Anyone else spent 3 hours getting the bonnet open?
07-18-2016, 05:43 AM
#1
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Anyone else spent 3 hours getting the bonnet open?
So a few months ago I noticed that my bonnet didn't pop properly, turns out the previous owner had had the main spring rust away so just removed the remnants. I could still get the bonnet open so no biggie. I ordered a whole new assembly from Hendy and then promptly forgot about it as it didn't arrive. Contacted Si apologised profusely and sorted it out for me last week, it arrived Friday.
Saturday I go out to the car with the main goal of replacing the latch. An easy 15 minute job. 3 bolts, the cable, Robert is your mothers brother.
Sadly for the first time the latch is now totally seized up. The release is still doing its bit but with no spring to push the panel up, that half of the mechanism is quite comfortable where it is. The only option now is to remove the centre under tray and get at it from there.
Of course, these panels haven't been removed in some time so the bolts are seized up with one head even coming off entirely. Once I'd wrestled my way through that lot there were some of the plastic lugs to pop out, brittle with age one just falls to pieces leaving just enough in there to not release!
Finally I have access to the underside of the car to try and get at the three bolts. Not easy by any stretch and made more difficult by the presence of the air con piping and receiver dryer which I'd rather not remove. With much gnashing of teeth, the occasional expletive, many socket extensions, uni joints and aching arms I manged to get on to one of the bolts and get 2 whole clicks of the ratchet on it. Yippee.
Eventually I managed to get the 2 off from the left hand side and get just enough of the one on the right undone that the latch pivoted around that last one allowing me to pop the bonnet up an inch or so. Finally I was able to get a clearer run at the final bolt and get it out through that inch gap, making sure not to damage the paintwork any more than 85k miles have already done.
With the 3 bolts now free I could open the bonnet to about 6" now tethered by the release cable. Pop that out and huzzah bonnet is now free! It was relatively easy to wedge the old latch off when you can get at it from behind. From there it took a whole 5 minutes to put the new one in and test it. Now my bonnet pops quite nicely though needs some persuasion on closing.
So today I'll be working out how many of the underbody bolts and stuff I need to order to replace the lot.
Hopefully nobody else will have to go through this as our cars are getting older and if they do, they can share my pain.
The old
The new
Saturday I go out to the car with the main goal of replacing the latch. An easy 15 minute job. 3 bolts, the cable, Robert is your mothers brother.
Sadly for the first time the latch is now totally seized up. The release is still doing its bit but with no spring to push the panel up, that half of the mechanism is quite comfortable where it is. The only option now is to remove the centre under tray and get at it from there.
Of course, these panels haven't been removed in some time so the bolts are seized up with one head even coming off entirely. Once I'd wrestled my way through that lot there were some of the plastic lugs to pop out, brittle with age one just falls to pieces leaving just enough in there to not release!
Finally I have access to the underside of the car to try and get at the three bolts. Not easy by any stretch and made more difficult by the presence of the air con piping and receiver dryer which I'd rather not remove. With much gnashing of teeth, the occasional expletive, many socket extensions, uni joints and aching arms I manged to get on to one of the bolts and get 2 whole clicks of the ratchet on it. Yippee.
Eventually I managed to get the 2 off from the left hand side and get just enough of the one on the right undone that the latch pivoted around that last one allowing me to pop the bonnet up an inch or so. Finally I was able to get a clearer run at the final bolt and get it out through that inch gap, making sure not to damage the paintwork any more than 85k miles have already done.
With the 3 bolts now free I could open the bonnet to about 6" now tethered by the release cable. Pop that out and huzzah bonnet is now free! It was relatively easy to wedge the old latch off when you can get at it from behind. From there it took a whole 5 minutes to put the new one in and test it. Now my bonnet pops quite nicely though needs some persuasion on closing.
So today I'll be working out how many of the underbody bolts and stuff I need to order to replace the lot.
Hopefully nobody else will have to go through this as our cars are getting older and if they do, they can share my pain.
The old
The new
07-18-2016, 09:56 AM
#3
Gonna be 'that guy' who gives all the useful information after the problem is sorted, but if anything like that ever happens again you can nearly always; with the help of a willing volunteer get the bonnet up with one person steadily, continuously pulling be release latch and the other lightly pushing down on the bonnet in the mechanism 'area' at the same time. Sometimes light lifts on the edge of the bonnet work too.
It's a pain, but not yet failed to work on any car with this issue yet.
It's a pain, but not yet failed to work on any car with this issue yet.
07-19-2016, 06:33 AM
#4
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It might have worked, but frankly it was one hell of a job getting the latch off with a screwdriver as a lever. With no main spring acting in my favour it would have been one hell of a job getting it open.
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