Voyager: broken hood release

Hi, all. I checked the FAQ and Googled for a solution to this before
posting! No luck there. Perhaps someone on the newsgroup can help.

Here's the problem. My 1999 Voyager has been running low on wiper fluid,
so naturally I want to open the hood and refill. The hood release lever
under the dashboard offers little resistance and does nothing. My wife
says oh yeah, it was really hard to pull last time she opened it.

A little investigation with a flashlight indicates that there is some
cable still attached to the release lever, but when I pull it doesn't
seem to move anything beyond the first inch or two of cable... so I
surmise the cable is broken somewhere close to the release lever.

I guess I could use some help figuring out how to fix the cable, but
more urgently--how the heck do I open the hood now? I spotted advice
on the web saying to unscrew the plastic grille protector to get at the
latch under the hood, but there seem to be important hex nuts in a place
I can't get to. So I feel stuck there.

Any ideas? I'd like to take care of this before changing oil becomes
a problem!

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

 

you can reach up from under the vehicle and unbolt the latch but some vans
have a splash shield that might be in the way