By Jarrod on Wednesday, March 14, 2001 - 03:41 am: Edit

The hood on my 96 disco is getting harder and harder to release. It seems like the cable is stretched or something, and its not engaging the latch or something. Is there a way to tighen/shorten the cable or do I have to replace the entire thing?

By Bill B on Wednesday, March 14, 2001 - 08:40 am: Edit

I just replaced my cable for the same reason - It is only $13 from Rover Connection and is not a difficult job. This time I put plenty of WD40 in the new cable housing before installing it. Works great now. Also - you may be able to remove existing cable and clean both it and the housing and then lubricate with the same results.

By bryan on Wednesday, March 14, 2001 - 08:46 am: Edit

I have a 97 disco and at times I think my fingers will separate from my hand while trying to open the hood. I lubricated the cable at both ends and minimal change. Please post the solution if you find it.

By Lee on Wednesday, March 14, 2001 - 12:50 pm: Edit

Same problem here with 97 Disco. Very hard pull on hood lever to open it. Thanx.

By Frank on Wednesday, March 14, 2001 - 12:55 pm: Edit

I had the same problem on my 96, and I just WD40 -ed the shit out of the latch once I got it open. Never had a problem since.

I thought it was the cable too. Turned out all I needed was copious amounts of WD40.

By Jerry Crawford on Saturday, March 17, 2001 - 10:11 pm: Edit

Since I did this yesterday I'll add my two cents. I took the latch completly off the car and cleaned the junk out of it. To get at it, however, you have to take off the front grill, which is three screws. I also soaked the cable well with WD40 and ran the wire in and out about a hundred times to make sure the oil was working its way in. If I could have figured out how to get the wire completly out and really polish it up I would have, but I was afraid I couldn't get it to feed back in (now tht I think about it, the dealer has to be able to replace it, bet it just pushes in). Anyway, by taking the latch mechanism apart and doing this bit of maintenance my wife can now pop the hood without using a crowbar for leverage. I also didn't forget to service the pin in the hood. A good cleaning and application of lithium grease slicked things right up. Happy rovering!

By Ben There on Monday, March 19, 2001 - 08:33 am: Edit

If you want to lube the cable REALLY well, go to a motorcycle dealer and get some cable lube and a fitting for the same. The fitting fits over the end of the cable and allows you to squirt lube way up in the cable; basically the whole thing. Also works on lawnmower & bike cables too, so it is a good purchase.