E34 Bmw 525 tds se - How to open the bonnet ?

[geoffbmw]

can anyone please help, i am struggling to open my bonnet via the pull lever, it seems as tho the cable is stretched or the mechanism just stuck, is there any way to get to the latch or any other way of opening the bonnet.

[Hammerhead]

If all else fails...


I'll have a look through my Bentley manual later and see if there's any tips there.

[Hammerhead]

Just had a look and the long and short of it is... you're a bit stuffed.

As a very last ditch measure, you may have to pull out the centre grills and get to the lock/catch that way. But you'll wreck said grilles in the process.

I'd go and speak to a specialist before going down this route first though!

Hope you get it sorted.

Steve

[geoffbmw]

many thanks chap, thought i may of been a little stuffed myself

[Huff]

I had a quick look at mine this evening, the actual catch is a kind of tiny stirrup shape that's screwed into the bonnet about 9-10 inches to the right of the BMW emblem (as you stand in front of the car looking towards the windscreen). The latch that releases it is operated by a cable that seems to rotate a latch slightly to release the 'stirrup'

So - have you tried having an assistant push down firmly on the bonnet over the latch while trying the internal release? It might be just that there's a bit to much friction on the stirrup for the latchy thing to release properly. Mine got a lot better now this has been greased...

[geoffbmw]

Many thanks for your information, went out this morning to have another look, noticed the main grill has clips underneath and on top hidden behind some rubbers, and below the lights (one piece frame) undid this and finally came out, we then tried to undo the hinge bolts to see if this would release it, however it didnt work, below to the right is a singular bolt which i undid and found this to be the only bolt that holds the bonnet release mechanism, so then the bonnet popped up and found out that the plastic cable holder (similar to a childs cyle brake) was broken and therefore not pulling the cable enough to open.
So now its open and can get on with changing the lift pump.......t

thanks for everybodies help

Geoff

[Hammerhead]

Hurrah! Glad to hear you've got it sorted Geoff

[sniff diesel]

Hammerhead said:

Hurrah! Glad to hear you've got it sorted Geoff

It's taken so long to open the bonnet I bet he's forgotten what he wanted it opening for now