A friend came over to change his oil and was using pliers to pull his hood release open. i guess, he pulled and it slipped into the firewall. got to feeling around and pulled about 6 foot long cable, black plastic cover with some lead on both sides. like a bicycle brake cable. i'm not positive this is the cable he was pulling on in the first place.

I broke his grill out to access the center release and learned about volvo's duel releases.

any ideas on how to open the hood?

Thanks in advance!

 

I have the same problem. This is my project car and I am trying to open the hood. The latch cable came off the handle under the dash. I have vice grips on the cable but nothing moves. I really want to work on it and I can't even get started. It is a 1998 v70 turbo 5cyl, awd, and fully loaded. Please, please anybody has any thoughts. I am going to keep trying and I figure it out I will post an answer.

thanks!

 

Noticed that no one responded and I don't know either but have a thought. If you call the dealer and tell them you're stranded (think this qualifies) and explain what you need they might be able to tell you over the phone.

And this is probably irrelevant, but if you can pull the release cable while someone else is pushing down on the hood, it might make a difference? Also a 98 v70 awd and my lever is there, but you can't tell that it "did anything" when you pull it. But if you pull it and push down/pull up on the hood at the same time, it comes up.

 

Thanks for the tip of calling the dealer. That was helpful in a way. Good news is that the hood is open and now I can start the process of troubleshooting the car. Bad news is that now I have to also buy a driver's side head lamp and signal light.

When I called the dealer the technician told me not to bother going from underneath because the cable is not routed low or around the wheel well. This model has two latches and the cable splits off at the driver's side first. He told me that I would have to break the driver's side signal light and to go in there with pliers and pull the cable. Problem is that there is hardly any room. I noticed that I would have more room to work if remove the headlamp. So I actually broke the head lamp as well and removed the plastic housing (this light was busted anyway and can be found in junk yards cheaper than new). The hardest thing was to remove the three mounting screws that thread from behind the lamp. I was very uncomfortable to get to but I did it. Once removed, the latch and cable are readily exposed and I was able to use pliers to squeeze the the mechanism so that both latches open while my daughter lifted the hood. It felt great when it opened. Small victory but none the less a victory in deed. I am going to try to upload pictures hope this helps anyone out there.

Remember at first the cable was pulled many times and I got no reaction. Then eventually the cable broke all together and slipped inside the fire wall. That's when it got ugly!

All in all don't hesitate to call the dealer they might just help over the phone. For me it took the guess work out and gave me direction.

 

Glad it was some help but surprised and dismayed at the answer you got. Too bad you had to break stuff to get it open....

Definately gonna make sure the cable is serviced from here on out. Good grief.