Hi Guys,

Not sure if anyone encountered this before, most hood issues I've found in search appear to be due to dead battery.

My battery is very much alive and I still drive the car. However, the hood release stopped working. I can hear the motor whir when I press the hood release button on the car or on the key, but the "pop" that usually follows from the hood being released does not occur.

Could it be that the cable broke or is off track? Any thoughts on what I should be looking for? It was working fine a few days ago.

 

have you tried lifting the hood (stick your finger tips under the hood and try pulling upwards) while someone pushes the button ?

 

Thanks, great idea. I tried it, but unfortunately, it didn't work. Wouldn't budge.

 

There is a wire on the right side of the car up inside the wheel well. You will have to remove the forward wheel liner on the right side to get to it, but if you pull that - your hood will open. It is a thin steel cable - not shielded or anything - it looks like the inside wire on a bicycle hand brake cable. That should do it.

 

Hood release adjustment

 

... hard to do if he can't open the hood...

 

Thanks for the advice, Slider. I finally was able to jack up the car today and take out the passenger wheel well covers. I took off everything and found... no wire.

So, after more searching on other forums, I concluded that perhaps the previous owner re-routed the wire to the front towing hook area.

Since I have a GT2 front bumper, I have easy access to the front of the car and voila, I find the wire and with happiness, give it a hearty tug.

Nothing happens. The wire goes slack. I try pulling and applying the tension in the direction of the latch, but nothing, nada, zip. If I pull in the other direction (on the front light end), it just increases the slack.

Looks like I'm in a world of trouble if I get a flat. Any other suggestions? am I just not pulling hard enought?

 

It sounds like the guy who re-routed it didn't check to make sure it still worked - bummer! So, if you have access to the front, how far up the car you reach? How close to the latch can you get?

 

I cant really see where I'm reaching once I get close to the latch. Is there a way to manually trigger or release the latch if I can touch it?

 

Did you try to pull the wire while somebody push down on the hood to release tension on the latch? And the wire has to be pulled towards the left side when you look at the car. Or towards the passenger side....

 

I just tried it - no avail. I dont think pushing down on the hood releases much tension. I also grabbed the wire with a pair of pliers as well to give it a good hard tug.

 

If you don't hear any click while operating the switch (at least 4 seconds) I would look at the switch itself. You should remove the release cover as per repair manual page 858 and try to bypass the switch and apply power directly to the two wires, one brown and black and the other black. I would love to supply pictures, but I don't know why it does not work at all???? I forgot to mention, hood release is part of the alarm system, I hope your fuse B8 is good!

 

Well, the problem is not with the switch, as I can activate the front lid latch mechanism with the key fob as well, to pop the hood. There IS a whirring noise, so I know something is activated. The latch just doesn't release.

Is there any difference if I try to apply power to the place by the drivers footwell to pop the hood in case of dead battery?

 

No - they both operate the same mechanism.

I don't know if this will help you, but here is the page from the manual that describes the latch. Hopefully there is something you could use here...
(#7 is the emergency release.)

 

Sorry, just re read the first post and saw that you were able to hear the motor. I went to look at my set-up. To me it would be difficult to badly reroute the emergency cable. Did you pull really hard on it?. I was not able to try on mine to see what tension is needed...I also was able to pull on the bowden cable, the one going to the motor, and release the latch. But I don't know if there is a way to reach this cable from under. Difficult or impossible with the bumper cover in place to reach the bowden cable.