Bonnet Jammed

[RunninWild]

By bonnet wont pop, The cord seems to be stretched. Cant reach anything from under the car...

Where do I go from here?? 95 VR wagon

Doing my head in...

[RunninWild]

Just wanted to add that I managed to reach up to the top of the radiator and find the wire but it will not move, just about cut my fingers trying. arrgghh Ment to be going on a fishing trip not ****ing with cars.

[Zuicider]

pull the lever and get sumone to push down on the front middle of your bonnet, might pop it

[RunninWild]

yeah tried that as well haha seems like some gremlin has come in the night and welded the bloody thing shut.

there has to be some way around this, I mean its strange if there isn't

[Zuicider]

haha well as u know holden doesnt make provisions for popping a bonnet without the lever. another way is to remove your lever (screw driver and push forward on the bracket) then using a set of pliers and giving her a pull on the cable

[Andrew426]

Try grabbing the cable with a tight pair of vice grips and pulling it like that.

Slightly off topic, but here is a pic of my old car after its bonnet release cable snapped (on the day I sold it, actually).

Note the smashed in grille, bent bonnet lip and crow bar sitting on top of the radiator support.

[StockoVRWagz]

I get the same every now and then.I have to get someone to really PUSH ON THE BONNET where the badge is so I can pop it. Usually its my mate with a bit of weight behind them...

[vlv8vic]

as stated pushing on the bonnet usually works. I had to take the grille off the VL once to get it open - pull and push on things until it worked.

[Calaber]

Once you manage to open it, make sure you take up all the slack with the adjustment on the cable housing, just to the left of the lock spring, and give the striking pin a clean and fresh grease. Also ensure that the locking spring in the radiator support panel is free to move and not binding. Finally, check your bonnet striker adjustment - it may be screwed down too far, which means when you close the bonnet, the compression of the adjustable rubber bumpers on each front corner of the bonnet is too high, which places additional load on the lock and makes it harder to release.

The Commodores have had this problem of stretching bonnet release cables since day one. The problem is particularly noticeable on really hot days, when the heat under the bonnet causes the cable to expand even further.

[specter]

Had the same problem - my solution was to unscrew the pin connected to the bonnet from underneath ( going up in front of the radiator ) with a very long screwdriver !

[Surfwagon]

Mine was hard to open for a long time then mentioned it to a panel beater friend who adjusted the alighnment and greased the striker nose and hole.
I couldn't believe the difference, the bonnet still seemed like it sat in the same place but was so much easier on the cable pull.
Pushing down on the centre while pulling the cable is the usual way to open a stuck bonnet.
Unclip the handle from under the dash so that you can access the actual cable then use pliers to grab and pull the cable itself.

[Bitemylip]

Just had the same sort of prob. If you look under you should see a round hole with a mechanism that looks like it will take a flat head screw driver.

All i had to do was unscrew it like a half turn, and now she opens alot more freely. Also put some WD40 on all the bits (greese would be better). works like new now.

[kopper69]

There is a specific distance you should adjust it to. The gregorys manual shows it. Someone did a diagram up and posted in on here a long time ago. If its working though dont be too worried.

[RunninWild]

Cheers for all the replies blokes.. Still not open.. Will have another crack tomorrow with all these tips...

Will update then.