Replacing E36 hood release cable BEFORE it fails...questions.

[marcva]

I'm thinking it's time to go after my hood release cable before something bad happens. It's getting kind of hard to release, and i'm hearing bad things about trying to replace it with a closed hood.

The pelican process seems fairly straightforward, though i read anoth description that talks about the complexity of dealing with the grommet at the firewall.


Pelican seems to indicate


- Open up the underdash
- Unhook the cable from the lever
- Unhook the cables from the latches
- Pull the cable through the firewall from the engine compartment, attach a string or cable to pull through the new cable (No grommet issues?)


- Use the string to pull through the new cable.


- reattach to latches and check.


Questions:


1) Is the cable straightforward to get through the firewall?
2) are the latches typically in need of replacement? Car lives in garages, so they're fairly clean without rust.


Thanks,

Marc Plante
E36 M3/4/5 144k
Waiting for Shepott wheel
Vienna, VA

[dworthy]

Try to lubricate the latches and locks first, then check to see if they are aligned properly. If you are having a hard time getting the hood latch to open the hood, that is typically an alignment issue.

As for the cable, it is pretty easy going thru the fire wall, just have a string attached to the old one to assist in getting the new one back thru.

[marcva]

Danke.