Hood Hinges are Frozen. Suggestions?

[Young_Enthusiast]

Hey everyone,

My 1985 318i has been sitting in the driveway for quite a while now. Last time it was checked on the battery was dead, so when I went to finally solve that problem I discovered that I could not open the hood to access the battery. There is no problem with the latch mechanism or cable, but a) the hood does not spring forward as it should and b) even when I pull as hard as I can, I cannot get it to budge. I know the hood is "open" because I can push on it and the latch engages again.

My guess is that the hinges have rusted/gunked up somehow. If anyone knows of a way to tackle this, I'd appreciate some advice. Thanks!

[superj]

I dont know of anyway but to force it by pulling harder, or using something to give more leverage. Maybe spray it down with wd40 or sometype of lube and let it sit for a day and then try?

[Kershaw]

The hood shock could be blown. But most likely it's actually the hood latch. It needs to removed, cleaned, and reinstalled.

[Das Delfin]

spray some wd40 in the latch and unbolt it then clean it thoroughly. Mine did the opposite last winter - wouldn't latch shut so I had to fix it in 10 degree weather

[Shock(/\)ave]

I literally just dealt with this exact situation today with the touring: when we attempted to open the hood to connect the trickle charger, it was iced shut and would not pop up.

I didn't spray crap all over the paint to solve the problem.

Remove all of the snow and ice from the hood so the sun directly contacts the paint to warm the hood a bit, then begin carefully hitting the hood along the edge with your palm to break the ice beneath it. Repeat this a few times along the entire edge of the hood, the grab the underside of the hood with your fingers near the roundel and give it a few good tugs upward and forward and it should pop free like ours did.