Rosesbabe

My car has been sitting since Oct last yr for the winter - not garaged this time but just under a car cover which has subsequently turned green. In a heavily treed area. Popped the hood to get her ready for driving and the line broke (grrrr!!!) Not seeing how I disassemble the hood release inside the car to trace the problem and see what has broken. Can anyone advise?
Got under the hood by pulling on the line from under the car. I now see lots of areas under the hood have turned white from some kind of corrosion including the hood release mechanism which is probably why I broke the line by overstressing it. Corrosion was not there in Oct. I am on the wet coast, so very humid. Can anyone recommend a product to clean/remove this and get it back to looking good + protect from doing it again?
Thanks

eijun

Someone get him a 2 liter bottle of coke.

SeanR

I am a proponent of NOT covering a car as it sits outside. The covers trap the moisture inside and this is a frequent result. It happens to not only the exposed (those things you can see) but those things that you can't. Such as the 14 pin connector or any electrical component. I tell anyone who asks, if you are keeping a car stored and it is not inside, to keep it uncovered and put window shields in as they will reflect the sun light and still allow normal evaporation of moisture.

You can always wash and wax the paint but getting rid of the results of corrosion are a bit harder.

Speedtoys

i get this a LOT in cars that park at my house...issue isnt that they are covered as Sean says, but exacerbated by HUGE swings in temperature and humidity in the winter living in a redwood rain forest.

Open the hood in the morning, and EVERY hard metal or plastic surface will be dripping with water.

After a week, it will start raining at night inside the car as well...if I allow it.

Couple O hundred watt shop light under the engine bay at night..will arrest it.

SeanR

As far as fixing the hood release, where did it break? The cable? The plastic handle?

Rosesbabe

Can't tell until I remove the plastic handle. Not sure how I get in there?

Mike Frye

The plastic handle and surround are attached to the side wall by some screws, you may have to remove the dead pedal and pull back the carpet a bit to see how it's routed.

I broke mine because the mechanism itself was really in bad shape. I replaced the cable and handle because they broke but then if you don't R&R or at least thoroughly clean and rework the mechanism you'll break another release handle. I think Stan (mrmerlin) did a write-up on R&R of the mechanism. He's the one that explained you have to drill out the rivets to remove the release, the clean it or replace it with one in better shape and then just put new rivets in.

The plastic bits in the handle snap because of increased resistance from a mechanism that has all but seized at the release point. I tried several times to clean and lube it in place but no joy. I think you really have to pull it out to fix it. The handle and pivot point are all plastic so that's the first thing to go when the release mechanism starts to bind up.

To replace the cable/handle you'll have to jack up the driver's side of the car, remove the wheel (I think), wheel well liner (forget what it's called) and also the cover from around the headlight. Then once you remove the dead pedal, pull back the carpet a bit and disconnect the hatch release housing and handle from the side of the firewall you'll see how it's routed out through the fender and then back into the engine compartment. (assembly is the reverse of removal ).

Rosesbabe

Thanks for the help on the hood release - any thoughts from anyone on how I remove the white stuff???