xjeeper's Hood latch and cable replacement DIY (the easy way)

[zlatsky]

i just tried replacing mine and the cable seems to be 3-4" short. i've got to try to get more length or find a snag.

it's the grommet stuck in the fender.

[Typhoon GB]

Did you cut the grommet off the old cable and tape the old cable to the new cable and pull?

If so you might just have the wrong cable?

[cab354]

Just tried replacing mine and the old cable broke mid-pull.

Is there any way to feed the new cable in without removing the fender?

[Typhoon GB]

Just tried replacing mine and the old cable broke mid-pull.

Is there any way to feed the new cable in without removing the fender?

You can try some stuff like this...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Expand-PVC-C...ht_1218wt_1163

Might also be in Grandma's house or local hardware store...

Its a bit more flexible and maneuverable and if it works you can hook the new cable to it..... has worked a few times on other makes...

[cab354]

You can try some stuff like this...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Expand-PVC-C...ht_1218wt_1163

Might also be in Grandma's house or local hardware store...

Its a bit more flexible and maneuverable and if it works you can hook the new cable to it..... has worked a few times on other makes...

I'll give it a shot. Thanks

[bmw2nv]

Used this thread today - amazing to say the least. So helpful

I would add that it would probably be worthwhile removing the driver side corner light - you can then pull the cable more straight and on a level plane as opposed to around the corner. Just incase it gets caught somewhere and the two seperate. Mine was out already so it really helped with the extra space and pull through

[Miggl]

I just unbolted the driver's side of the nose panel because I wasn't replacing the latches, just the long cable that goes from the release handle to the driver-side latch, so I didn't need to mess with the passenger-side latch. The moral of the story is that I recommend not bending any sheet metal because it won't help you anyway - just pull out the nose panel.

Did you go through the process of removing the bumper for this? I have a 98 E36 328is. Facing the same problem in that the plastic cowel behind the front panel is getting in the way of removing the driver's side hood latch. Passenger side come off easily bending the metal as described.

Thanks!
~Mike

[bmw2nv]

I applied some heat to the sheet metal to bend it up and to then bend it back down

IMO, I would replace the entire system - the top latches, the bottom catches on both pass and driver side, middle cable and the long cable from inside the car to the driver side latch

Its such a PITA when the hood is stuck and for roughly $120, you can have a brand new hood latch system that *knock on wood, lasts you.

[TRILLS]

Another success story! Thank you for this write up. It is very accurate even down to the blood been drawn! I'm so happy that I can use the latch again. I have been using vice grips for about 2 years now!! I bought the parts about a year ago and finally decided to get'er done today (procrastination). Took me about 1 1/2 hrs to replace everything!

[tinfoilwrap]

Thank you. Work better if you have another person pulling outside while you feed the cable inside. Took me 2 hrs.

[J1MBO]

I have just replaced my bonnet cable referring to XJEEPERs' methods. Luckily, my cable snapped at the handle so I was able to open my bonnet with ViceGrips.

The whole job of only replacing the cable, from start to finish, on my own, stopping for 2 cups of coffee, took only 2hrs (it was freezing outside). The main thing I was concerned with, was getting the new cable through the small hole the grommet sits in when I had an idea. I believe it saved me time & frustration. After removing the old outer core from Inside the car, which inevitably unwound but came out, I connected a 6ft wire to the snapped end using rubberized amalgamating tape (there's nothing stronger), & pulled it through to under the bonnet, then used amalgamating tape to connect the new cable to the wire I just pulled through. Here is where my idea came into effect.

[IMG][/IMG]

The new cable, as above, has that star shaped protection around the cable which makes it very hard to get through the hole behind the inner wing. This can be the most frustrating & time consuming part & is most likely to be the bit that causes you cable to pull away from your tape. I slightly modified this to a point with a pair of side cutters which I feel made it alot easier to pull the new cable through.

[IMG][/IMG]

I don't know if it was really just luck in getting my cable through with no problems, but I like to think my modification helped. I then used XJEEPERs' method of bending the slam panel to access the catch to attach the new cable.

[J1MBO]

I have just replaced my bonnet cable referring to XJEEPERs' methods. Luckily, my cable snapped at the handle so I was able to open my bonnet with ViceGrips.

The whole job of only replacing the cable, from start to finish, on my own, stopping for 2 cups of coffee, took only 2hrs (it was freezing outside). The main thing I was concerned with, was getting the new cable through the small hole the grommet sits in when I had an idea. I believe it saved me time & frustration. After removing the old outer core from Inside the car, which inevitably unwound but came out, I connected a 6ft wire to the snapped end using rubberized amalgamating tape (there's nothing stronger), & pulled it through to under the bonnet, then used amalgamating tape to connect the new cable to the wire I just pulled through. Here is where my idea came into effect.

[IMG][/IMG]

The new cable, as above, has that star shaped protection around the cable which makes it very hard to get through the hole behind the inner wing. This can be the most frustrating & time consuming part & is most likely to be the bit that causes you cable to pull away from your tape. I slightly modified this to a point with a pair of side cutters which I feel made it alot easier to pull the new cable through.

[IMG][/IMG]

I don't know if it was really just luck in getting my cable through with no problems, but I like to think my modification helped. I then used XJEEPERs' method of bending the slam panel to access the catch to attach the new cable.

[wca]

Read the thread and it looks like one of the better ones on the www, I have a new challenge for the forum.

My hood/bonnet won't open. This followed a weekend at a car show where it was up and down like a whores drawers without problem. I get home, pull the lever and nothing happens.

How do I get the bonnet open to do the repairs/replacements?

Before you all tell me to search the forum, I have modified my Z3 so the front of the car is a single piece meaning my only access is from below.

Please tell me I do not need to cut the bonnet open.

[ralphlorine62oo]

I would have to say so my dude.

[bav 325i]

you know how I'm fixing my broken cables and latches? HOOD PINS! 20bucks baby!

I did this, hated them. At least use some color matched aero catches.

[toddster8]

I did this a couple of weeks ago. I just added an extra step that made it all a bit easier. Instead of directly attaching the new cable, attach a fish tape ( or just a piece of baling twine or whatever you have on hand) to the old cable at the latch end to act as a messenger. Pull it through from the lever end. Attach the new cable to the messenger, and pull it back into position. The grommet and the stand-off liner never come into play. No struggle needed.

And BTW, if the cable seems "too short" you can move the grommet back on the cable. It just slides with a little pressure.

(Of course, I wouldn't have known about the grommet/firewall issue in the first place if I hadn't come across this thread earlier.)

[ewrjontan]

So I just got this done; took about 4 hours...so with my experience here are some tips

Bending the sheet metal and working around it was a pain in the ass. The passenger side only had to be bent up slightly and the hood latch was easy to take out. However, the drivers side had to be pryed up far...really far due to the plastic radiator shroud or whatever it is. Even then, it was a real pain in the ass. I decided to just say fuck it and take the nose panel off. Unfortunately, i ended up breaking the clips on both blinkers and couldnt push them out at all so that ended pretty quickly. I ended up being able to work with the bent sheet metal but god it was a pain. Here are some tips

Remove the dash covers/dead pedal piece.
Disconnect the cable from the handle. This allows as much slack on the cable to help maneuver the hood latch out
Remove the torx screws on both latches.
Bend the sheet metal up on the passenger side and get that latch out.
There are some pop rivets holding the cable along the center of that sheet metal; pop those out and pull the cable out
Bend the shit out of the drivers side sheet metal
The cable is still held back along the center piece by the plastic shroud work (there is a cut out that keeps the cable in place). The cable must be pulled out from there before you can start wiggling the drivers side hood latch free.
Wiggle that thing out. I had to simultaneously pull at it while pulling up on the sheet metal.
Once that is out, disconnect the cables and start pulling your old cable/new cable through

As for running the new cable. It was pretty simple. Definitely push the cable from the outside to the inside to pop that grommet loose to have access to cutting it. I ended up zip tieing the lugs of the old and new cable together then wrapped them in tape. Pulling it through is pretty simple, just have to go back and forth between pulling the cable from the hood, and pushing the cable from inside the car.

Hope this helps

[BimwadM42]

The joys of an E36...now I get to do this job. I'm too old for this crap.

A few questions:

1) My left side latch still operates, so I think it's the intermediate cable is what might have snapped. What is it that usually breaks? The cables or the latches (mine still operate freely)?

2) I suppose the best thing to do would be to replace both cables, and both latches, but has anyone gotten away with just doing one, or both cables? From what I can tell, it's really the cables that are the problem most of the time, unless one's latches are rusted shut like the fellow in the UK. Are the cable lug attachments ever the problem if they still move freely?

3) I'm not crazy about bending the sheet metal to extract the latches, is there enough clearance to get them out from below if the aux fan is dropped and out of the way. I figure this might save the trouble of removing the headlights and nose panel. I'd much rather remove the bumper cover instead, and dropping the fan is only four bolts.

[ewrjontan]

I think its usually the cables that break and the latches get rusted. If yours operates freely, its probably the cable. I would just replace everything if you can afford to, while it isn't a difficult job, it's not worth doing twice.

From what I remember, the fan shroud is the reason why you can't remove the latches; surely removing the fan/shroud will solve that issue but from what I imagine, I feel like that would be more work than removing the nose panel. Bending the sheet metal was not fun :/

[BimwadM42]

Yeah, I'm trying to avoid bending the sheet metal. I'd rather cut away the plastic adjacent to the latches than bend the metal; at least those pieces can be replaced, and I don't think they're absolutely vital, though they do provide two attachment points for the top trim cover.

However, from watching one of the youtube videos about getting the hood open, those plastic duct pieces are separate from the aux fan, so my original idea #3 might not work, unless dropping the fan allows access to removing those plastic pieces. I think getting the fan out of the way would open things up; I'm just not sure how much or how helpful it would be.

At this point, I'm not even sure if yanking on the cable with some pliers will pop the right side latch. If that fails, I'll have to remove the fan to reach the intermediate center cable anyway.

I'm trying to balance removing the bumper vs. removing the headlights/nose panel. On the face of it, I'd rather take the bumper off than have to realign the headlights.

Are people making threading the cable sound more scary than it really is? At this point I can only visualize.

[ewrjontan]

Yeah, honestly, I would just go ahead and take the nose panel off...I was going to do that since I bent the sheet metal and there still wasnt enough room to get the latches out. I decided to take the nose panel off but both of my corner light clips broke and I couldn't figure out how to get my head lights out so I said fuck it. Ended up having the bend the sheet metal waaaaaaaaaaay more than depicted in the photos; didn't like doing it, but you cant tell that they were bent as the paint is still good.

Like I said, just go with the nose panel...headlights don't have to be realigned if you just unbolt them right? Aren't the adjusters separate from the mounts?

As for the cable, its not bad. All of the tips in this thread make it pretty smooth. Unclip the cable on both ends, push the cable (from the motor side) towards the inside to pop the grommet out. Pull it towards the inside and cut it to allow it to slip through the firewall. I used wire and tape to connect the new cable and just pull. It's kind of a pain but its pretty simple.

[BimwadM42]

Well, I just ordered all of the parts. Don't want to deal with this again, so if the car is still running 20 years later, then it will be up to the future owner.

The rough headlight adjustment is made via the screw in mounts. In theory, if you keep them from spinning while removing the screws, the adjustment should be affected, but that isn't always the case. I've got the E-code headlights so it's really easily to tell if they're off. I spent a fair amount of time dialing them in when I first installed them so it's not something I prefer to mess with again, unless I absolutely have to. The bumper and fan removal is pretty straightforward.

[ewrjontan]

Ahh yeah, now I remember. Just hold it with a wrench and it shouldnt be too off. Good luck.

[BimwadM42]

Well, that was...fun.

This isn't a difficult job, just time consuming, depending on how much one chooses to remove.

If, like me, you don't want to bend the sheet metal, the best thing to do is remove the headlights/corners and nose panel, which is simple and straightforward. Keeping the headlights in aim is possible if you're careful with marking the threaded body nut adjusters and keeping them indexed in the same position. As mentioned earlier removing the left corner allows a straight pull for the cable.

Removing the bumper provides a lot of extra working room and access to some fasteners that might otherwise be a hassle, but no additional direct benefit. Same with the aux fan. Both can be skipped. I did clear out a pile of leaves that had accumulated inside the aux fan shroud, as well as cleaned the fins of the condenser, so there is a small benefit from that.

The left side latch on my car still worked, if just barely, so unlatching the right side to get the hood open was the first task. The intermediate cable between the two latches runs above the aux fan shroud, so I fashioned a hook from a metal hanger, and once I pulled, the whole cable came loose, bowed out (revealing the original failure), and a simple tug unlatched the right side.

The biggest impediment to working with the latches are the A/C aux fan shroud, and the two vertical plastic duct panels. Even with all of the above removed, there is no easy way to remove these three items, which are the main culprits that hinder access if the sheet metal isn't peeled up from above. I suspect, but haven't confirmed, that removing the a/c condenser is the only way they'll come out, but that's a heap more hassle involving opening the a/c system.

Yanking the old parts out is easy, especially if your intermediate cable has already come loose, and you don't care about the old parts. I'd just replace everything if only to avoid doing this job again.

Wrangling the latches into position is a pain in such a tight space, and the type of job that will beat up your hands and fingers. When assembling the whole chain, note how the cable ends hook into the latch cam pieces. It appears to be the same for both latches, but the cable ends hook into different spots depending on which side it enters from. Make sure the intermediate cable clips into the two clips riveted to the core support panel. Those don't need to be disturbed.

Pulling the new cable from the interior to the exterior is actually the easiest part of the job. It's just some busy work to remove the interior trim panels and speaker. Just pull the old cable inward, cut off the old grommet, connect the new cable to the old (I used some twine and a small zip tie) and pull/feed the cable. Applying some soapy water to the grommet on the new cable will allow it to pop/seat into place easily if you give the new cable a little tug from the front. Don't want to invite leaks, and there's not enough access to push it in to fully seat it via the speaker opening.

Finally, as they say, assemble in reverse order.

This will take a few hours if you work slowly and methodically, but having done it once, would go much more quickly in subsequent attempts. Live and learn.

A shout out to huskerparts.com, who provided the parts cheaply, and quickly responded to an online pre-order inquiry, which no other vendor did. Flat rate shipping, no handling charges, and being located in the middle of the country and not one of the coasts also gave them a leg up logistically.

[ewrjontan]

Glad you got it done. Do you live in NE by chance?