I got all caught up during my wife's grandmother's 97 Saturn with no brakes. New master and full bleed sorted the low pedal about 90%

Have to adjust the rear drums in am.

I checked this afternoon. Yes, remove that primart latch to put the cables together.

Hope this helps.

Thanks - Anthony

 

The new primary latch cable arrived in yesterday's mail. I waited until first light this morning to do the job in order to take advantage of the cooler morning temps....

You must remove the drivers-side windshield wiper, then remove the drivers-side cowl screws in order to pull the cowl up far enough to see where the primary latch cable comes through the firewall from underneath the dash. I stuck an 8-inch length of 2-by-4 between the bottom edge of the cowl and the metal cross-brace to hold the drivers-side part of the cowl far enough up and out of my way in order to allow me to reach my hand down in there almost all the way to the firewall. If you have small hands, this will be much easier to do. I have gorilla-sized hands so it was tough for me....

Removing the old primary latch cable was relatively easy. Two 7mm bolts hold the old black plastic hood lever in place at the bottom edge of the dash. Remove them and pull the old primary latch cable back towards you from underneath the drivers-side dash. I pulled it about halfway out, cut it inside the cabin, tied a two-foot long piece of monofilament fishing line to the new primary latch cable's S-shaped hook end and tightly duct-taped the other end of the fishing line to the old primary latch cable where I had cut it. Then working from the engine bay side, I pulled the old cable back through the firewall but the new cable kept getting hung up inside the firewall on its S-shaped hook end. So I got my wife to reach down underneath the dash and feed that S-shaped hook end of the new cable into the hole in the firewall until I could see it coming through from the engine bay side. Once I saw it, I reached down and carefully grabbed it with my needle-nose pliers and gently pulled the new cable the rest of the way through the firewall and into the engine bay. This is indeed one of those jobs where having two people definitely helps....

From there it was a matter of properly routing the new cable and ensuring that it was snapped down securely into the old fasteners that hold it in place. You do have to unbolt the primary latch (two 13mm bolts) in order to remove the old S-shaped hook end that the old cable had snapped from and install the new S-shaped hook end. As Andy said in one of his posts above, both the primary cable S-shaped hook end and the secondary cable S-shaped hook end fit into the same hole on the primary latch, so pay careful attention to how they fit together before you remove the old primary cable S-shaped hook end and throw it away. It takes some patience and some trial-and-error to get them both into the primary latch hole together like they belong, so take your time doing so....

Once both S-shaped hook ends are properly in place in the primary latch, you can bolt the latch back to its frame. Pay attention to how the plate that accepts the two 13mm bolts holding the primary latch in place goes BEHIND the frame....

Once the primary latch is bolted up tight you are ready to drop the hood, ensure that it latches, and test the new primary latch cable by pulling up on your new black plastic hood lever at the bottom edge of your dash. Mine worked properly the first time - no adjustment necessary. Maybe I just got lucky....

I have always pulled my black plastic hood lever very slowly and carefully whenever I need to open my hood. The hassle of having to replace my primary latch cable has taught me to be even more gentle when pulling it from now on....

Hope this helps someone else down the road. These hood release cable assemblies are not very robust and as the years roll by, they indeed are going to snap as mine did....

 

WTG Jon. Glad that the task went fairly smooth. Nicely written procedure.

Sorry about posting up the pictures. I took a few a couple days ago, they did not come out so well.

 

No worries, Rick. Andy's photos (posted earlier in this thread) were clear enough for me to scrutinize once I knew exactly what to look for....

 

Glad I found this. My hood cable just broke. Once it is cooled off in there, I'll follow these step and open the hood and see what needs repair. Thank you for the detail.

 

I have the same 05 you do and I was looking at the cable I got and the job and I have a question about even the need to lift up the cowl at all- unless there was a routed connection down by the firewall I had to run it through once it passed the firewall.

What I intend to do is to pull the cable inward to the cabin until I am passed and have pulled the rubber grommet that fits into the firewall or whatever from the cabin side. Then I was going to cut the old wire and with plastic ties and tape tightly wound around the old one one and the j-hook of the new one- just pull it through with the old cable until the rubber grommet is in place from tha cabin position. It is a fixed position on the cable.

I would then route it through the engine compartment and attach the j hook- the bottom side is flat as the one from passenger side is flat on top- thus the fit.

JonV8 or anyone else- is there any reason this might not work- unless it gets hung on traveling through the firewall?

Thanks

Tom in Plano
05 S-Type 3.0

 

You want as much access to the entire cable path area as possible. You will be very fortunate if your new cable does not get hung up multiple times during the pull-through process....

 

Thanks;
I went and looked and I can remove 2 clips that hold the cowl and have plenty of space and sight to maneuver the cable without removing the wiper or even the screws that hold the cowl. I can just raise the cowl enough with no need to remove. There is one clip-in connection before it gets to the top of the engine and on my car I can see the rear piece of the rubber grommet and it looks like the hole in my firewall is much larger than the cable and should not be a problem getting hung up. Perhaps I will find out differently.

I will try and take photos tomorrow when I do it.

My work around when the cable broke and I had to get the hood open was to remove the plastic trim piece that is on the front around the drivers side fog lap and reach up and release. Took me about 3 minutes to do that.

I then took a flexible wire- with a covering- could even be old fashion speaker wire and created a slip knot right below the latch spring release and wrap it over the front of the engine under a piece of metal/plastic that is strong enough to hold (Near the front lights) and stuffed part of the wire behind the drivers light and a a very small piece hanging by the light (driver's side) and when I need to open, I draw the wire tight and a slight tug and hood is open.

I am thinking that if I use that wire to pull on the latch, it may bring it close enough to slip in the flat bottom part of the j-hook into the shared hole without removing the latch. We will see. I will report and time to the minute.

Tom in Plano

 

Glad to hear that. On the 2000 you can't get to nothin' without removing everthin'.

 

Try it on an STR!

 

I will let you test that premise- my car is all the experience I want on something like this. That can explain many differences, but on the 3.0 everything seems simple and that is probably due to more space in the engine compartment.

I will report back.

Also to anyone that does this - you have to clock the j-hook in the correct position (flat bottom pointing down) by turning the open lever before you screw it back in the car.

Tom

 

The whole job took about 35 minutes as I was cleaning as I was going along.

Removing the grill makes access much easier. I suggest that if the broken J- hook is still in the mutually shared hole that once you take the latch off that you take it out and put it back in so you see how it does go in. Not that hard.

Did not need anything to pull it through the firewall. The opening was large enough and not one hangup at all in pushing it through

If any one thing was a PIA then just cutting off the rubber grommet was perhaps one issue and pushing the new grommet into place, since you have the cable at an upward arc from the firewall on the engine side, is a touch tedious. The routing and connection of the cable is obvious. I did not need to remove the cowl or the wiper as I could have access with either hand. (but remember that I have a 3.0 and not the many more engine pieces of a 4.2 or 4.2sc Undid the latch so I could have rear access to the connection hole and made sure I had not connected the pull handle until last so I could adjust any need length to put the j-hook in.

Worked the first time and every time and seemed to have a smoother movement than my old one.

Clearly I saw bad thinking by the designers. The little rivet hook that you put the cable into behind the lights does make a slightly unusual angle for the cable to the j-hook, but if you do not use it it will push hard against the electrical connection to the high beam light on the driver's side.

Such is life and probably will not need another one for quite some time.

Ask any questions as needed.

It is funny that Alldata and Mitchell report this as a 2.2 hour job- I think NOT!


Tom in Plano/Dallas

 

When I replaced my hood cable on my 2000 that rubber grommet was a PITA. I used vasoline - made it easier for sure.

No issues feeding the line and I had the 4.0 V8. Actually, replaced the main cable and the connecting cable to the passenger side latch.

Fully agree the area of where that hook goes into the latch is the weak spot for sure. I sprayed white lithium grease into each side of both cables before fitting.

 

Yes, one of those minor silly items that wants to create some words of expression. It is very hard to pull the new grommet straight out as you have limited room and the cable wants to coil upward. I used some silicon to help. From appearances it seems I have never even had water in that area although I made sure it was seeded and put some plumber extreme epoxy tape around the top just to make sure and not have to screw with any problem later.

I would recommend that one puts the cable in that riveted holder behind the lights after you have connected the J-hook and have the the latch tightly on.


Tom

 

Hi

A bit late but if you go to jagrepair.com JagRepair.com - Jaguar Repair Information Resource

You can download a copy of the workshop manual as a pdf file.

 

Thanks for the comment. I go to Gus first before checking with the forum. The workshop manual and others online will discuss that there is not procedure in that or the JTIS. There is one for the trunk, but not the hood- go figure.

Tom In Dallas/Plano