Hello:
The hood latch release on my '94 ES300 does not work any more, although the tension on the cable can still be felt. Consequently the hood cannot be opened. I managed to reach the catch lever under the hood but that lever alone does not release the hood. Any ideas how to open it?

 

Can't you just pull the hood up one you released it from the catch?

 

Actually no. As we know, there are two steps in hood release mechanism. First we need to release the latch inside and the hood pops out, then we grab the other release handle pull it and the hood opens. Well, if the first release does not work, the hood remains firmly locked in place. No amount of tinkering with the second hadle is able to relese the hood from its locked position. I cannot imagine that there is no contingency solution here for situations like this one.

 

here's a possible solution:

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums...hl=hood++latch