Jammed bonnet opening tips

From THE Corrado Forum Knowledge Base

Got a bonnet latch that won't release on the passenger side?

Well I had that happen to me tonight, so here are a couple of tricks to get round it. Anyone else that's got a trick, please add it!

Trick 1 (supplied by another member) - Pull the release handle back as far as it will go and then extend the seatbelt down to the footwell, hook it over the handle and then take up the slack in the seatbelt ratchet until the handle is pulled tight.

Now press down on the passenger side of the bonnet's leading edge. The catch should then release.

Trick 2 (if the above doesn't work and with the seatbelt still pulling the handle) - Jack the driver's side of the car up until you can crawl underneath the front of the car. Get a torch and shine it up to the top of the radiator. You will see the bonnet release cable running along the top of radiator. Simply pull down on it and the bonnet will then release.

If neither latch releases (rare), then the cable is either too slack, snapped or the latches are too dry and therefore seized. But I can't see *any* Corrado having it's bonnet closed long enough for that to happen!

When the bonnet is open, check the cable and adjust it to take up any slack (remove the seat belt first!) by undoing the 7mm bolt on the passenger side clamp behind the headlight, and pulling the cable through with some pliers and pushing the clamp into the trumpet shaped 'puller' whilst retightening the bolt.

Apply shed loads of grease to all the moving parts and you wil then have a bonnet that opens within an inch or two of the handle's travel, instead of having to pull it all the way back before anything happens.

Extra tips

If the bonnet is not opening remove the fuse box cover inside the car. Pull the release handle out all the way and you can see the end of the cable. Grip it with a pliers and give it a good tug. Hey presto bonnet should pop open.

Also...

Gently lift the bottom of the grille on each of the 3 prongs till they pop out and then you can move the grille forward through a few degrees and get your hand up and then pull the c able between the 2 release pins

Then get back to the fuse box end to fix the cable.

It is usually a crap design piece of metal clip that breaks causing this, i took off the bonet release lever and drilled a small hole in it, put a self tapper screw through a piece of metal bent through 90 degrees with a slotted hole. this now holds the cable and the handle pulls against it!

It is good and strong and wont break, plus if you paint it black you wont even see it

And another idea

All methods failed and by this time my grill had been removed. I sadly broke some clips in rage, but if you have time then I'm sure it can come off without breaking any. I was able to open bonnet by using cable for n/s and for o/s I used a short flat blade screw driver. a) Remove grill if you haven't already b)Lay and the ground, may have to jack car depending on your setup as you really need to get your head under the lower grill to look up. c) Using slight or feel follow the cable back to the other o/s mech d) Now take the screw driver and placed it behind the mech and gently lever it...

And if you're still stuck...

I've had a cable snap and needed to release both pins manually - now theres a task and a half!!!!!

For the offside, as kev says, jack up and you can reach up and release that one. the hard one is the nearside cos you can't get it from below!!!

The only way i found to do this was:

1. Remove the grill - not the easiest operation in itself with the bonnet shut and i think i snapped a couple of the top clips. 2. Cut the plastic shroud on the radiator nearside to allow access toward the bonnet pin. 3. Using newly created access route having cut the shroud, use a tie wrap or similar to loop around the spring metal retaining bar that retains the bonnet pin and pull, thus simulating the pull the cable would normally perform.

A bit destructive but I can't really see any other way of doing this and it's better than jemmying the bonnet !!!!