It's tough, the same thing happened to me. Luckily I have small enough arms to reach up and pull it to open. The I took some plastic wrapped steel wire and ran it through, it sticks out the grill, but at least it works

volvo 850 1997 hood stuck
 

I have read this post and cannot find the tab on the drivers side, the parking lamp is out, only the spring bent. There is no tab visible. What am I misinterrupting? The drivers side released, the passengers side is latched. Any help is appreciated. I have made a 800 mi trip already without being able to check the vitals.

dam.. been looking everywhere for the answer to this.. i smashed in my hood and the drivers side latch opened on impact but passenger side stayed shut.. Think this will work if the car had been somewhat wrecked? also, if this doesnt work, the hood is useless anyway.. anyone know if bolt cutters or anything will get through the latch catch on the hood? thats all i need to get off to open the hood and all it needs is a new radiator but i cant get the dam hood open! hope this works, responses appreciated. Oh, '96 850 GLT btw.

If you can get access to the drivers side latch, try to manually open it. It may work. However the cable runs across the car in front of the radiator, so it may be severed if the front was in a bingle. Good luck

Unless you know exactly what the two hood latches and their respective 'tabs' look like, I suggest that you find another undamaged Volvo 850 just to look this arraignment, before you try groping blindly for the tab(s) from the parking light side opening.

@NCdad - Boxpin posted some great pictures and both my markers are off anyway so that parts already exposed... Im still not totally sure what the tab is tho.

@brick - the cable is not broken but the release mechanism in the middle of the car is.. however the hood is only latched on the driver side..

@Boxpin - Your explanation (& pictures) of this is the best I have found on the web so far and I have been looking for a.long.@ss.time. So thank you. I am still sort of unclear on what the tab is exactly.. if its that black thing with the hole in shaped like a pop tab then I got it i think. could you let me know? Also, if this doesnt work (cuz the front of the car is smashed), i was wondering if bolt cutters or what might be able to cut off the little hook that clips into the locking mechanism and open the hood that way. (the hood in useless anyway)

Thanks everyone! (Boxpin in particular)
I literally almost scrapped it a week ago, i had lost all hope of opening the hood!

Andrew - '96 850 GLT

IT WORKED!!! What A Pain! BUT IT WORKED THANKS SO MUCH EVERYONE!!!!!!

It is that black thing with the hole in it. Glad you got it open.

Thanks Everyone for Your Help!
@ Boxpin:::--> you have no idea how much that helped me. I think my neighbors think Im crazy i was all dancin around and whatnot when i opened it.. damn tho man that was hard.. AND. the passenger side locking mechanism was exposed and clearly visible b/c of the crash. I would NEVER have found the driver side's tab without being able to study the other one. Anyway. THANK YOU!
@Boxpin & Admin
I hope an administrator sees this and gives you (Boxpin) internet/forum/blog points or something (?!sticky!?).. i joined this blog just to see those pictures and i am SO glad i did it. ok sorry for the long gratitude posts im so grateful tho.

EVERYONE
**I have a few more questions now that I got the hood open (not sure if they relate 100% to this topic but everyone here has been so helpful...so i guess tell me if its bad etiquette to ask unrelated questions.)

QUESTIONS:
1) What size ratchet head do I need to get the radiator off the mounts?
- All the bolts in and around the engine and its enclosure seem to be the same size but I.Dont.Know.What.It.Is.. and none of my wrenches or ratchet heads fit.

2) I ran the '96 850 with the radiator cracked (its a BIG crack) and just kept putting water in to try to cool it even tho it just drained out within seconds... I tried not to drive and attempted to keep the temp down by making my trips in the car short as hell with the engine in neutral or off as much as possible (I drove it like this maybe 7 times, est. 2 miles each)

QUESTION 2 BEING: How much damage does everyone think I did? AND, If I buy a new radiator (and battery) could it run again?

The last time I drove it, it died right outside where I was going and, unable to start it, i took the bus home. I waited a day then went back, jumped it (with great difficulty) and from then it sat in my garage for almost a month.

THANKS TO EVERYONE! - Like i said, I was gonna scrap it. and i love that car... there is hope! (i think).. Lemme know if u think it'll run again!

Man thanks for this post really. I was about to remove everything I can take off till I saw your post. Thanks bro.

My latch cable broke....how can i open the hood...signed help!!!

Helpful Post
 

Look at the beginning of the thread and you will see the posts. I followed it and I was able to open my hood. Mine broke too and now I installed the steel cable that busted into the left hand side latch. I ran it through a hole in the latch just in case it happens again I have a secondary option to open it again. My corner lamp busted when I was trying to pull it out. I installed a new cable and kept my rig in place just in case the stupid thing does it again.

I replaced my lights with HID and its a single assembly, so I no longer have the option of going via the turn lamp housing. Need to hand a cord down to grab from below... if someone would post photos of their setup it would help motivate me to duplicate it instead of having to figure out the details...

No! you mean am I in the same BRICK! Not boat!

This thread is for the Volvo model 850. I do not know if the hood lock arrangement is the same as the V40, but I will say that removing the grille from the 850 will not give one access to the hood locks. The idiot that previously owned my Volvo 850 did just that. He broke the grille and drilled holes into the hood just above the grille - all to no avail.
If you cannot find a solution that works for you on this forum, I suggest that you take your car to a Volvo dealer. It will probably be expensive, but at least you will not have inflicted additional damage to your car.

Dear NCdad,
Thanks for the info gave me some light

I have the same problem with the hole being covered. Did either of these solutions work?
My 850 needs a jump start (or the engine has frozen over) and my hood release latch doesn't "click" when I pull it to release. I assuming this means the cable is broken because the second pull tab doesn't loosen.

On my hood it wouldn't open. Pulled the handle and nothing. Had a second person bounce on the hood while I pulled the handle and finally it popped.

My problem was the safety or secondary release was so stiff it wasn't allowing the hood to pop up when released. I make sure to lube that safety at least every oil change and squirt some at the main catch too.

Ok so the same thing happened to me today and it's negative 40 degrees and of course my battery is dead so I pull the latch to get a jump and only the passenger side unlocked. Is there something I can do that may be a little quicker? Like I said its forty below right now and I have to go to work tomorrow

Besides pulling the release what else have you tired ??
Did you go through the thread looking for ideas ??
Have you had a second person help ??
Does the safety release lever look like it's trying to come out from the grill ??

I tried the "hopping on the hood" thing while my girlfriend pulled the release and it worked. I'm assuming the extreme cold is the culprit to the release sticking. Thanks for the idea!!!

Soak both latches with PB Blaster as it will penetrate. Might want to do it one day and then again the next or one later. After that I would also apply a white lithium to it. That stuff is great for hinges and latches as it sprays on but sticks. Make sure you hit that middle safety latch. Only thing worse than not being able to get the hood open on a dead car is not being able to get into it in the first place :eek:

If you've ever had a door freeze shut . . . you know.
What works great is to get a tube of dielectric grease and smear the rubber seal with it. I've tried silicone spray and wasn't impressed with it at all.
Best to get a 3oz tube at an auto parts store, might need to have them order if. You need that much and it's cheaper than buying a number of the little tubes.

I have the same problem with my 98 S70. Will this procedure work for it as well?

I found a plastic moulding behind my marker light that obscures the hole. Looks like I have to try and remove the headlight too.

I need to try to figure out how to get it off with a broken lens now... wish me luck!

I went in underneath the car in the end. There's a lever that you can feel on the drivers side latch If you get under the car (UK CAR), from memory I think you push this towards the wing (I put a tie wrap around he lever and had it coming out of the indicator until I got the cable fixed as this was the harder latch to undo). I put my hand up in front of the battery on the other side and felt around for the cable that goes across the front of the car and gave it a good pull downwards. Released the other catch.

I didn't have to smash any lights to get the lid open

anyone still active on this thread? ran into this problem with my 96 850 sedan glt. hood cable is snapped up in the engine bay, i have the parking light removed, i grinder out the piece of plastic to get to the plastic tab with a hole in it to see that its not there. hmmm. i see earlier in the thread where someone had the same problem but the pictures box pin posted after that take me to iCloud... any help would be great

Pictures should still work. Photobucket was having some performance issues the past few days but are up again.

What you need (maybe) is a look at another 850 with the hood open. There are two cables; one goes to the driver's side latch, and the second cable connects the two latches to each other. The latches are independent apart from that cable across the front of the car making them move at the same time. You can release them one at a time, which makes it slightly easier. Depending on how much fiddling you need to do, that might be useful. The two latches are identical.

I got curious and pulled out my driver's side park light. Without any modification, I could see the lever through the hole behind the headlamp, but it's a long way back in there to where the latch is.

I am going to find a way to make an emergency back-up hood release based on this info!

Pvc
 

How to replace pvc on volvo 850

You can't sling a dead cat without hitting tutorials for that online. Just google Volvo 850 pcv (pvc is poly vinyl chloride). Note however that the vapor returns to the suction differently on every car. You need to look really carefully at where the vacuum lines are going. Robert DIY is our favorite, always.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEZzqyu2a6c

But there are many more.

stuck doors
 

Got one worse than that. I bought a volvo once. It was rough shape. As I was driving it home I stopped to eat lunch. I could not get out of the car. All door handles would not work, my wife was following me (TG) and she couldnt open it from the outside. She bought my lunch and and it thru the window. After driving 2 hours I got home and tried to climb out the window. But couldnt because of my back spasms. After about 30 minutes wife was able to get one of the doors open.
The crazy deal was all the doors needed was some lube. Havent touched them since. Moral of the story lube all hinges and latches every now and then.

I came to this thread becasue my Volvo hood was stuck. After further investigation it turned out the cable had come loose behind the latch.

If you are having a hard time, I would recommend you look at this guide first on how to open Volvo hood.