Bonnet won't open

Nova2k7

Senior member
 Halifax - West Yorkshire
So for the last few months the bonnet hasn't been closing properly, no matter how hard you tried it would never lock in place on the first drop, I always had to get my hands on it and push down to get it to lock, often it would unlatch onto the first catch while doing 80+ on the motorway. Now it won't open at all, even with someone pushing it up and down while the catch inside is being pulled!
 
I think you can access the bottom of the catch through either the front of the grill or from under the car, i know mine had the same prob as you and it eventually came open with my mate pushing on the bonnet and me pulling the catch along with a spray of WD into the catch mechanism.

When its open, see if those rubber bungs to the left and right are screwed down, if they are too high your lid wont close. also grease the mechanism and maybe replace if its rusty.
 
If you remove the drivers side kidney grill it's easy to access the mechanism so you can spray some ptfe onto it.

Don't push down too hard on the bonnet, you might bend it. As I did on my s-Max :headbang:
 
Stuart Truman said:
If you remove the drivers side kidney grill it's easy to access the mechanism so you can spray some ptfe onto it.

Don't push down too hard on the bonnet, you might bend it. As I did on my s-Max :headbang:

What ptfe do you recommend?

I'm glad you said S-max, I was worried you were going to say sister! :tumbleweed:
 
Taz said:
I think this is a common fault, it needs a blast of wd40 every so often
Mine's getting a bit "tight," so this is on my to-do list.
I'm assuming a blast of WD-40 to get it going should really be followed by some proper grease for lubrication?
Probably last longer since WD-40 is really just a quick fix.
 
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