Mine hood release broke last week too, I am going to the dealer tomorrow to have it fixed.

 

I just had the same issue on my 2008 MC with 50,000 miles: pulled hood release latch and it just 'popped' and went slack. Upon looking at it closely, the cable housing (that the release cable slides in) simply came off its retaining bracket. I popped the interior trim panel off with a screwdriver and re-inserted the white-cable-housing-end onto the retaining bracket. Since it kept slipping off, I strapped it to the retaining bracket with a zip-tie. It's seems to be holding, but I'm now forever careful when pulling the hood release. Of course, lubricating the brackets, springs and cables, as others mentioned, is essential.

 

bcolli42,

So besides the interior panel that you took off with a screw driver, could you be more precise on how you went about doing this? If you took of any more panels and how long it took you? Just this night I pull the piece of **** plastic handle and it broke. I was so pissed I really don't want to spend $125.00 like someone said the mechanism cost on here. Its probably my luck that the broken part is the part that you can't see from the lever. Its probably broken more near the hood.

Do you know if any way to just release so that in the event that I have to either wait for them to ship the part in if they don't have it or if I can't figure out how to do it myself, I will at least have a backup? Any and all help would be most appreciated.

 

Also all the tools you use would also be good to know and again how long it took to accomplish is pretty important because I plan on dealing with it on my hour lunch tomorrow.

Thanks

 

I also forgot that I have an '09 and that you have an '08, I am pretty sure that if it is an R56 then we have the same panels.

 

Mine broke 2 months ago and $365 later it is fixed. I have owned lots of cars and never had the hood release fail on me. I was sorely disappointed when this happened.

 

WHAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!

No way. That is crap. Did the MINI dealer charge you that or did you go somewhere else?
That is absolute ********.

There has to be a backup to do it some other way, I am not paying that. If I have to get underneath the hood to unlock the latch then I will. That is ridiculous.

 

underneath the car...

 

It's interesting that there was a relatively brief rash of bonnet release failures reported in this and other NAM threads several years ago (I see an old post of mine in here) mostly with the '07 and '08 model years but this thread and the issue in general have been dormant since that time. Makes me wonder if somewhere along the line MINI made a slight tweak to the design or fabrication to try and help mitigate the problem. The newer models are flush with minor design changes and I wonder if this is one of them. Granted, even if so that's no comfort to the souls with the recently reported cases.

+1 to white grease as cheap preventative maintenance.

Agree that $465 to fix is downright extortionary.

 

So, I have been researching this issue like crazy, because it has pissed me off so much and by no means am I going to go to the dealer and pay $500 big ones to get this repaired. Eventually it is going to need to be replaced, but as I was doing some crazy searching I came across this helpful link.

http://www.minicarparts.net/TechTips...DoesntOpen.cfm

The first one in the link talks about having someone push on the hood and then other person pulling the cable to pop the hood. The second talks about taking off the right wheel to reveal a latch where you can pull it and pop the hood. I will be trying this today at lunch, but I will just be turning the right wheel outward away from the car and seeing if I can see the latch and see if I can do this.

If anyone tries it let me know how it works?

 

I had mine repaired by the dealer but it was still under warranty. I wish I had asked how they did it...

 

So after worrying about how much oil I had in my engine and calling to find out that my R56 was still under warranty, I dropped it off and got the hood repaired. So it was completely free, which was such a relief. The handle is so easy to pull now and I did take notice that they greased up all three: the driver side door latch, the hood release latch and the latch that actually lifts the hood. They did however top off my oil because they did a vehicle check since it was due, so I was also super glad that I did not fry my engine. However, since they topped it off I had to pay like $14.89 of the oil. So at this time I am currently set.

 

Happened to my 07 MCS twice once in warranty and once out. Seems to be a not to robust system on the Mini. Don't know if the 1st gen's werea bit more stout or just as cheap...

 

I cross my fingers every time I pull the handle...

 

2005 MC 5-speed. Shifter cables need to be greased, so I went to pop the hood to remove the airbox and deal with THAT pain in the ***, and whaddaya know, the hood release breaks. The cables are still attached at the plastic lever. I put the car on a jackstand, removed the right front wheel and the plastic fender liner, and this is what I see:



I can't tell if the metal piece at the end of the cable is where it needs to be or not. In any case, moving this thing is doing nothing, and now it just occurred to me that I'm not sure why the other threads I read said to remove the right wheel when the actual hood release is on the left side.

If I put all this plastic crap back in and jack up the car on the other side to repeat the same pain in the *** process and still can't release the hood, I fear that I may kick a body panel. I'd appreciate some input from someone that's dealt with this problem, and yes I have read all the way through the half dozen or so threads on this issue.

Thanks!

 

As to below: I have answered my own question. If you remove the black plastic lock device from the bonnet upper latches, that will allow you to turn the square "eye bolts" in or out to adjust the bonnet height when closed. They will be a little loose normally. If you press down on the bonnet when latched there should be a very very slight movement down. If there is no movement at all I would be concerned that might cause latch release failure as too much pressure required to open bonnet. My dealer loosened these way down (too much).
***
I just returned from dealer after having mine repaired under warranty (30k).
The cable lever inside the car is were the issue was. Apparently this is a common problem from what I am reading. The release was always stiff since new and then it just broke. When I look at what they did I found they have white lube sprayed all over the latches, and the upper u-shaped brackets on the hood are LOOSE. They also replaced the inside lever. Would someone take a look and let me know if those hood brackets are loose on your 2nd gen MINI? I am not too confidant in the repair they made. My next question would be how to get hood open if the cable actually broke as the whole thing is designed like a vault- no access. But I see that the grille would need to be destroyed- that I would easily believe!
Rich V- Utica NY

 

I just spent the past 2 days searching this subject out and had myself fearing the worse - I have the 2009 Mini Cooper Clubman and also could not open the hood.. I found that I pulled the cable off the handle inside the car but could not release the hood with pliers. I then went to step two and pulled the front wheel and pulled fender well out.. sorry.. you can't access the two cables from there on the R56.. I then spent the day trying to figure out where to drill from the ouside to get the latches released.. luckily I called it a day and decided to take a trip to my local mini dealer and buy a latcht to see what I'm dealing with and also talk to thier techs.. gained nothing but it takes a long screw driver and loads of luck on a lift... Well here goes the 10 minute method...

I took the latch home and after looking at it a slight bit of pressure against the cam the cable connects will unlatch it.. so I jacked one side up with the mini jack and crawled under.. the latch on the passenger side is visible from underneath and with a steel paint roller handle that I cut off just past the first bend I was able to reach up and instantly unlatch it.. onto the drivers side.. looking up all I could see was the very left hand edge of the latch peeking out from behind the plastic radiator tank... that explains the 300 to 500 repair costs some of these threads are mentioning.. wrong. using a 6" long thin screwdriver there is enough room to wiggle your hand up there ... just take that screwdriver and do a blind probe at where that cable would connect.. bingo.. hit it the first time easily and took basically no pressure to do it..

 

My hand just broke after doing an oil change. Out of warranty since April (4 months ago). What a pain in the ***. Anyone beg and plea for an out of warranty fix?

 

Did the inside handle break ( plastic ) or did the cable just pop out of the holder where it snaps in the latch.



#12 Inside hood Handle. Part # 51237149591



http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/51237149591/



Thanks

 

Great photos. Thanks. The plastic bit where the cable latches onto broke. It was SUPER tough and getting harder for the past year or so.

Local performance garage charges 0.9 hours for the inside latch or 1.5 hours for the under hood latches ($95/hour). The dealer wants the same amount for the inside latch but if it requires the under hood bits it will be $600! Local guy for the win (he is 3 minutes from the dealer).

 

Just got it all fixed. Shop said that latches were seized due to rust. Had to replace the cable and some other parts, but "only" charged us $281 all in. Still 50% off the dealer pricing

 

At 174k miles on my (1st gen) 2005 R50 cooper, I just lost my hood cable on passenger side, the driverside was intact. Slack was on hood side and the interior latch had both cables still attached. After reaching no conclusion on any mini forum on how to open my hood I removed the passenger wheel and inner fender splash guard. Once I did that I could easily observe the plastic bit simply slipped off the bracket. With a long screw driver against the latch and light pressure on the hood to relieve the latch tension, the hood opened right up. This hood latch is designed to fail on 1st gen minis at both ends. Lube it up, do whatever you can. At the end of the day it's a weak design that will wear out and loosens up as the cable stretches. The whole repair took 30 minutes including my failed research attempt and cussing Mini for such a dumb design as I fixed the cable and lubed away.

I am really hoping those who have this issue at the hood side now know this can easily be fixed from passenger side fender well. I recommend all owners take a moment to understand the location of the latches and how it works before you end up stranded and can't open your hood. Shame on Mini for such a high risk design flaw.

For those who spent $100-$300 on this repair, I feel for ya.

 

After reading through 25 or more entries, I realized there wasn't a "trick" to opening the bonnet. However, there seemed to be a common problem.

The ODB sensor is buried up near the hood release handle, at least on my R55. I think the problem I had was related to that. Nonetheless, I found that if I held in the cable sheath, then pulled the metal wire, the hood opened. To "fix" it permanently, I needed to jam the end of the sheath back into a fork that held it in place. I think the original problem was that the person checking the ODB knocked the cable out of the fork and didn't place it back firmly.

By the way, you have to remove the side panel/cover to gain access to the area near the handle/fork.

Good luck to all who try.

 

push...2 days ago i thought my cable in my r56 -07 had just snapped. luckily it wasn't the case and the worn out plastic-holder jumped out of its bracket only. all 5 latches were dry as dust, too. just want to share some pics and vids:

 

Yep, hit those locks with some grease once a year.