Help Bonnet stuck

[knuts2au]

Just got back from Burra, pulled up at the gate to open it and could hear a noisy bearing. Unloaded the car the went to investigate and the bonnet lever does nothing. I can feel the wire connected to the lever but it doesn't do anything. How do i get it open now?? [bigsad] I had the bonnet up Saturday night to get a jump start by a Rangey, (thats another story...) and it felt OK then.

[discorevy]

try getting someone to push down on the bonnet while you pull the cable, if that doesn't work and the cable still has slack when pulling it then it's probably broken.
If that's the case then you will need to drill out 3? rivets to remove the anti tamper shield then manually open the latch with screwdriver or long nose pliers etc

[knuts2au]

Thanks Discorevy, i've tried pushing up and down on the bonnet, i'm guessing the end must have come off. I'll have a look tomorrow night for the plate i' guess you get to it thru the grill slats?

[DiscoMick]

Is it possible to remove the grille?

[onebob]

I’ve had this problem in Wonnangatta Valley. There is loop on the end of the cable and over a weekend of offroad driving it came off the locating hook on the release mechanism because the cable was stretched and not taught. There is an adjustment to take up the slack at the lever end. We had to smash off the anti tamper shield to access the latch mechanism and reattach the cable. Access was gained by lying on the ground and reaching up between the grill and radiator with rock in hand and bash hard!!! Following up with pliers to peel the ruptured plastic out of the way .. took around 2 hours to get the bonnet open.

[onebob]

Taking the grill out greatly assists with the reconnecting the cable - but only with the bonnet open, can you remove the grill.

[knuts2au]

Onebob, yep, same problem, the eyelet had come unhooked. Got a big sharp drill and ground the head off the front rivet, then chiselled the 2 side rivets off with a long screw driver to be able to bend the cover down and pop the bonnet. The fourth rivet is under the bonnet of course. Won't have a problem of the plate getting in the way again [biggrin]. Just glad it didn't happen when i was stuck with the flat battery in the dark!