Bugger...Snapped Bonnet Release E53

[n1k85]

I just went to open my bonnet and was a little 'enthusiastic' with the bonnet release...

Heard a snap and the handle went limp

I've now got:

A: Opening the bonnet

B: Replacing the cable etc

to look forward to

Looks a right chore: http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/ ... locks.html

[X5Sport]

I bet the air was a little 'bluer' than that.......

[storminmike]

Of no comfort but

My indy used to throw copper grease at them every service

[shadrack]

i had this on my old one, if you use an oem bonnet cable its an easy job, also if i remember correctly i think its in two parts

[n1k85]

[quote=""X5Sport""]I bet the air was a little 'bluer' than that....... [/quote]

Just a little....

[quote=""shadrack""]i had this on my old one, if you use an oem bonnet cable its an easy job, also if i remember correctly i think its in two parts[/quote]

That's good to hear, can you remember how you opened the bonnet in the end? Or don't you need to if you're just replacing part of the cable?

Any help would be brilliant!

[n1k85]

Just thought I'd add to this guys,

This morning I bought the replacement cable from BMW to repair the bonnet release. The cable was £19.03.

Mine snapped at the handle inside the car so luckily it only needed the first part of the cable Part No 51238402614 (Item 10 Shown Below)



I called a few local garages and was quoted silly prices to fit it starting at £150+ and they couldn't even tell me for sure how much it would be since they would first have to get the bonnet open and they didn't know how to actually do it so It could be a huge job. I was just told "how long is a piece of string?..."

In the end I took it to BMEuro (a BMW Indy in Wolverhampton) who said they knew how to get the bonnet open and had made a 'special tool' to get the cable through the bulkhead. They quoted £40 for the work.

It took around an hour and now I can open my bonnet again! It would have been a much bigger job if the other end of the cable had failed meaning that all the latches etc would then have to be changed.

From now on I'm going to be keeping my catches and cable throroghly lubed up!

Luckily I was only lifting the bonnet to clean the engine bay on my drive when my cable snapped, but I would have been well and truly F'd if I had broken down at the roadside and the cable snapped there, or I needed to top up with oil etc! I don't know what I'd have done.

Looking at other threads on the subject they all say that the only way into the bonnet is to "smash" through one of the grills, then break some of the plastic trim behind them to get access to the cable to release the bonnet....Glad I don't go for that option!

[X5Sport]

Glad it's fixed, and that the Indy had a much more sensible approach to getting it open. Some Dealers/Garages definitely take the p!ss with these sort of things and then wonder why people walk away - well the sensible ones anyway..

Getting at it from the other end sounds very brutal and expensive!!

[jaynana]

[quote=""n1k85""]
Looking at other threads on the subject they all say that the only way into the bonnet is to "smash" through one of the grills, then break some of the plastic trim behind them to get access to the cable to release the bonnet....Glad I don't go for that option![/quote]

waw! that sounds like this could be serious trouble, and most importantly your indy had figured a way through.

in case this happens to any of us, would you know how they opened it up? or would we all have to either go to wolverhampton or smash one of the kidneys?

[CondorX5]

Similar dreadful job on a P38 Range Rover......BMW owned LandRover in that era so clearly that area of design they chose to copy The cable on my old Rangey snapped and it was a dreadful job - local Rangey indy had some sort of "special" tool he had devised and put it on ramps to get to it from under the car.........they also used to advocate smashing through the grille luckily it wasn't necessary as they opened it and fixed it.

[n1k85]

Unfortunately I don't actually know how they got it open.

I was hoping that since it snapped right at the handle, they could use some needle nose pliers or something and just pull the cable, but they had a look and said it wasn't possible.

All I know is that they had the car up on the lift while the work was being carried out so I assume they took off some trim under the car and accessed it that way. I'm still a little curious as to how they popped the bonnet from there though... I should have asked!