I have an '02 Mini Cooper, I recently tried to open the hood to refill the washer fluid and noticed that only the passenger latch unlocked but not the driver's side. I tried putting pressure on the hood (with a friend) while pulling the release latch but the problem persisted.

After pulling really hard on the release latch, both cables came out of the metal bracket. I following instructions from another post to release my hood by removing the wheel and plastic cover, to reach the mechanism under the hood. That was successful so I could open the hood.

After troubleshooting the problem, it seems like the cable for the driver's side release is broken somewhere, the passenger side one still works. I went to a Mini dealership to inquire about pricing for the replacement part. After entering my VIN/year into the system - the guy came up with BOWDEN CABLE, part #51-23-7-112-440 and showed me the diagram, 2 cables that connect to 1 into the release latch.

Couple problems, I explained to him that his diagram shows a Mini with the hood release on the driver's side and there's only 1 wire to the release latch. My Mini has the release latch on the passenger side and there are 2 separate wires. Another guy walked by and said that the earlier Mini's had the release latch on the passenger side due to the euro model, but could not confirm if the cable showing on the system would work with my car.

Does anyone know if this cable will work? The parts guy at BMW/Mini cannot confirm. I'm not too concerned about the 2-into-1 wire but I am worried that the cable will not work with a passenger side release latch location (vs driver's side).

Thanks in advance for any help I've only had the Mini for just over a year but find that the Mini community to be very friendly and helpful.

 

All the '02-'06 coupes and '02-'08 convertibles sold in the US have the hood release lever on the passenger side...and it is because the car comes from the UK where they are RHD(their drivers side).

The "440" cable is correct from 06/2002 and later. It is actually two separate cables that are sold as one under the "440" number.

If your car was built before 06/2002, then you will need part number 51 23 1 491 315.

Hope that helps.

 

Thanks for your help, I checked my build date 08/2002 - and I've ordered the part. Hopefully this isn't too difficult to install.

Does anyone have the repair manual with step by step instructions by chance?

 

Recently I found my hood release would just barely unlatch the hood. The hood would not pop up, but if someone pulled the latch I could lift the hood up. I figured out that the cables must be a little stretched. Instead of having them replaced, I crimped one little round lead fishing weight at the end of each of the two cables under the hood. That took up enough slack that the hood now works just fine.