Honda Repair: 1998 Honda Civic engine hood latch loose, honda civic coupe, honda civic engine

Question
My car is a 1998 Honda Civic coupe EX. When I first tried to opened the hood, the release handle seemed quite loose so I pulled it a little harder, then the hood popped up. When I tried to close the hood after I checked oil and other stuff, it won't stay in place and secured as it used to be.

I check the hood release handle inside the car and found that it is loose and doesn't do anything to the latch anymore. I read a few messages on the Internet, and some people say that I will have to remove the grill, front bumper, even fenders to fix the wire. Now, I took all the black plastic buttons off the grill, but the grill won't come off.

Answer
Hi Mike, start by removing the interior hood release handle and inspecting to see if the cable has pulled itself loose from the bracket or if it has broken the holder itself. The handle is held in place by [1] or [2] 10mm bolts. The grille is held in place by the black plastic fasteners which you removed. There might be [2] Phillips screws on each side of the grille that can be hidden and out of sight. Look for these. If not, remove the front bumper and grille altogether. Remove all black plastic fasteners that are attached to the bumper that you can see. On each end of the bumper there is a single Phillips or 10mm screw, hidden, going straight up into the fender. There are about [6] or [8] 10mm screws/bolts on the bottom side of the bumper as well. Remove the inner fender plastics from the bumper as well. Bumper should expose everything once removed. Inspect the under hood latch as well and where the cable is attached. If you need to replace the cable remove the driver side fender and inner fender plastic to expose the cable which runs behind this fender and is attached to the outer frame rail. Let me know if this helps...