Hi all, for a few weeks my S has been stuck my garage with a flat battery and a bonnet (hood) that refuses to unlatch, I know I should have addressed this sooner but have made do with the two man method until now, my son holding the catch while I lift the bonnet. But this Spring even that failed so trawling the forums and web I see that you can go in from underneath, trying this (and failing to remove) the centre under tray panel I tried to get my hand in through the grille, I got it in and wiggled a long screwdriver to no avail.

With dystopian visions of my son one day rediscovering my abandoned S2k on my demise, I tried everything to avoid this fate. Much swearing and banging and nothing... until I tried the thing that I don’t think anyone else has recommended, or not to my knowledge anyway ...so it’s really quite simple. I grabbed something long, stiff and flat - a old plastic number plate (or your current one if you have no other to hand) and slid it in between the bonnet and the bumper, right where I’d normally lift the bonnet, sure enough you can feel it hit the catch holding the bonnet tight, moving it to the right hand side of the catch and getting my son to simultaneously pull the bonnet release catch inside the car, I then pushed the number plate to the left and after a couple of goes, Pop! up lifts the bonnet, enough to get my hand in to release it in the normal way!

I hope this helps anyone else in this predicament.

cheers,

Phil

 

Nice! Thx for posting that. Kinda like using a credit card to jimmy open a residential door.

But our number plates in the States are stamped metal. Not the appropriate material for this task. Maybe a thin plastic cutting board from the kitchen.

 

Lol yes exactly! Yeh I guess you could try anything really, the plastic number plates here are about 5 inches tall and 20' inches long that's a good size to get some leverage on it, crucially it needs to be able to slip in the tiny gap where the rubber seal is. Being plastic also helps to prevent the paint getting scratched compared to using metal.
typo