How do you open the hood of a 1996 Ford Ranger if the hood release cable is broken?

Answer 1

you use a medle bar to open it.ovesiley _______________________________ see this discussion group fourth item down... http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=144108 however this manual release lever is very hard to get to and is under some pressure, doesn't move easily the cure is to remove the hood latch from the body and then you can open the hood with the latch still attached. the entire latch is held on by two small bolts with large washers that are accessible even with the hood closed from the front there is a gap of about 3/8 inch between the closed hood and the top of the grill use a 1/4 inch drive and extension with 8mm (as I recall) socket wrench to reach in there to the two bolt heads - you will need a strong light to see what you are doing undo the two bolts completely and remove, then pull up on the hod while using the main release lever the hood and entire latch assembly will now lift. now that the latch assemble is accessible, move the emergency release to free the latch from the hood the stock Ford release cable is Mickey Mouse (no surprise) and stretches easily I replaced it with a small aluminum arm that bolts to the fork that accepts the cable end at the latch and can be reached easily through a grill opening. Push the arm up and the latch releases. I'll see how that works