled only the cable really hard maybe it would have popped the hood but I wasn't sure because I did try that to some extent. Anyways I use a cable Tie to tie it up the sheath in that spot and it should never ever jump out of its location unless the cable tie it cut or broken.

Hopefully this will help someone in the future. I will try to load some images.
 
The same thing just happened to me. I have a MOT on Friday and was going over the car and the latch inside the car would not open the hood. The latch just pulled up and clicked without opening the hood. So I read your post, seen the latch mechanism next to the light in the charging port, got a screw driver and pushed it against the white plastic on the latch mechanism to move it to the side and this opened the hood. Then got some WD-40 and sprayed a lot of it on the metal latch cleaning off the excess gunge/oil with wipes. Once it was nice and clean, the hood opened no problem.
 
Then got some WD-40 and sprayed a lot of it on the metal latch cleaning off the excess gunge/oil with wipes.

I suggest you lubricate the mechanism with clean oil or some kind of grease, as WD-40 leaves a sticky residue as it dries - it is a poor lubricant for the long term.
 
Hi - How did you manage to get the charging port light out? I am not seeing any way to remove it after taking the cover off. My 12V battery is dead and I can't get to it because hood latch is nit releasing.
maini said:
Ok so I fixed the issue. I had to go through the charging port area. Remove the plastic shroud there, this was bait complicated and I damaged it a bit, but later on I saw that if you know the location of the clips etc it can be pulled out.
Then remove that small light in the charging port area, through that hole shine a torch and locate the main clip from the hood which will be the same color as your car. Get a long screw driver and position it at the base of the Clip. Take a rubber mallet and give it a big blow and the hood popped up.

THE PROBLEM was that the hood release cable had somehow jumped out of its notch which holds the cable sheath itself. So even though the cable was fine and correctly connected it wasn't effective. Maybe if I had removed the cable from inside the car and pulled only the cable really hard maybe it would have popped the hood but I wasn't sure because I did try that to some extent. Anyways I use a cable Tie to tie it up the sheath in that spot and it should never ever jump out of its location unless the cable tie it cut or broken.

Hopefully this will help someone in the future. I will try to load some images.
 
After looking at some pics of the light online I was able to just pry it open and then hit the base of the hood clip a few times with a long screw driver and a mallet as you did. Your post was very useful and without it it is unlikely I would have been able to open it without major damage. Also adding some additional notes here for anyone else.
Mine is a 2016 SV and there was also the wire for the front 360 camera (attached to the charge port cover plate) that needed to be unhooked before the charge port front cover could be taken out. There is a clip connecting the wire to the camera and 3 rivets holding the wire that need to be removed to take the wire out. You could maybe just hold or bend the charge port cover to the side but this seemed better to me.
The charge port cover is held by 4 removable rivets. I used a rivet tool that came with a pack of rivets but you could just use a flathead screwdriver. Also there are two additional rivets on top but these are attached to the charge port cover and also have to be pried.
After taking off the charge port front cover I also tried to see I can remove the nuts to remove the charge ports or the plate holding them to get better access but this is really not needed and I didn't go far with them.
It would be almost impossible to access the hood latch from underneath as some have suggested since the huge battery fan is in the way but you could maybe grab the latch cable sheath and pull it to release. This will be coming from the driver's side and towards the hood latch close to the hood so you will need a tool that reaches all the way from underneath to the top and be able to grab and pull.

topcat2001 said:
Hi - How did you manage to get the charging port light out? I am not seeing any way to remove it after taking the cover off. My 12V battery is dead and I can't get to it because hood latch is nit releasing.
maini said:
Ok so I fixed the issue. I had to go through the charging port area. Remove the plastic shroud there, this was bait complicated and I damaged it a bit, but later on I saw that if you know the location of the clips etc it can be pulled out.
Then remove that small light in the charging port area, through that hole shine a torch and locate the main clip from the hood which will be the same color as your car. Get a long screw driver and position it at the base of the Clip. Take a rubber mallet and give it a big blow and the hood popped up.

THE PROBLEM was that the hood release cable had somehow jumped out of its notch which holds the cable sheath itself. So even though the cable was fine and correctly connected it wasn't effective. Maybe if I had removed the cable from inside the car and pulled only the cable really hard maybe it would have popped the hood but I wasn't sure because I did try that to some extent. Anyways I use a cable Tie to tie it up the sheath in that spot and it should never ever jump out of its location unless the cable tie it cut or broken.

Hopefully this will help someone in the future. I will try to load some images.
 
I have the same problem but after reading this thread I am uncertain how exactly to fix it. Could somebody post some photos or maybe even videos to demonstrate it?

When I pull the hood release lever from inside the car there is no resistance and no effect, so it sounds like the problem as described here.
 
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