I brought my Mini in for routine service and the dealer snapped the cable to open the hood. Now they want $300 to fix it - they told me that the cable is made of plastioc and is a "wearable part". The hood had probably only been opened about a dozen times and mostly by them!

Anyway, I want to fix it myself. Trouble is that I can't open the hood. Does anyone know how it would be possible to open the hood when the hood release lever doesn't work?

 

No idea how to fix it, sorry. But if it is indeed a wear and tear part as they claim, its covered under the maintenance warranty.

I think I'd be in "you broke it, you fix it" mode with the dealer though.

 

I'm out of warranty and the dealer doesn't seem to care that they broke it.

 

What part actually broke? The cable is not plastic.

If you take a look at this you will see what it looks like.
http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?...81&hg=41&fg=35

 

mine snapped off at the inside pull, and the dealer replaced the whole assembly-- altho it took two weeks to get the parts. so I couldnt open my hood for two weeks. Good thing the fluids were topped off.

$300? y're being ripped off. I asked my SA how much it wouldve cost me out of warranty? $125, including the labor.

 

they better care, and they should fix it. bastards.

 

Might want to try and independent place and see what they quote.

What MINI dealer was this?

 

White grease on the hood latch springs. a zip tie on the cable near the hood release.

 

I also think you should say, "You broke it, you fix it."

Threaten them with small claims court.

Who are these jerks anyway? Tell us, so we know which dealers to stay away from.

There really should be a bad dealer list on this forum!

Dave

 

I didn't have any white grease but had silicone spray. Is that ok? Or should I go buy some thick lithium grease stuff? I sprayed both springs (driver and pass side by the grill). I sprayed in behind the hood pull lever too, thought I coudln't see anything back there. What's a zip-tie do? And how would you see back there anyway?

 

Is there any action on the release latch? If there is no resistance, then most likely the cable came off the bracket.

Before you do this, I would recommend getting the White Zinc grease to lube it up if you do get it open.

To check, pop off the plastic molding that is covering the footwell near the latch. You should be able to see the latch and the cable that slipped off.

Now the tricky park, you can place the cable back, but the springs are probably tight, so it will fight you. Pliers might help. You can get a small zip tie and wrap it around the cable and bracket to help prevent it from slipping again. http://curbly_uploads_production.s3....ties_large.jpg

If you do manage to open it, I would use your finger to lube the crap out of the springs where the hood latches. I took a large allen wrench and forced the latch down and lubed them again, then popped the latch a few times. Issue hasn't come back.

There were others on the forum that had this issue. In Google enter this in the search:

site:northamericanmotoring.com bonnet release

Good Luck