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Yesterday I took my Panamera to the smog shop to renew the registration. When I attempted to open the hood, it would not release from the interior cabin. The lever moves and I can feel the cable resistance and if I have someone else do it while I stand at the hood, I can hear movement. However, the first stage does not release. I placed some plastic wedges between the top portion of the bumper and the hood to gently pry it without success. I pushed down in a repeated motion as someone pulled the release lever within the cabin, no luck. I lifted the car and removed the front shroud to see if I can use a long hanger or something, but I cannot seem to find it.
I removed the interior cabin lever and everything seems to be connected. Any suggestions?
That reminds me to apply some silicone lube to the hood seal. One time mine got stuck like that but I was able to pull it up with my fingers, (8 of them I must confess). Hood release felt completely normal when pulling... Best of luck!
Would someone please photograph how the lower latch operates? I can gain access to the assembly from beneath the car, but I don't know how to release it. Should a rod be inserted to push a particular area? Should it be pulled? Should I attempt to gain access from the driver's side or passenger's side? Maybe someone can open their hood and have another person pull the release cable from the passenger compartment so I can understand how the mechanism releases so I can replicate it.
I was able to resolve my hood release problem! In my case, the hood release lever inside the cabin was very stiff. I could force it to pivot, but it still did not release the hood. I attempted to remove the bumper center grill, but felt I was going to break the clips.
My solution...I removed the plastic paneling from the underside of the car. I was able to bend the plastic panel as the next underside panel forward and force my arm up to feel the lower portion of the hood latch mechanism. It felt like the release cable had canted away from the mechanism. I used a flat screwdriver as leverage and pushed the plastic side of the release cable back toward the mechanism making it flush. It snapped back into place and the hood release works again! I attached a reference photo and circled the area I am referring to that had canted away. In the photo it is flush again.
Thanks for your write-up on this. I needed it this past weekend. I've included a picture from underneath to help those who are visual like I am.
After bending the plastic in front of the radiator like DavidIn described, there's another plastic piece that needs to be bent as well. After you get both of those bent, here's what you see:
The red box is where you need to stick your hand through. I was able to reach my hand up (it's a bit torn up now, but that's a sacrifice you need to make) and place to plastic piece back in. It helped to have my wife stand at the front of the vehicle with me underneath and have her hold her hand at the height of the Porsche emblem on the hood. Hood release works fine now. I'm going to check every time that that plastic piece on the hood latch is in place before I shut it now.
I often benefit from this forum when I have issues with my 2011 Panamera Turbo, so wanted to provide an update with my own experiences with a detached hood cable. First, it has already been linked in this thread above, but there is another parallel thread with additional pictures of the hood mechanism that are helpful here: https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...y-release.html
In my case, my buddy and I had just changed the serpentine belt and when I next tried to pop the hood, there was a lot of resistance on the lever in the cabin, then it slipped and something came loose. My first thought/hope was that it had broken in the cabin, but by having someone actuate the hood release and listening carefully right by the Porsche emblem on the hood, I could hear the end of the cable moving around, which confirmed that it was still attached in the cabin, so I never bothered tot take the interior trim panel off but operated on the assumption that the cable had snapped/come loose at the hood release latch . . . which was the worst case.
My first thought was to check YouTube, and there are several videos of people with left side drive taking off the from driver's side wheel and protective wheel well cover and spending hours fishing in from the side with a camera, etc. until they hooked the mechanism and released the hood. That is certainly one way to do it, but would be nearly impossible without a snake camera. They also mentioned people cutting a hole in the hood as a last resort option, but that would be incredibly expensive. Instead, I finally landed on the method described in this forum by @ark75739 , THANKS for posting your experiences. Here are the steps, similar to his:
This is key to getting your hand up in there, you have to reach far enough that your elbow will be past the lower lib of the bumper from the inside.
I also tried taking out my cruise control distance sensor in the front and reaching up around past the bracket that holds it in, but the angle was too awkward.
Once you get your hand WAY up there, you will feel another plastic panel that is relatively flimsy, I put a couple of blocks on each side to push this back so I could see better.
Eventually you will get your hand far enough up that you will feel the hood cable and the hood release. Now you can actually begin the main job
You will need to get the ball on the end of the cable back into the mechanism that it locks into. This is best seen in the pictures in the other thread above. To be clear, THIS PART IS PRETTY MUCH A TWO-PERSON job. . . you will need to HOLD the plastic clip against the hood release mechanism while someone actuates the hood release lever.
It took me maybe 10-15 tries to get the ball at the end of the cable into the "socket" in the hood release, have my buddy try the hood release, feel it pop off/not actually catch the release mechanism, then wash/rinse/repeat.
We were about to give up after close to 3.5 hours of this, but on the LAST try the ball on the cable caught the release mechanism and the hood opened!!! Couldn't believe it. I did NOT let the hood close again, but instead ordered a new hood actuator (part number below) and cable. I installed the actuator (this is more tricky than I thought due to the electric hood sensor wire, and I made it work, but would have been a LOT easier if the whole front bumper was removed (look up: how to remove Panamera bumper to replace intake air filter). I didn't have time, so just fished it all out, took me about 45 mins but with bumper off would have been a 5 minute job.
A couple of FAQs that I would have liked to know before I undertook this:
Will this hurt my hand/arm? YES - back of my hand is scraped up and arm sore, but was totally worth it
How much will this cost if I take it to a shop? I would say the MAX cost could be cost of new hood/paint job; Lower end cost might be more like $400 for a few hours of their time fishing their hand up there. Even if you know what you are doing, it's tedious work.
Should panic if my hood gets stuck shut? NO. . . it is something that you can recover from, but is super tedious and could be expensive if you take to repair shop
Where is the weak point on the hood release and cable? I would say that the weakest point is the plastic clip that holds the hood release cable to the hood release mechanism. It's relatively cheap plastic and can pop off the hood release easily as it gets older and more brittle.
Is there a way to somehow make the cable and hood release a bit more bulletproof once I finally get the stuck hood open? YES - use a zip tie or two to hold the cable on to the hood release.
What parts should I replace to make sure that it doesn't happen again? The hood release (lower) and the hood release cable, roughly $125 for both (close to $200 if you pay full price at dealer counter). Here are the part numbers:
PAB823509 - $ 99.84 - Hood Latch (Lower)
97051121902 - $ 18.92 - Hood Release Cable
I'm a little confused at the various descriptions of plastic panels, bumper covers, cables, hood releases. . . ugh! YES, so was I. You basically just need to go by feel and all of the various descriptions will start to make sense. This is a very frustrating repair, but in the end "simple". If you have a friend that likes working on cars, definitely have them come over for a beer while you are working on this, you WILL get frustrated and you WILL benefit from having moral support while you work to get your hood open
I was able to resolve my hood release problem! In my case, the hood release lever inside the cabin was very stiff. I could force it to pivot, but it still did not release the hood. I attempted to remove the bumper center grill, but felt I was going to break the clips.
My solution...I removed the plastic paneling from the underside of the car. I was able to bend the plastic panel as the next underside panel forward and force my arm up to feel the lower portion of the hood latch mechanism. It felt like the release cable had canted away from the mechanism. I used a flat screwdriver as leverage and pushed the plastic side of the release cable back toward the mechanism making it flush. It snapped back into place and the hood release works again! I attached a reference photo and circled the area I am referring to that had canted away. In the photo it is flush again.
which plastic panel are you able to bend? I’m doing this right now and removed the underbody cover. I see the plastic panel that’s between the front bumper/grill and radiator. I’m assuming you were able to bend this forward some how?? This would give you a straight access to the latch.
im currently trying to fish my hand from behind the radiator but there is no room and the latch is too far away. I can’t get a straight access this way. I also removed the bottom bumper screws to try to remove the front bumper but it’s still screwed at the top so this won’t work.
