Hi Everyone,

I have a Jaguar F-Type in my shop with the hood not releasing. Cable hasn’t bin broken. But I need the hood open for PPF installation and steam cleaning polish residue. How can I get it released? Is there a way to get under the hood?

thanks for your reactions!

 

BOTH sides don't release? (There are latches in both corners)

Just so that we don't a**ume anything: You have pulled the release, in the driver's side kick panel? (footwell)

 

I haven't had to diagnose a non-opening hood on this car. I hope I don't have to because the there are two latches not accessible through the grille, as there might be on a hood that release at the front. Here are some usual things to check:

- Does the inside release pull back with no resistance? It could be a broken or disconnected cable or something broken on the lever.
- Does the inside lever seem to not want to pull back at all? Something could be stuck/jammed. One possible thing here is that something was left in the way of the hood but it managed to close anyway. Have someone push down gently at each of the back corners of the hood to lessen pressure and see if it releases then. The hood is aluminum so don't push too hard. I just went out to my own car and a gentle push down on each back corner of the hood gives a couple of millimeters of movement. If you don't get that kind of movement something might be jammed or wedged. I'm sort of spitballing on that one but it might work in some situations.

If the lever feels like it's doing something having someone pull the lever while another tries lifting the back of the hood might be effective. If the hood got closed with a polishing rag over the latch this might be effective. Again, be aware of the amount of force you're using.

 

pulled the release, gently let someone push the hood. Both won’t release… had a lot of these cars in the shop but never had this problem. 🤔

 

the inside lever works pretty normal except that it doesn’t have a point of pulling to a point that pops the hood. I know the feeling because we had a lot of these cars in the shop. My opinion is that the cable under the hood sits incorrect somewhere…

 

Could try physically removing the lever from its pivot point or disconnect the cable from the level itself and then pull on the cable itself, it should allow a bit more travel of the cable itself to disengage the hood latches.

 

Get the car in the air and remove the under-body covers. I fish around under the latches and sometimes pull on the cable and sometimes just try to release the latch. I have NOT done this on an F-Type so can't help with exactly where to look.
Surprised the owner has not had this problem fixed by the dealer? I did not see the year of the car so maybe not under warranty anymore?
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Does the owner even know the problem exists? Might be worth asking when he/she last opened the hood.
It could also be that the owner knows a trick for dealing with the problem and has lived with it for some time.
It reminds me of the time my mother-in-law's VW Beetle sat unmoved on my driveway for 2 weeks because I was unable to turn the ignition key.
When she returned from her trip she just got in the car and started it up straight away. She knew how to deal with the funky ignition switch.