Mine is quite broken.

The passenger side does not work, though the driver's side does.

Mini Dealership said two hours labor, plus the part ($41.40), so after taxes, I'd be at $254.

That's a bit rough for me, so the question is, can I do it myself? Or am I asking for pain?

(Tech experience: Moderate. I did manage to take my car down to "service mode, service the SC and put it all back together).

 

i replaced mine on my 02 when I had it.

Little trick. Get it open, and find the little place where the latch 'releases' on the troubled side. Have someone pull the hood release inside the car. You will likely notice it has too much slack to pull back.

Years ago (when I had my car) there was a tip i found which basically said to take a zip tie / tie wrap what ever you want to call it, and put it on the cable between the release and the metal thing it pushes against.

Kept things working fine for a while until I bought the new cable.

Which by the way, was about 40$ at the dealer, and I installed myself in under 30 minutes. Zip tie was free and lasted over a year. I simply replaced it when it started stretching more.

Hope that makes sense. It's all from memory... which is now about 4-5 years old



EDIT

Found a pic.. Simply unhook the wire from the assemble, and remove from the bracket. Put the zip tie around the wire and tighten. (in between the blue piece and the metal i believe. It makes sense when you do it. Just need to remove any slack that is in the cable.