OK Folks,

I think I qualify for an expression a friend of mine used... "poster child for stupid". My hood release handle broke. I found one - for the surprising low price of $6! So now how to get in there - and this is my key - without breaking anything.

The good news is with the little bit of disassembly I have done already, I can see the end of the cable going to the hood. It has a cylindrical shaped piece of metal on the end that slides into a hole on the new hood release handle. The problem is the cable end is buried about 4-5 inches deep in the dash. I bought some long needle nose pliers, but the cable doesn't seem to come out far enough to hook it in the new handle.

So I think I need access to get above or below it. Then I can put the new handle in the slide that supports it and use pliers to insert that cylinder into the hole in the new handle.

One option... there is a small panel with the headlight switch in it above the release handle. Does the headlight switch knob just pull straight off? Then how would that panel come out... small tabs around the edge that should be pried out?

Second option... there is a lower dash panel that goes under the steering wheel. I have removed several bolts, but it still seems firmly attached, particularly near the center console. This may be just push in / pull out type pins, but I don't want to yank on it and break / bend something.

Any help would be appreciated on this.

Thanks,
Chuck