Unfortunately, someone backed into my 2001 XJR (and didn't leave a note…). It appears they were in a tall-ish SUV or something, and they appear to have cleared the bumper and hit the grill/driver's side lights area.

The problem I've run into now, is the hood no longer releases on the driver's side, so I cannot open the hood anymore.

At first, I thought the release cable was the culprit. I followed directions I found on this forum and on YouTube for accessing the release through the wheel well.

I was able to see the release is still functioning, and manually manipulating the release was unsuccessful in releasing the hood as well.

Since the release cable appears to be functioning, I believe the problem may now be the hood. The hood has visibly shifted after it was damaged, and is closer to the windshield on the drivers side.

My next idea as to shift the hood, and then attempt to open it.

Is anyone aware of ways to adjust the hood positioning while it is stuck closed?

Also, up for any other suggestions if others have any other ideas!

 

I am willing to bet the radiator support structure, which the hood is apart of, is bent back. Causing your binding to get the hood open.

You will have to pull off the front of your exterior radiator trim and disassemble as much as possible to try to get to that structure and take the pressure off the hood pin.
By going in this way, you should get a better view of the damage.
This is why its important to get a body shop to review any damages for any incident. Did you happen to get a police report for it? You can then claim it on insurance barring your deductible.

 

Thanks! I was able to unbolt that hinge from the support and then pop the hood. The support looks ok, so I'm going to remove the hood to see what got damaged/bent and is causing my alignment issues. Thank you so much for the help!