How to Open a Scorpio Hood if the Cable Snaps

[Ed Lijewski]

Doubt that you could reach the two bolts at the lower edge of the lower shroud. I suggest you put aside what you've done so far, put the car on jack stands from the front, visually see where the lwoer shroud's two bolts are (~ at the lower edge of the radiator), remove them if they're still in place, the push-pin tacks on both upper sides of the lower shroud will be apparent, get that lower half shroud off, and then get your hand and arm up agaisnt the radiator from the passenger side of the engine where there's arm room, and move your hand to the center above the radiator, and you'll find the hood latch arm, which IIRC yoou push or pull towards the driver's side of the engine to open the hood.

YMMV

[brucewmeyer]

I am feeling really stupid here. The underside of the car is basically covered in plastic to protect the engine. I went through the lower air intake and took off two screws on the round plastic shield in front of the fan, which is in front of the radiator. the shield has concentric circles, is this not the fan shroud in question? Would you mind a cell phone call tomorrow for some clarification?

[Ed Lijewski]

Bruce:

There's no way around it. You have to remove that pan below the engine (its designed to reduce air turbulence at speed and possibly also contribute to air flow through the radiator otherwise while in motion. The pan is held to the frame by 6 or at most 8 plastic "attachers"; use a regular blade screwdriver inserted into them and turn counter-clockwise (I think) to loosen them. [Reinstalling is the reverse.] This isn't complicated or hard, but you get your hands dirty.

What you probably have done in going through the front grill is loosen something involved with the A/C condenser fan blade. YOU CANNOT GET TO THE HOOD LATCH FROM THAT FRONT GRILL! The A/C condenser is in the way as is the radiator. Going up with your arm from below as described to reach the latch arm will work.

Where are you located? Who knows, maybe there's another Merkur owner in your area?

I sent you my phone number separately.

YMMv

[Bob Weir]

To find out how you do it to help out another MCA member [and competitor in your car's class] on the show field WITHOUT any tools or removing anything, go here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/11440744933 ... 9606021698

Simply, get the car up about 4", crawl under, slide your arm up slightly off center to driver's side, and use your finger tips to flick the lever. Ok, so the radiator puts a few scrapes in your forearm. It's a Merkur - shed a little blood & skin for the cause.

I'm 5'7" so I have short arms and fingers and by the pik you can tell I'm not a power lifter. If you're forearms are that big, you might have to shed a little more skin that me.

[HearDiz]

Thanks again for the help. I have had no luck with any of the replys.

Great chance to get a parts car $$$$$$ cheap. Please feel free to ask me any questions, and I'll try to get some photos up.

For sale and is in carlisle. Hood is still stuck and unless u have the tools need,

It will need to be towed.

[Bob Weir]

Call my cell 610-248-1481 and I'll talk you through it. I can also send you photos of what your trying to access.

[89 Scorpio]

I had this happen to my car. My arm was too large to reach up and open it. I had my mechanic come out and he was able to open it after about 20 minutes. Nothing was removed to gain access, just a long reach between the engine and the radiator. Rapido no longer sells the tool to open the hood.

The cable was not broken, just out of place as was mentioned in the second post. The mechanic was able to push the cable back in place while I pulled on the lever and it opened. We used the earlier mentioned fix of attaching the plastic strap to keep the cable in place.

If your scorpio hood still opens, go ahead and put the plastic tie strap in place to prevent the need to do this repair in the future.

[Bob Weir]

Here's what you were looking for.
http://i635.photobucket.com/albums/uu71 ... 6aa026.jpg

Obviously the telephone cable was a temp fix. But many of us instal a similar cable to attached to a lower position on body in event that the release cable fails again.

It takes more time to get car at correct height, than flick the arm.

[NoEEC'88]

My '85 XR had 157,000 on the clock when the wire went and that was about 15 years ago. So I reached up as high as I could with a long flat screwdriver, and with a friend putting pressure on the hood (to control the spring pressure from underneath), I was able to get the screwdriver in there and release the hood. It did take several attempts as I recall...But this was on an XR.

[Bob Weir]

Now that members can post images directly in a post, here's a pic of the lever you're trying to move.

Scorpio Hood Latch ø.jpg (733.59 KiB) Viewed 20382 times

In summary: a plastic grommet holds the cable in a hook in the body.. The grommet either breaks or pops out of the hook preventing sufficient pressure on the lever to release the hood latch.

If your scorpio has a belly pan under the engine, you must remove it.
...In this photo, the fan shroud was removed after the hood was opened.
...The top half of the fan shroud is attached at its top. Don't bother trying to remove it.
Jack the front up enough for you to slide under the radiator.
Slide your arm up between the fan shroud and the radiator. [You might have to sacrifice a little skin to the radiator].
Flick the lever toward driver's side. A little pressure on the hood might be required to release it. Open hood!
Add wire to secure cable to hook.
Add another wire, thread it appropriately to under bumper to produce tension next time it's needed. I used telephone wire.

Rapido has a tool and the following is a link to instructions to make one. Posted by Tom Hock, Sep 16, 2005
http://forum.merkurclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5437

[Bob Weir]

As I did in 2014 on the Carlisle show field. All you need is a hunk of wood to get the nose up a few inches.

Bob - Middleton hood release 2.jpg (629.52 KiB) Viewed 15551 times

NOTE I doubt the cable breaks, it the plastic thingy that helps hold it to the lever. A good zip tie should fix it. Of course you can add another cable for "just in case ".

[Ed Lijewski]

IMNSHO, that maneuver is mucho mas easier if one removes the lower half of the fan shroud first (a knife blade between the upper and lower sections will separate them).

YMMV

[Ed Lijewski]

Anyone know who now owns Jack's former Scorpio?

YMMV

[Bob Weir]

"IMNSHO, that maneuver is mucho mas easier if one removes the lower half of the fan shroud first (a knife blade between the upper and lower sections will separate them)"

Yea, but them you drop the little plastic thingies in the grass, and the judges deduct points for not having fan shroud attached correctly.