The hood release has a lot of play and when you pull on the cable nothing happens. Does anyone know of a way to open the hood? From what I found I have to drill a hole in the fender well but I would like to avoid that if possible.

 

many, many threads and a couple of Youtubes. Everything I ever saw shows a need to drill a very specifically placed hole inside fender well.

 

 

It depends on the issue. If its the cable then JT is probably correct, but if its like mine (the lanyard came off) then you'll have to drill as Jim stated and use a large flat blade screwdriver to get the action to release. Since the upgrade of the site it will not let me find the instructions I had posted a couple years ago, I am going to do this from memory. First off, here's a link to someone else's issue I responded to... https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-guide-159179/

Take off the wheel, its so much easier, then remove the inner liner. Toward the approximate 10 o'clock position, you will see a semi-formed ramp at the top of the fender toward the firewall (a light will almost assuredly be needed after drilling), that is the area the well for the hood pin. Drill into the inside bottom angled edge about an inch before it flattens back out. You will probably have to open it up at least an inch (I used a step bit). You can reach in with the driver an pry the tang (which holds the lanyard) to release. After completing this, be sure to spray a primer on the drilled area (masking it on top from spraying your hood) and then spray it again with black paint. This will prevent any future rusting.

Before doing that procedure, I'd definitely do what JT said first. Be sure to check the cable for fraying, as said, my lanyard came out and all I had to do was zip tie it back.