Tightening of Hood Latch Wire

kevcouto

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08.5 Mazda 3 GS
I am having a little trouble with my hood latch wire.
I pull on it and the hood does not pop open. I need someone by the hood to pull it up as I am pulling the wire. I am to assume with this that the wire is loose and that is what is causing it to only partially pop the hood. At least pop it enough for someone to pry it open with a little extra force.

My question is how do I adjust it for it to get the hood popping sound again? Is it related to the latch? Should I lube up the spring that gets pulled when the wire pulls?

Any help please. I am afraid my hood will just not pop one day when I need it to do so.

Thanks.
 
Shoot some WD-40[tm] on the cable and work it good. Lube the latch assembly with grease.

No tightening for the cable that i am aware of. This is the same fix for the gas door as well.
 
Well I see the spring move, but not so strong I guess. Where would you put the WD-40?

BTW, I still find that the wire seems a bit loose. Shouldn't it be tight, so that when I pull it inside, the force will cause the spring to be pulled on stronger
 
I went out at lunch and I can see that there is a little ball at the end of the wire that hooks to the latch. Would anyone know if that is where I should have to adjust it?
 
kevcouto said:
I went out at lunch and I can see that there is a little ball at the end of the wire that hooks to the latch. Would anyone know if that is where I should have to adjust it?

See if the ends of the cables are screwed on tightly. I've never looked at this on a P5 but on many cars there's a knurled cylindrical section on each end that screws onto a thread on the outside of the hood latch and the back of the release lever. Some cars also have a length adjustment, usually near the lever end. That said, the cable on my old 323 stretched over time and eventually it had to be replaced. I don't recall the part or the labor being very expensive, but then my local mechanic did it and it wasn't replaced with an OEM part. At the stealership who knows what it might cost.
 
So I looked under my steering weel to see if there was something I could tighten and I found nothing.
 
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