Hello,
I am having trouble to open the hood of my 1978 SAAB 96. According the instruction manual I just have to pull the lever and then the hood will pop open for a bit. After that just press the hood down and backwards to release the pin and the hood will go open... Well, I found the lever... I have pulled it and maybe the hood popped a little bit open. But how much I press and pull and push, the pin will not release. Does anyone have a tip or solution for me?
Thanx,
Bas (The Netherlands)
If it's the same as the early ('79-'84) 900's, the cable or latch is probably broken. My latch broke one time and I had a helluva time getting the hood open. Think long screwdriver, flashlight, and lots of patience. In fact I think I used two screwdrivers as there are two pawls that engage the pin on the hood that must be pushed aside to open it. Once you get it open, the latch mechanism is easy to replace, couple of screws. If it's the cable, that's not too bad either. I'm pretty sure it's a part common to all
96/99/900 body style Saabs.
After the hood pops up about 5 cm you have to release an upside down 'J' shaped catch by hand through the opening between the hood and the top of the grille. After this, the hood raises another 10 cm or so and you can slide and tilt it forward. If this does not work you can remove the plastic grille (4 small screws) and you can get to the catch mechanism to pry it open with a screwdriver You can also join and ask at
------------ MH (Groningen, NL) '72 97 '77 96 '78 95 '79 96
"Bas Stolwijk" wrote
This sounds similar to the problem I had with a 1974 Saab 99. It took two people to open the hood -- one to pull the lever and the other to move the hood up and forward.
The root of the problem seemed to be that there was so much friction in the cable that one couldn't pull the release fast enough to get the hood to "jump" from its latched position. Sometimes you could get it to work but most of the time you couldn't.
I just learned to live with it...
Pretty much same mechanism. Cable pulls onto mechanism, coupled by a clamping device. The cable stretches after time, but on 96's that I've owned, is a simple cross-head screw to adjust once you can get at it.
On the 96-class machines (up to '74, last USA year of import), the mechanism has a lever that can be seen through the grille, so it should be a matter of latching onto that. Coat-hangar-abuse might be in this car's future, just to get the right angle on it. Dave Hinz
Up to and including 1980, last year made.
The plastic grille can be taken off easily, four screws. The latch mech. sits in front of the radiator, no access problems whatsoever...
------ MH '72 97 '77 96 '78 95 '79 96
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