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I have an 2005 s4 and I went to open the hood and the lever snapped off I tried pulling on the cable with pliers it wouldn’t budge any ideas how I can get it open with out having to crawl underneath the car like I been seeing people say?
2004 S4...This is D3 board for 2003/4-2010 A8 + S8. Ask on the right A4/S4 board. Thx.
My cable broke the other day....but it actually opened the hood and something broke. The hood release handle in the car was stuck pulled back, so I figured it was something in the car, had to be somewhere, so I closed the hood, like a dummy.
Last night I figured out it was the single cable that goes to the splitter box, it broke in the box. I found this thread and the following youtube video:
It was easy enough to remove the inner fender, done that before....then I used a very long pair of needle nose pliers that have a 45" angle at the end and pulled on each cable. At first I pulled on the box, and one latch released (driver's side), but could not get the passenger side. The driver's side cable is the one with the small adjustment barrel on it, the passenger side does not have the adjustment barrel, I thought it was the other way around. I re-latched the driver's side, pulled on one cable (the one with the adjustment barrel) and the driver's side popped, then I pulled on the other cable and the passenger side popped. I also sprayed a bunch of WD-40 under the hood above the chrome trim on grill. The pliers were part of a set from Harbor Freight, they are cheap, and are about 20", but the 45 degree one worked:
I went through my pictures so I could see if I could find the splitter box, and here's one of my old pictures, 07 S8:
It was much easier to locate it once I found this picture. Ordered the cable (which comes with the splitter box) and the grommet, will install in a week or so, driving the 911 for the next week.
Amen ... I've been paying attention to your advice. New to the Audi world ...just bought a 2007 A8L 4.3L FSI for a great smooth ride for the wife. Previous owner spent $14,500 on chains, tensioners, guides and front air shocks ... phew. That's why I purchased it; I'm not spending that for something that is inevitable when poor maintenance is performed.
Now back to the locking hood situation. Read all the info here. You guys with the saw blades are very scary!
Opened the dash bottom cover, cable very loose; opened the driver's wheel well ( not hard at all ) 10 min.; located the cables; made a hook tool - 20 min; pulled the driver's cable first and then passengers 5 sec each; opened hood.
Found the cost cutting or poor engineering displayed (must been a Friday) with the stranded cable from the interior pulled out of a supposed hydraulically crimped nut looking piece. The other two cables have end lugs attached; therefore they won't come out that easily.
Drilled out the nut thing; JB Welded the hole and the cable; inserted and more JB Weld on the nut and up the cable. Looking at some means of further mechanically strengthening it. Will also look over another writer's idea of making a emergency second release system ... that is a very good idea! Thanks.
Some pics:
When mine broke a couple of months back, we used a good old coat hanger to make the hook to open the hood. I can't believe people are advocating using hacksaw blades to cut off the hood latches. This is just bad advise when people have come up with a good plan here on this board.
When mine broke a couple of months back, we used a good old coat hanger to make the hook to open the hood. I can't believe people are advocating using hacksaw blades to cut off the hood latches. This is just bad advise when people have come up with a good plan here on this board.
I think a hacksaw is your only realistic option when one of the 2 cables after the splitter snaps. Less common but still happens. One latch will release so it’s possible to wedge the hood open just enough to easily get a blade in to cut the stuck latch strike. The strike is easily replaced.
Of course to try and avoid the situation all together you should periodically lubricate the system. I did mine a couple of years ago and it made a huge difference to how much force was required to release the hood catches. Easily 50% less.
I think a hacksaw is your only realistic option when one of the 2 cables after the splitter snaps. Less common but still happens. One latch will release so it’s possible to wedge the hood open just enough to easily get a blade in to cut the stuck latch strike. The strike is easily replaced.
Of course to try and avoid the situation all together you should periodically lubricate the system. I did mine a couple of years ago and it made a huge difference to how much force was required to release the hood catches. Easily 50% less.
I can see your point on that. It seems like the weak point is the cable before the split.
Just spent 6 hours trying to release the passenger side hood latch using the wheel well method. No Luck. Initially I shuddered at taking a sawsall to the latch but after giving up on plan A I cut the latch. It took 10 minutes. Now I have to put everything back together.
Hi there,
I recently had my hood latch cables rust up on me and I was able to get a small cat claw around the ball, but when I pulled it broke off from the other end where the latch is.
is there a way to get this hood opened via another route?
Originally Posted by TSHong
When mine broke a couple of months back, we used a good old coat hanger to make the hook to open the hood. I can't believe people are advocating using hacksaw blades to cut off the hood latches. This is just bad advise when people have come up with a good plan here on this board.
Ball on my (HOOD RELEASE ) cable that insert into lock assembly #3 will not slide into or snap into lock housing I have basically routed cable thru fender as of now. yet unable to insert ball Cable seems a little short under dash interior Been fiddling with it for hours can’t seem to accomplish any help A4 AUDI 2005 2.0 Please help
03-03-2018, 07:32 PM
