Krisbiker2

Has anyone found a way of opening the bonnet on the E60 (OK smart ar**'s- I've tried lever by door!) The bonnet is releasing on one side and centre but not on the other (Drivers side UK, Pass side anyone else). I think its self inflicted as I had bonnet shut panel off recently, 1st time trying to open since. Theres no releasing noise from the side thats staying locked. Long term this will be a problem for others if release cable snaps so any ideas would probably be helpful to others in the future as well. Anyone else, I'd suggest checking release operation BEFORE shutting bonnet if you've removed shut panel.

Krisbiker2

Ok all-went to dealer out of desperation after not finding any easy way into catch and now fixed. Heres what the dealer did: remove front bumper mounting screws from underside, centre and both ends. Release bumper ends from clips. Remove grills from bumper. Now comes what I imagine is not for the faint hearted: you cannot remove the top mounting screws for the bumper with the bonnet closed so you have to carefully pull the bumper up from the bottom through an arc until you have enough space to gain access to the catch through the grill opening. You then release the catch, and put it all back together. There was no damage to any parts (I had started to consider cutters, jigsaws etc )Dealer only charged me 2 hours labour as well - I dropped car off and left them to work on it when they could at their convieniance

luigi524td

In the past, on another BMW model, the small spring loaded plungers at each end of the radiator cross beam (at the front of the car) had failed. They actually push the hood up when the latches are unlatched.

Otherwise the hood "seems" to be jammed shut.

I hate to tell you but ... it's probably likely that if you applied some upward pressure at the front edge of the hood while someone pulled the hood release, it might have popped up. At least that's how I solved a problem very similar (if not exactly) as you described.

Krisbiker2

I actually had 1 person pulling release lever, pulled bonnet up on free side so I could release the centre spring catch and then put upwards/sideways pressure etc on the jammed side to the point that the bonnet started to deform- at that point I decided it was well and truely stuck! The outer catches on the bonnet hook around a solid loop- BMW seem to have made the system very solid- I assume to lower the chance of theft.

Chazaxl

I had a similar issue - easier fix.

Jack up right front of the car - remove tyre, put hand into the top of the gap at the highest point - feel around and you will find a box there - remove the box and pull it while someone pulls on the lever. Unless your cable is broken, it should open.

Mine was basically unlatching from the latch so the cable was being pulled but not enough 'pull' on it to open the catch.