Hood is stuck

[drrty byl]

Got in a fender bender with a Mercury Sable this afternoon. Absolutely no damage done to the Mercury boat and I managed to get away with just a bit of damage; slightly bent nose panel and hood. However my hood won't open any more. Does anyone have any suggestions get it open? I've tried a number of different things from simply prying the hood up with a screwdriver to attempting to actually unbolt the piece that's holding it shut. When I reach in under the hood with a flathead to push up the lever that normally opens it completely nothing happens. Any ideas/suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[TiTime]

You got a pic of the damage to the front? Maybe something is jamming up against the hood.

[hitchhike79]

The same thing happened to me after someone backed into the front of my car in a parking lot. Very little damage but things get pushed around. What the problem is most likely is that one of the two posts that hold your hood down are being held in position by something that got pushed back against what the post go down into. So the post may be bent a bit and/or just unable to unlatch. Mine was not that bad so i just muscled it open and got it fixed. You will notice which side it is because you can pull up on the hood and the one will stay stuck and the other will raise. I wish i could be a bit more detailed but i havent seen my BMW in 2 years since i moved to Italy, one day ill just say screw the crazy driving and dents and ship it here.
Hope i helped a little

[drrty byl]

Yep, that's the exact description of what has happened - the driver's side post is stuck in place. I've tried going as far as actually getting in there and unscrewing it, but couldn't really get any leverage with such little space in which to work. I'm guessing if I take it to a shop they will probably just try to do that as well and charge me $50 for a new latch assembly.

[jetblackbimmer]

I got in a little accident and my nose panel got pushed back along with the support frame. I had to jump on the hood and the pull the nose panel out to get the hood open. Once the nose panel got bent outwards the hood came right up with no problem. I don't know if your nose panel got bent but, hope it helps.

[drrty byl]

was able to pry it up with a crowbar finally. looks like my raidator mount was bent back slightly as well. the guy at the shop up the road wanted $350 to pop it back out so that the latch worked properly and to replace the headlight clip assembly. heh.