Snapped Bonnet Release Cable

[Austin-Rover]

The bonnet release cable on my Montego has snapped. After reading through the recent thread on a snapped Maestro bonnet release cable I thought I'd give opening the bonnet a go.

So far I have ruined a good grille, skinned my knuckles but have not got the damn thing open.

I found the cable inside the slam panel from an access hole underneath, but the cable has snapped right by the catch and the tubing is empty, so pulling on it does nothing. My second problem is that there are no holes in the slam panel any closer to the catch, so how the hell do I now operate the catch and get the bonnet open?

[Guest]

Lie down underneath the front of the car, and using a long screw driver, lever the mechanism so that it releases.

Best done with some one taking the tension on the bonnet edge.

I had to do this with my 86 turbo last year.

It took a couple of attempts, but on a monty there is just enough room for you to get both arms up.

Sort of a similar position to working on the heater matrix.

(Upside down with your arms up and legs out! )

MAl.

[Guest]

bonnet cable

I also broke my grille,if you can get the little spring of the latch and push the lever over with a flat screwdriver this will allow you to pop it open. it only takes about 5 mins this way

[Russ]

I rememember mine snapping on my van and for a few weeks to open the bonnet I used a junior hacksaw with no blade. No holes in bonnet mind

Russ

[Monty O]

happened to me on holiday in the south of France.

Local garage owner laid on his back and opened it with a long screw driver. He then removed the cable inner, and re-attached it 'back to front'. Was able to open bonnet by inner wire dangling down (and it was like that for months!) Cost me 10 Euro.... £7????

[fbm777]

I've just had this problem. I'd noticed beforehand that my grille (later two bar type) was in pretty poor shape, with all the internal vertical joiners already broken. This allowed me to insert a straight rod with a bend at the end (as shown) through the grille to push the latch over. Also what you must do is press down on the top of the bonnet at the same time, so that the latch will actually move. Otherwise you will press hard and the thing will slip at the end.

After releasing the bonnet, I modified the straight part of the rod to that shown above, to allow me to undo the latch in future without breaking any of the vertical supports of my new grille. Trying to undo the latch from the bottom looks pretty difficult to me, and you'd need to raise the front on the vehicle anyway. I intend to keep this tool in the vehicle in case it ever happens again. I made it out of a M8 (I think) threaded rod that I bought at a builder's merchant, and bent in my vice.

It also helps in you have a second rod, with a small led attached at the end, so you can see what you're doing!

[fbm777]

Another thing I found: the cable does not have to snap for the bonnet to become unopenable via the bonnet release cable. If it gets rusted up inside, then the retraction mechanism at the bonnet latch may fail to work. If the cable does not retract, the cable can become detached from the hook on the latch, leading to the bonnet becoming unopenable.

This can be rectified by unhooking the cable up to the car opening, and placing it vertical/semi-vertical with the small (bonnet latch end) inserted into the small end of a funnel, and taping the funnel to the cable sheath. Fill the funnel with automatic gear oil or similar and allow the oil to drain down the inside of the cable. It may help to unhook the cable from the cabin latch and slip the cable someway through the cabin, and allow it fall to the floor outside the vehicle. Then you can see when the oil gets to the bottom. You can pull-push the cable in and out to help the oil on its way through the sheath. That way the cable can be re-used as it will now retract.