97 ford explorer hood won't open..it is jammed and the hood release won't work either..my engine light just came on...can you help

hello i had this problem with my wifes 2000 explorer in the in the top right middle of the grill (pull up on the hood it wont move much if any)on the hood latch when you are in front of the truck it will be on your right where the cable goes into the latch you will see a zink coated piece it will kinda look like a c take a long slim flathead screwdriver slide into c and push/pull to the left you want it to the right so that it pop the hood the first time this happened to me it took me 2.5 hrs to get it opened i went to junkyard and found another latch and studied how it worked it took me maybe a min to get it opened i hope this helps i did replace the latch with the one from junkyard as mine was bad i thought it was the cable (thought maybe it had stretched over time and use) i just replaced the latch works like a new one oh mine is a 2000 i used off of a 96 where the 2nd release is or was between hood and grill is now in the grill that was the only thing that was diffrent

go underneath the vehicle and find where the cable is connected. pull the lever where it is attached this will release the hood. get the code for the light and tell me the symptoms and i can help you