Broken Bonnet Cable

[Jonny_693]

Good evening, last night I went to open the bonnet on my 328i and damn near punched myself in the face as the cable snapped. Has anyone got any suggestions of how to open it, preferably in a none destructive manner?

I have put this in general rather than the BMW forum because suggestions from owners of other cars are welcomed.

TIA

[BarnatosGhost]

where did it snap - cabin end, bonnet end, or somewhere in the middle?

Think you might need to work that out first.

[Jonny_693]

The cable is still attached to the handle, not sure how far along its snapped because I cant get it open to look.

[steviejasp]

That happened on the wifes Astra.
Ended up smashing the grille and using a sawzall to cut the bolt part of the catch.
Then re-welding the bolt and a new grill! Great fun

[BarnatosGhost]

Jonny_693 said:

The cable is still attached to the handle, not sure how far along its snapped because I cant get it open to look.

that is a shame. can you get under the car safely? if you can get to the cable near to the latch from underneath, clamp a pair of molegrips on the cable (better yet, strip the sheath and grip the cable itself) and level against a fixed point to pull it.

Then once open, disable the first catch and rely (low speed only) on the secondary latch until you can replace the cable.

[SWH]

Guessing it'll be pretty tight to see from underneath... Have a look, you may have luck with a straightened out coat hanger, end bent to a hook to pull on the latch itself.

Just don't put a hole in the radiator with it when you get it stuck

[Jonny_693]

BarnatosGhost said:

that is a shame. can you get under the car safely? if you can get to the cable near to the latch from underneath, clamp a pair of molegrips on the cable (better yet, strip the sheath and grip the cable itself) and level against a fixed point to pull it.

Then once open, disable the first catch and rely (low speed only) on the secondary latch until you can replace the cable.

I do have a pair of ramps but the car is lowered and it won't even go near them. The molegrips idea is a good one I just hope the cable hasn't snapped right at the latch.

[davepoth]

Jonny_693 said:

I do have a pair of ramps but the car is lowered and it won't even go near them. The molegrips idea is a good one I just hope the cable hasn't snapped right at the latch.

You can jack the car up onto ramps.

[Silverdaz]

Remove kidney grills, then you need to release the catches with a screw driver, its quite a faff about but not to bad to do ive done loads this way.

[Jack Dupp]

When my bonnet cable snapped on my BMW e36 coupe this is what I done, jacked the car up at the front, lay under it, you might have to remove the under tray if its still on, and try and see the bottom of the bonnet catches,the passenger side catch you can unhook it with a screw driver through the kidney grill,lay under the car and turn the drivers side catch with a flat head screw driver bit on a ratchet with a long extension, the bonnet should start rising up slowly then pop open.
Also remember when your changing the bonnet cable to tape a bit of wire to the old cable before you pull it through,then attach the new cable to the wire then pull the new bonnet cable through using the wire, saves trying to thread the cable through the inner wings,etc, saves a lot of time and heart ache!
Hope you get it sorted.

[Morningside]

Can you somehow reach up from underneath?

My TVR bonnet cable snapped and it took the garage 3 days on and off to release it. This was helped by a kind PH member posting a clear photo of the lock and allowed them to gain access.

[Jonny_693]

Jack Dupp said:

When my bonnet cable snapped on my BMW e36 coupe this is what I done, jacked the car up at the front, lay under it, you might have to remove the under tray if its still on, and try and see the bottom of the bonnet catches,the passenger side catch you can unhook it with a screw driver through the kidney grill,lay under the car and turn the drivers side catch with a flat head screw driver bit on a ratchet with a long extension, the bonnet should start rising up slowly then pop open.
Also remember when your changing the bonnet cable to tape a bit of wire to the old cable before you pull it through,then attach the new cable to the wire then pull the new bonnet cable through using the wire, saves trying to thread the cable through the inner wings,etc, saves a lot of time and heart ache!
Hope you get it sorted.

Excellent, I will give it a go tomorrow!

Great idea about jacking the car up to the ramps i had never thought of that! This is why I love Pistonheads