bonnet wont shut

[dockermel]

 :confused:its driveing me nuts. opened the bonnet to check oil e.t.c. took ages to get it to close didnt want to slam it from a great hight but it took about ten minutes to get it to shut. everything seems to be moveing as it should.. any ideas 

[nezquick]

sounds like the pin isn't mating up properly to the catch.. you sure it's not been bent out of line? try a good few squirts of a lubricant like wd40 and manually work the catch mechanism to see if it loosens up.

[dockermel]

ive tried wd40 cooper grease it still shuts when it feels like it.  it does shut but not lock if you know what i mean.. its like you just pulled the bonnet release.. shut but not locked into place. hope this makes sense..

[nezquick]

ahh, I see - no idea on that one bud have you visually looked at the catch and pin? the spring might of broken or something. Hope you sort it, might be worth putting something in the DIY/Maintenance section if you find out the problem and fix it! 

[Phil Miller]

The bonnet catch has siezed you need a new one if you cant free your old one, they should be greased/oiled at service time, many dealers dont bother, new catch is £35, ive got a good S/H one here if you want, can do it £15 inc P&P

pm me if your interested 

[Roeffus]

If anyone has a bonnet that wont open/shuts/disbehaves/doesn't meet your expectations, here is my experience:
When i brought my car the dealer couldn't shut the bonnet, and used a good amount of WD-40 to solve the problem. Later it happened to me as well (just when i was show casing my new car to my colleagues... They had a good laugh ). When i inspected the bonnet release mechanism (from now on "lock"), i found out that was quite corroded. I used graphite powder to clean the surfaces (add graphite close lock open lock, add graphite, enz) until it was smooth. later that week i was unable to open the bonnet. I finally got it open when one person pulled the handle and another one pulled hard on the bonnet. I found out that the lock was corroded again, so i ordered a new one (i also bought a new gas strut since the bonnet would hit my head at every gust of wind ). Before i put the new lock in i used silicon spray to protect all moving surfaces (in other words i socked it because there was no grease in it) When i replaced the lock i saw that the spring for the popper had come out of it's locating hole (lower spring you can only check this when you take the lock out). We tried to put it back in but were unable to do so.

Long story short
Before removing the grill try pulling the release handle normally and hard on the bonnet (yes this is a two person job ).
If your bonnet release mechanism is corroded, you need (in my experience) a new one since cleaning it is not a long lasting solution.
And in my humble opinion WD-40 on a corroded lock does not work (WD-40 fanboys: repeat humble opinion) since this will not clean the surface from a amount of corrosion that would stop the springs from working.

[muff1991]

my mate had the same issue.. couldn't close the bonnet at all, we sprayed it, tried pushing it down trying not to crease the bonnet.. we was slamming it hoping the front bumper wouldn't fall off etc.

eventually, I decided to pull the boonet release handle in the footwell a "tad" harder.. and hey presto it shut first time effortlessly. so a good spray up in the cable and working the handle in and out.. it has been fine ever since!

I also had an issue with mine, where the bonnet lever to lift open the bonnet wasn't stiff and the bonnet wasn't opening, that needed a gooood clean/spray too.. and now its smooth as!

[Octoparrot]

I had the same problem with mine and in the end I had to replace the bonnet locking mechanism, not a hard job to do and it's been fine ever since.