The spring that pulls the opener of the hood lock back was broken on our truck. If this spring is broken the hood opener under the steering wheel will not return back to its normal position if you pull it to open the hood. If this happens the locking mechanism of the hood lock is blocked and it is not possible to close the hood. If this happens you have to push the latch, where the spring is connected , back. This can be done without removing the hood lock with a key or screwdriver.

Because I don’t had a replacement spring I decided to to add a fitness component to our truck und cut off some stripes from the Thera-Band of my girlfriend.

UPDATE June 2017: I replaced the broken Thera-Band with an old spring out of the drum brakes of my fathers offroader. This spring is really strong so now I need some more force to unlock the hood 🙂

UPDATE February 2017: The Thera-Band worked for approximately one year but then it was rotten and the hood look does not operating as it is supposed to do. I think the best solution is to buy a replacement spring  😛  .

The following pictures illustrates the fix:

Remove the hood lock (the broken spring lays in the lock and is wraped in a black plastic tube):

Removed hood look

Broken spring:

Broken spring

I added the Thera Band to the latch with some wire (I used a old bike spoke), pulled it through a hole on the side, pulled it back until it was firmly stretched and keep it in place with another hook on the bottom of the lock. I’d recommend to grease the lock after the installation of spare parts to keep fingers clean and handy.

Thera band replacement

Hood lock with attached rubber spring

Reinstall the lock and enjoy (-:

Reinstalled hood lock

Remark: I think the best way would be to buy an appropriate spring set (e.g. on ebay – they are cheap).