Can't open hood, please help.

[stanley325IC]

I have a 94 325IC, the hood release is broken and the cable is streched big time, so what can I do?

[Dirk]

ask someone to push the hood down when you pull the cable. this should put a bit less tention on the cable. Get it fixed before the cable snap!

[SQ Bimmer]

This has happened to me before, kinda. The plastic broke on my hood release, so I had to have it all replaced. I had my bodyshop do it for me since they were gonna be doing some work in that area anyway. They had no idea how hard it was gonna be and initially only quoted me one hour of labor. They did not charge me more than that, even though it took them forever.

Anyways, yea, you need to have someone push down on your hood just a LITTLE BIT. Then, grab the cable with vise grips or something and get your hood popped. Replace the cable. It's not easy, there are no DIY writeups that I know of, and it's CERTAINLY not in the Bentley manual. Hit realoem.com for diagrams, get ready to spend a good amount of time working on this, and good luck.

[stanley325IC]

I have tried that already, to have someone pushed down on the hood, and then pull the cable. this just pull the cable even longer. Are there any other ways to pop the hood open? is there something behind the grill that I can unhook?

Thanks guys.

[SQ Bimmer]

I have tried that already, to have someone pushed down on the hood, and then pull the cable. this just pull the cable even longer. Are there any other ways to pop the hood open? is there something behind the grill that I can unhook?

Thanks guys.
Did you pull the cable with a pair of channel locks or vise grips or something? If your cable is stretched then no dur the plastic handle isn't gonna release it.

[FierySphere]

If you look thru the grills, looking upwards, you can see the bottom of the hood catches (there are 2). Using a long screwdriver, just push them back, and the hood should pop open to the safety-catch postion. Or so I'm told... :devillook

[stanley325IC]

I popped out both of the grills, and all i can see was the plastic air intake pipe. I can't reach the top from there.

[Michael H]

fix it before you make it worse.

[theruss1an1]

Had to do this on my friends car. Long story short take the hole front end apart. Bumber, the aux fan, and there were a few other top mounted things on there. Plastic covers and such things. What your goal is to see the bottom of the little screws with the springs on them that hold the hood on. Slowly unscrew the screws, remember how many times you turn it so you can put it on close to what it was. The hood will pop up when the screws are out. This is the longest way but it works. Good luck.

-Serge