Hood latch seized - can't open hood

[SVT_Fan]

I have a 99 SVT and I'm suddenly unable to open my hood (I also apparently have a dead battery). I've tried some of the suggestions provided in the older threads but to no avail. (lots of WD40, detaching the hood cable in-vehicle & pulling on it with vice grips, yanking on the hood w/ a crowbar, etc).

I think my best chance is to go through the grill openings to detach the visible 3 stud-nuts retaining the latch. However, the nuts are corroded and with all of the stretching/pulling required to get to them through the grill, I'm unable to tell what size the nuts are.

Can someone send me the size of the hood latch retaining nuts? I'd appreciate any other suggestions as well. Thanks!

 

[greasemonkey1489]

Do you think that the hood release cable is still attached? If so, have a buddy force the hood down as you pull on the cable and have him (or her) yank up simultaneously. I've seen this on many cars with corroded or rusted hood releases so make sure the latch is soaked in a penetrating lubricant of some sort

 

[BrApple]

iirc they are 10 mm ....

 

[bensenvill]

yup, they are 10mm, just like 90% of the other bolts in the car.

I've had this happen several times on my cougar and its not terribly difficult to go through the lower grates... I'd image its a bit harder on the contours.

 

[SVT_Fan]

hood latch

hood latch

Has anyone actually gone through the SVT grill to get to the latch bolts with a 10mm socket? I cannot get the socket to fit through. Did you have to cut out part of the grill? Thanks again!

 

[BrApple]

Has anyone actually gone through the SVT grill to get to the latch bolts with a 10mm socket? I cannot get the socket to fit through. Did you have to cut out part of the grill? Thanks again!

cut part of the grill or break it off the car ... great choices I know ...