Car issues

[Ellierose]

Hi, I have a couple of issues with my maestro that I wanted some advice on what to do:

1st) my bonnet won’t open, I’ve tried using the leaver that’s down by the drivers seat to open it, which is temprememtal (and has now stopped working), how do I go about opening the bonnet?

2nd) I also have issues with the battery, I’ve had 2 new batteries and both seem to be now dead, I don’t know why, but it won’t start up anymore

[digital efi]

A few suggestions for you:

Bonnet: Firstly, look at the top of the handle and make sure the cable is still correctly connected to it. Also check that the handle is still securely attached to the car.
Another possibility is that sometimes the cable can stretch or the latch can go out of adjustment and it won't disengage properly when you pull the handle inside the car. Try getting one person to pull the handle while a second person presses down on the bonnet and then 'wiggles' it to try to lift it.
If neither of those works, you will need to get access to the bonnet latch itself, which can only be done from underneath the car and then reaching up. (Not easy!) It is not possible to access it from behind the grille, so there would be no point in anybody damaging the grille to try to get in there.

Battery: The two most common ways for the battery to drain will be either a faulty alternator or the lamp inside the boot staying on (this would either be a fault in the wiring to the tailgate or a problem with the switch built in to the tailgate latch). Another possibility would be an aftermarket alarm, immobiliser or radio draining it. A good healthy battery should be able to start the car even after the car has been left unused for several weeks if there are no abnormal loads draining it.
However, the non-start problem could also be caused by a bad earth connection to the engine, a faulty starter motor, a faulty starter relay or a faulty ignition switch. If, for example, the headlamps still work at full brightness, the battery is probably still ok.

Hope that helps