Hood latch issue
 

My car tends to drain the battery if it sits too long. I haven't driven it since last Friday. I went out to start it tonight, knowing the battery would be dead, I went to pop the hood to charge it and I believe the cable broke :grr: . Does anyone have a clue how to get the hood open? I was able to get the car running by putting the charger directly on the starter. But how do replace the cable if you can't open the hood? :confused:

Can you get a pliers on the cable by the footwell, or is it broken further back?

I believe it's broken at or near the latch. The cable is still attached to the lever.

There is an additional cable pull installed for situations like this. It is hanging above the AC condensor. Remove the left front wheel, the plastic covering front of the wheel needs to be removed and there should be a wire look hanging from the bodywork at the midline. Give it a pull and you'll un-latch the hood.

Oh sweet! i was going to say he could go through one of those tiny drain holes and somehow attach to something useful to open it.

Thank you for the new bit of knowledge Garrett!

never knew that; good thing to know. Thanks Garrett

Here's what it looks like - you can see there are two cables there - one of them is the backup line going through that rubber grommet leading to the area above the A/C condensor.

Glad to help ;)

Yeah..... That secondary cable would be great. But....... as I recall early on when I bought this car one of the first things I did to it was replace the battery. And I remember disconnecting the + first and arching (I don't know if that's spelled right) the wrench on that cable severing it. :crying:

I don't think the early cars had the back-up cable fitted....

I'm thinking Sawzall at this point.

Get a "slim jim" (or even a coat hanger) and slide it under the hood trying to grab the latch pull - once you hook it, sliding it to the driver's side will pop open the latch. That's the approach I'd take - use the picture above so you know what you're trying to hook onto.

If all else fails, then yes, a reciprocating saw between the hood and the gasket will cut the hood's latch portion and likely the gasket too, which you'll just have to buy another... :eek: I'd spend a couple days trying the "slim-jim" approach first.

Thanks. ****ty situation but at least I know what my options are. I'll probably fix that secondary cable while I'm in there.

Once you get the hood open, I would wager that it is not broken, but that the clamp that secures the end of the cable has gotten loose.

For quite some time, my hood release lever seemed to be getting very loose, such that I thought it had failed, but after a fair amount of monkeying around, I noted that the cable clamp got loose, and thus over time, the cable it self slipped a bit, creating some slack in the line.

Anyway, here's hoping that a Sawzall is not required!

One more thing....

If it has in fact gotten loose rather than broken, it is possible that the cable may still loop around the mechanisim. If you runbolt the hood release lever from the body of the car, such that you can hold it in your hand, you may be able to give the cable enough of a pull to release the latch. I speak from experience on that matter!

Brian

My cable failed a few years back.While the cable was intact the retainer for the cable cover was broken.Once I was able to hold the outter cassing in place while pulling the release lever the hood opened.If I hadn't looked close I would have missed it.And why dose the spell cheak never work.

My 1990 C4 Cab does not have the backup cable, but the grommet and the cable clamp are there. I can see where it attaches to the latch, where does the other end go? In the wheel well? Doesn't that make it easy for anyone to open the hood if they simply know Porsches have this "feature"?

Danz C4