I first found this forum when I was researching how to get the hood on my 1998 XJ8 open after the driver's side latch would not release. I found the job to be quite easier than many had said.

With the wheel off and the inner fender removed; a crow-bar forcefully inserted to the natural unibody seam, in the area of the latch, split it open just enough to get a screwdriver in to trigger the release lever.

From that point; I removed the latch mechanism, uncoiled the split-ring from the key chain that came with the car, and twisted it in such a way that it solved the problem of the broken plastic cable end. I trimmed it down in length more than pictured.

You will see from the photo that one of the teeth on the lever itself is broken. I did this myself when first troubleshooting the problem. I thought perhaps the teeth could be bent around the cable to hold it in place, but the metal was not of high enough quality to bend without breaking.

I will likely do the same to the passenger side cable to act as a safety should this cable end break too. Thus, preventing the need for wheel removal and crow-bar use.



...Just food for thought.

 

I guess the joke is on me for not taking my own advice. I had a hood latch failure on the opposite side.

I had a bit more trouble on this side as the uni-body panels are seemed differently. This time on the passenger side of my American-market car, the inner fender is shaped differently as it accommodates the heater box and a under-hood storage compartment (which inconveniently held my long flat-head screwdriver at the time).

I spent a bit of time prying the panels apart as I had done before and finally revealed an inner panel with a hole about 3/4" in diameter. Through this hole I could see the spring of the latch mechanism, but the lever itself could not be accessed from this position with the available tools (quite possible though). This hole is circled in red in the photo below.

Using a pocket knife with a sturdy locking blade, I was able to forcefully insert it into the factory uni-body hole that accommodates one of the expanding plastic fastener for the inner fender. It easily cut the hole into a slit which was spread open into a nice access point. The lever was straight back from this point and easily triggered. This opening is circled in blue in the below picture.

Another split-ring should twist up to prevent this problem again and with a suitable substitute for the plastic fastener, nobody will ever see how badly I mangled this part of the car.

 

A couple other useful notes:

1) Plastic zip ties are not a good idea for this job because the steel cable will saw through them.

2) If working on your vehicle outdoors, the bright sunlight may make it difficult to see into your access hole. I found that it was much easier to manually engage the lever with the assistance of a flashlight at night.

 

I have never had this happen on any of my Jaguars .... what's the typical cause?

Such a simple system.

 

If you look at the picture I uploaded in the first post, you can see that there are two yellow/orange colored plastic pieces on the steel cable. They were originally one continuous piece. The plastic is molded around the end of the cable and it is what retains the cable to the actuator lever.

The wider piece of plastic to has a conical seat that fits snugly into the round hole in the lever and is what applies the force of the cable pull to activate the mechanism.

The smaller piece that has slid down the cable is a collar that holds the plastic end in place from the inner side of the lever. It broke off from the other piece, allowing the cable end to slip out of the lever, making the hood release handle inside the car useless.

I believe other Jaguar owners have had different problems with the cables themselves, but the end result is the same; that being the need to access the release mechanism from behind the wheel.

Many of the plastic parts under the hood of my Jaguar were quite degraded from age. I am also in the process of repairing major air leaks in the air intake track and cooling system caused by degraded plastic.

It does not appear to me that quality of materials was top priority in the manufacturing of my XJ8. Hence, me being able to cut an access hole in the uni-body sheet metal with a standard pocket knife.