Bit of a dilemma, cant open the bonnet!

**merikiito** · 13th October 2008, 20:44

Happened to my old saloon on a 52 plate. Had to cut a whole in the grill. U cannot take the bumper off because the bonnet covers the top fittings!

**Gsi3.2** · 13th October 2008, 20:53

you flick them up with a small pick..

.....it's really easy to get the bumper off a car.. just ask Rob the scot who had his stolen..

**Vec-6289** · 13th October 2008, 20:56

Had the same problem with my 2.0 DTi. Turned out the cable had disconnected from the mechanism.

Firstly i got the bumper off, but there isn't enough clearance between the radiator and the metal beam at the front to get your hand up, let alone anything to pull the mechanism with.. Also vauxhall have cleverly covered the mechanism with a plastic shield so you cannot easily access it from below.

In the end i had to smash my grille, then jam my hand up between the top of the radiator and the plastic shield and thread a piece of copper wire through the eye where the cable connects, tighten it off and get my dad to pull on the wire while i sat on the bonnet. Worked in the end, but cut my hand up a bit, and i don't have massive hands.

If you really don't want to smash your grille up you can try getting the bumper off, (which can be done, you can undo the two plastic rivets near the lights by levering them with a screw driver) and then attempting to undo the eight screws securing the grille with a right angled screwdriver. I got pi**ed off with trying this so in the end i just smashed my grille in with a hammer and got an Irmy one.

Hope this helps

**merikiito** · 14th October 2008, 18:22

Originally Posted by Gsi3.2

you flick them up with a small pick..

.....it's really easy to get the bumper off a car.. just ask Rob the scot who had his stolen..

Think I am going to bolt my bumper on if its that easy! lol

**JusSRi** · 14th October 2008, 20:22

Thanks guys.........I'll go get the hammer!!!

**macdad** · 14th October 2008, 20:22

A lesson to be learnt here me thinks,make a piont of checking the cable end where it fits into catch...and most importantly ,,keep the mechanism well greased,i say this cus it happenrd to me but i got lucky...got the bride to pull my lever,while i yanked it.