Cant Open Bonnet

[H18Golf]

In need of help guys.  My bonnet wont open.

I can pop it using the lever in the drivers footwell but when i try to open it with latch at the bonnet it wont release.  Read up on this on here and ended up ordering a new latch from VW, must be quite a common fault as they had one in stock.  Will be replacing this over the weekend to hopefully resolve the issue.

My problem is how do i go about getting the bonnet open to actually replace this part?  Read about removing badge, pushing and pulling etc etc, didnt really understand what people were talking about.     Whats the easiest way to get this bonnet open?  Cheers   

[Flyingscotsman]

The bit that gets stuck is a plastic ball and socket joint in the plastic lever you lift up. If you can get some WD40 on to this using the plastic tube that comes with WD40 then this should lube the ball joint. If you grease or WD40 joint you should be able to fix without replacing it.

[H18Golf]

Thanks for the reply.

I actually looked at this bit last night (towards the drivers side of the underneath of the bonnet?) and wondered if this would release the bonnet.  Does the ball actually pop out of the bit it is held in?  I haven't really looked at the whole workings of the bonnet mechanism before to be honest, you just usually open your bonnet and that is it!

[Flyingscotsman]

The plastic "paddle" that you push to open bonnet pivots on a plastic ball joint. If working correctly when it pivots it presses the release mechanism. What happened on mine was that ball joint needed lubrication. If it can't rotate it will tend to pop out as you push the paddle.
It's a poor design but mine was fixed with a bit of grease once I got bonnet open.
Hope this helps.

[H18Golf]

Right ok.  Yeah I could see the ball pivoting last night so hopefully if I just spray plenty of WD40 on that area it will open up.  Such a pain. 

[lukemk5gti]

This issue seems far too common! Mine was stuck in the open position because this ball joint area was covered in road grit last week.

I think I'll remove it, soak it in degreaser and lube it up before putting it back on.

Anyone any idea how easy it is to remove the mechanism? A few bolts I assume no?

P.S. I'm not being lazy, I actually don't have my car outside right now!

[jaffa]

I changed mine over a year ago due to it sticking open and one half of the cable being stretched
Took me about 10/15 mins, from memory it was 3 bolts

Make sure you check the cable aswell as mine stretched and I had to pull it much further to pop the bonnet and it felt like the handle was going to snap.

When I replaced mine around 2 years ago the latch and cable came to around £30 with a nice discount from my friendly vw parts man

[H18Golf]

Done this over the weekend.  Fitted the new latch which wasn't all that bad, although where the bonnet cable clipped in had to be doused in WD40 to get it removed.  The latch was quite rusty but as others have said, its the mechanism on the underside of the bonnet that was really 'sticking'.

My advice to others would be that it is good to change the latch as it is obviously a weak point but really this wouldnt have solved anything without the mechanism on the underside of the bonnet being looked at.  Spray plenty of WD40 on this and move the hook type bit with your hand back and forth until it frees up.  Will be maintaining this from now on for sure.

[jaffa]

id recommend using some lithium grease or similar as wd40 won't last very long

[H18Golf]

Cheers Jaffa, will have a look for some and get that onto the mechanism.   

[Flyingscotsman]

id recommend using some lithium grease or similar as wd40 won't last very long

Yes, good idea. That's what I did after freeing with WD40