I Thought The Latch On My 94 DX Was The Problem, But It Turned Out If I Just Manually Pushed The Cable Over From Under The Hood, It Would Close Fine. There Are Two Springs In The Latch, And So Far, Both Times It Been The Lower One That Needed Replaced. You Should See On The Lower Left Side Of The Latch Where The Cable Comes In, Just Try Pushing It To The Right, And It Should Close Fine.
As For Opening It, If Pulling The Cable From The Rear Of The Interior Latch Didn't Do The Trick, I'm Afraid They Are Right, You Might Have To Pull The Bumper, Which Is Attached With four Bolts Under The.... You Can Guess It... Hood. The 94 Civic's Don't Have A "Grill", So You May Have To Remove The Crappy Plastic Wheel Well On The Right Side, Or Try Reaching Up Through Behind The Bumper.