To take a look under the hood

To take a look under the hood
 

Is this expression understood literally, or is there any figurative usage for it?

Since it usually means checking the engine to see what's wrong, it most
often means more than just looking at it...

Thank you, Hermit. I understand that. :)
Could it be used, let's say, to say that one is going to find out the inner workings or some organization or something... I don't know, like, "This show by 'Il Divo' has been very successful, and the ingredients for such success are X, Y and Z... but if one wants to know how they achieved it, let's take a look under the hood and analyze the whys and wherefores for such current acclaim..."
(I just made up the above example... but, would such 'usage' be something weird for an English native speaker, or would be understood with no feeling of being 'odd'...?) :?:

Yes, you certainly can expand upon the phrase, figuratively...good point.

Great, thanks! :)