I stopped to fill up my windshield washer fluid and broke the hood release cable on my 2000 4runner. Wish I just would have left it alone. So I'd rather try to fix it myself since I don't have a lot of spare money sitting around. So any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Where could I find a cheap cable to replace it and are there any diagrams around to show me how it connects?

 

You are probably going to be going to one of two places ... 1) The dealer as you most likely will not find it in any parts store. 2) wrecking yard.

Unless you have access to a factory service manual you could find a pretty good repair manual in a Haynes to cover the year of your 4runner. Runa around $15. FSM run anywhere from $25-150. eBay is a good place to look or even here. If I can think to do it this afternoon, I can check my FSM (I have a 98 but they should be the same). One thing you can try depending on the dealerships policy, ask them for the applicable pages for the hood release cable. They may make a copy of those for you. My dealership has been good about copying a few pages here and there for me when I could not find the info on certain vehicles such as the wiring for the radio on a Scion (see my radio thread).

Now the upside, I have never had a cable fail and very few in wrecking yards are broken so getting one from your local bone yard may be a gr8 way to go. 1) cheaper then the dealership (way cheaper) 2) you get to remove it and figure out how to do it on yours BEFORE you screw something up on your own. I would still read up on the removal/install before you go to the yard. Shoud be a pretty straight forward procedure. Its just a cable, so attachment to the ends and mounting along the way should be your only real issues. Good luck

 

http://www.ncttora.com/fsm/index.html

Did you get the hood open?