RE: e30 Hood release stuck

[alex.fadeev@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Henry Kim [mailto:henry.kim@domain.elided] wrote:
> 
> I pull on it and it releases slightly but not enough to lift 
> the hood.  I don't want to pull too hard on the handle since
> it's only plastic.  Is there a manual release somewhere?  I'm
> thinking the latch is stuck and not disengaging fully.  Has 
> anyone tried some spray lube in there?

Henry,
Most likely the cable has either stretched with age and you are no longer
pulling it enough with the handle to disengage the latches. Two solutions:
remove the plastic handle and pull on the cable end with pliers or locate
the hood release tab to the left of the driver side headlights and push on
it with a screw driver. I would start with the former to confirm that only
the handle->driver side latch portion of the cable is bad. Either way you
are looking at replacing the cable(-s).
Another possibility is that only the second segment of the cable that goes
between the driver and passenger side latches is stretched/torn. In that
case you are releasing only the driver side latch by pulling on the handle.
In that case open the hood by pushing on the hood release tab with a screw
driver and than proceed to replace the driver->passenger latch cable.

alex f

P.S.: E36 models have two part latch cables with two latches while E30s have
one cable with only one driver side latch. Other models might have other
latch mechanisms altogether.  

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