Stuck bonnet - bright ideas? (E46 BMW)

[pOG]

Hello gang!

Can anyone offer any [sensible] advice on this conundrum? The bonnet on my '05 E46 is resolutely refusing to open.
I pulled the internal flap and it made the correct 'plonk' noise, corresponding to the first phase. This flap now has no 'pressure' other than the springing to the lever itself. I can see that the cable is still correctly secured at this end.



What should happen next is the little lever for stage 2 pokes itself out of the grille. It's moved forward a little but not as much as it should. It should stick through the grille by about an inch and a half. It won't budge in any direction.





I'm sure it's done this before but it was a long while ago and I can't recall how I fixed it. All the advice online points towards attacking the grilles and various bit of mechanism with reciprocating saws and the like, which seems a little brutal to me.
Any ideas?

[VW]

If it were mine id now have one person pushing and pulling on the lever while I pulled up and down on the bonnet.

If that didnt work id go for a drive and see if vibration and air pressure pushed it up to stage 2.

If that didnt work id rig up an internal washer bottle and drive it till it dies.

[colnerov]

Hi, It has obviously worked to a degree but is jammed by the bonnet catch being slightly out of alignment, so as said, give the bonnet a wiggle or a thump with your fist. Another trick is to push the bonnet shut again whilst looking at the gap to the wing and see which way it moves this will give you a clue as to which way it needs to be eased at another attempt to open.

Colin

[Deleted]

Sit on the bonnet and see if the lever pulls then. Often, a bonnet that refuses to open is caused by the bonnet rising up before the catches have got out of the way. Give all the mechanisms a load of grease once opened.

On my car, this sometimes happens, particularly in winter, but I can reach up behind the grill and push the catch with a spanner to get it open.

Can you get to it if you lie at the front of the car and get your arm up? I dare say that's not as easy on a Beemer but worth mentioning just in case.

[BT]

I hate a stuck bonnet and unfortunately I have been on the receiving end of this predicament more than once.

Firstly I would apply some pressure to the bonnet, lift and push down, gently of course, don't want a bonnet dint! Whilst pulling repeatedly on the lever inside the car.

If no luck with this, remove the lever in the car, remove the wire from the back of the car and once again get someone to lift or push down on the bonnet whilst firmly pulling on the cable end from inside the car with a set of pliers on the cable.

If you have no success with that, or you pull the cable out (suggesting it has become snapped or unsecured from the latch end) see if you can get a long screwdriver inside the mech through the grill.

I had a seat Leon come in once and the only way I could get it off was by threading a length of wire trace from my tackle box under the bonnet, looping over the mech and pulling like a lunatic, it eventually gave and opened as it should.

Last and most recent one I did was a VW caddy, cable had snapped. I ended up removing the lower radiator shroud and using a long screwdriver to manually flick the latch open whilst laying on the floor and reaching up through the back of the bumper.

Once you go get it open, generously apply with GT85 or something similar, detach the cable and pour a bit of oil down the liner.

Good luck!