Hummell

Man, I think I really screwed up guys. As noob friendly as putting on a grille is, I think I jacked up my car. I took the 04 grille off an popped on the 05 grille....no problem, right? 5 minutes. The problem came when I closed the hood. That black thing that you pull to open the hood got stuck up behind the grille. I tried forever to pry it out from behind there, but no luck. So, I can close the hood, but I just can't open it now because I can't get to the pull lever! Any bright ideas on how I could get my hood open to pull that lever down from behind the grille? I can't believe something that should be so simple went terribly wrong.

Any help?

Pissed in Charlotte,
Hum

Ryanr317

If it makes you feel any better something like that happened to me when i was installing mine. Which slat did you put the lever through? At first i put mine in the wrong one but luckily it didn't get stuck.

sanf

i am eating my lunch. i ordered beef for my dish but they gave me pork instead.

feel better now?

MiKeSSw203

You could remove the center latch completely. The 2 side ones are the ones that hold the hood closed.

DaimlerBenzo

jerk

Hummell

I didn't know there were side ones...about where are they located? Do I need to push them in, pull them up...how do they work?

sanf

lol.. oh, do you need anything from boston when I hit up miami in a few weeks?

SeaCoupe

I thought the same thing, then I laughed pretty good.

E

Harry Madan

there is something else u can try, i dont know if this would work or not, but this would be ur best bet. other then having to take off the bumper and then going up and around the hood form the bottom and un latching the car.,

Try this first:
first u need to know the latch is getting stuck when u unlock the hood, because the latch comes out and hit the grill. and is then stuck, but then u close the hood the latch goes back into the lock position.
so:
when the hood is closed, put a little thin wooden peace on top of the latch behind the grill, (its kida tricky) so when u go to unlock the hood the latch will slide along the wooden peace and u can then direct it where u can get it out and that should help u open the hood.
or.
if the latch is competently stuck then there is a little mettle peach that u can pull down on with a bent hanger or something that can unlock the hood allowing u to open it. i'll take some pic to help u through this

well here are the pic, i just decided to do that right now:


Sorry the pic is wrong u need to pull on that part... not push.. pushing wont do anything u need to pull on it. to un-latch the hood.

if that does not work:
if u look at the pic carefully, use a screwdriver and take that yank that little mettle clip out so the latch arm is unhooked and becomes useless and then full on the mettle part to open the hood once the hood is open u can put the mettle clip back in to make the latch arm work again.
ur going to have to play around with it a little bit. but good luck

Hummell

Thank you so much, Harry. I'm going to have to go try this out. I'll let you know what happens. If I push down on that little latch arm pin, will the arm just come free?

Harry Madan

yes the arm will come free then, but the little pin might fall because its not held on by anything. so be careful if u have a magnet to make sure it does not fall it might be a good idea to use that.

dutnguye

same thing happen to me, i think i put the lever at the 2nd latch instead of the 3rd and it got stuck behind. Things happen to the best of us i guess, heh
cheers

Hummell

It worked! Brilliant Harry! Thanks so much! I owe you one!

-Hum

drexappeal

Glad it worked. I'd suggest buying the longer hood latch.

Hummell

Man I was pissed at myself! All is well that ends well. Good learning experience.

drexappeal

btw, I just bumped Z and Carlos' DIY for hood latch replacement, if you want to check it out.

Hummell

Thanks drex!

Harry Madan

ya no worries man... next time make sure the latch come out of the grill before u close the hood? lol.... JJ

drexappeal

No problem. I think Jerry (formymercedes) sells them seperately, also, but if it's an OEM piece, you could probably pick one up at the dealership also. Just not sure if it's OEM or not.