Hood Latch Pictures - 2001 Chevy Venture

There was a post in the automotive forums recently asking about how to get the hood open when the cable to release the hood latch is broken. 

To try and help, I decided to put some pictures here to show how it might be done.  I have not tried this, but I figure that it is better then just trying to tear the hood apart and having to replace it later.

This is what I see as options:
1) Get under the van and use a long sturdy stick with a hook of some kind on it to release the latch.  You would probably also need a good flashlight to find the release lever and get the hook on it.  Once on, pull the latch release toward the left (driver side) to make it work.

2) This would involve "engineering" something (maybe a wire coat hanger) to come in from the front and release the latch that way.  This is why I took so many pictures and included the measurements. This might be the "harder" option because of the angle of the release lever related to the front of the van.  You would also have to do this "blind" since the hood would be closed and I cannot really think of any way to get a view of what you are doing.

The last few pictures show the rubber pieces and where they are when the hood is partially closed and fully closed.

The right picture above is through the grill with the hood partially closed.



The picture to the immediate left is the view through the front grill with the hood fully closed.