Hood Latch Not Working, Help?

[Tim Flat4]

I recently bought an '89 325i for dirty cheap, so as expected it's got a few things wrong with it. I bought the car knowing the hood latch wasn't working and after I got it home and searched for an alternate way of opening it (aside from the handle that is) I tried using a flat head screw driver through the grill as suggested but it didn't work. When I rotate the screwdriver I can hear what I think is a spring moving, but it's not catching on anything, just twisting.

I need to get the hood open to replace the alternator so I'd like to hear some suggestions on how to get it open and fix this issue. From the sound of it replacing the latch and cable is quite easy once I have the hood open.

Any help would be appreciated.

[E30_fiend]

One little trick you could try is pulling the knee bolster off and search up under the dash for the broken cable. When mine broke that's what I did and I found it and got some vice grips on it and that did well for a while until I replaced it.

Hope that helps a little.


E30Fiend

[profbooty]

go to the front of the car, and look to the left of the two drivers side headlights

you will see two bolts that hold in the lock, put a flathead through a hole near there and you can unlock it. i only know as i did this recently myself while replacing my cable.

[E30_fiend]

go to the front of the car, and look to the left of the two drivers side headlights

you will see two bolts that hold in the lock, put a flathead through a hole near there and you can unlock it. i only know as i did this recently myself while replacing my cable.

He said he already tried that and it didn't work.

It worked for me but it didn't for him so I gave him something else to try.


E30Fiend

[brandondan1]

If it latches correctly then there's no reason why the screwdriver shouldn't be able to disengage the hood. PO had to have really ghetto rigged it.

Have you tried using the biggest flathead you can fit in there and twisting it, while someone else tries to slide open?

[Tim Flat4]

Have you tried using the biggest flathead you can fit in there and twisting it, while someone else tries to slide open?

I had, yes, but it made no difference.

I ended up doing what abigballafb76 said and although the cable wasn't broken I gave it a tug with some pliers anyway and the hood let go. Odd thing was though that I couldn't get it to budge. I ended up enlisting the help of a friend with another set of pliers and after a couple enthusiastic tugs on the driver's side it broke loose and now I have it open.

Now I need to figure out what the problem is. Like I mentioned earlier the cable isn't broken. Could the latch(es?) just be old, rusty, and need replacing?

[Van Westervelt]

The cable could be breaking in its tube and binding up. In that case, it WILL break.

[browntown]

^^ that happened to my clutch cable twenty years ago on a 1981 subaru wagon. That was a pain in the arse to fix.

[E30_fiend]

Yes if the cable is binding then its going to break. What you could do to test it is take off the cable and with the help of a friend see if you can pull the cable back and forth inside the covering.

Another thing it could be is that the latches just need to be freed up a bit. What you could do is spray some penetrant or pb blaster in there and keep moving it around as if you were opening and closing it a bunch of times. When it seems to be freeing up, get some red or black grease and put a little dallop on the latch and move it around again. If this doesn't work then you need a new latch.


E30Fiend

[mathematics]

Get it open yet?

Just remove the two 10mm bolts that hold the latch to the frame. If replacing the cable isn't that hard, then open the hood that way. The latch will come up with the hood, which you can then remove.