blink

I went to open my hood today, and the pull cable seems to have disconnected at the latch. Has anyone ever accessed it through the grill, or is it an entire dissasembly of the front end until there is access? There's not a lot of stuff out there on this issue, I was hoping someone may have been through this. Unfortunately.

tenspeed

There are a couple threads about broken hood release cables in the A8 section.

Here's one - https://www.audiworld.com/forums/a8-...losed-2830934/

bilbo6209

I have had this happen on my S4 a few times. it is a bit of a pain but not the end of the world.
1. if you have a belly pan take it off (obviously jack the car up to do this)
2. jack the passanger side of the car up high enough to get about a 3 foot dowel, fiberglass rod etc up between the radiator and serp belt
3. look up to the center of the radiator and look for where the ball on the end of the release cable normally catches

here is the best image I could find in a very quick search at work... look just above and to the right of the red circled area, you will see a piece of metal with a slot and widened spot where the ball would sit





4. look for that spot from underneath, put your dowel etc on it and push up and to the drivers side, you will need to press fairly hard
5. if you do it right it will pop and the hood will pop open to the safety catch.

blink

I read those posts that mentioned access from underneath, and I could not find a bit of room. Even if I was to do it blindly, I found no route. I did get it open though. This is what I did: Remove the chrome ring around the grill, it just snaps off. I put masking tape on the top edge of the hood, where it meets the grill. Then I used a putty knife (4 inches or so) to depress the clips on the top of the grill, working it out along the top. Then it just slides up. With the grill out, and viewing a few pics of the latch assembly online, I used a long thin screwdriver to tap the edge of the release lever on the upper passenger side of the "u-channel" that the catch slides into. I will be using safety measures to secure the cable better this time.

I hope this helps the next guy.

Cowboy Neal

I'm so close and will either succeed getting my hood open and charging my AC system in 95 degree heat and humidity or jump off of my roof! I have the front grill off and can access the "u-channel" and pin that appears 'half-in/half out' of the channel and none of it will budge. The secondary release lever, the one with the plastic tab that pokes through the grill, seems to function as it should. I need help to find the primary release tab. Any photos would be a huge help! Thank you, thank you!

SloopJohnB@mac.com

It really does help to see what it takes before you have to do it.
I had to do it once and luckily I had two C5 cars so I could look at the one that wasn't broke!

Airbag

yup its just a matter of pushing on the right spot with a long flat blade screwdriver I just did this.