I suspect this is not the only car dealer seen with stuck hood. I am sure they know how to handle this kind of problem. Please let us know how they open it.

 

You're not wrong, they wouldn't do this job on a Saturday morning, said they wanted the full day "just in case" they needed the time. In fairness they have also ordered the spare parts in to have them available if they are needed. They seem to be well prepared so obviously they have been down this road before....

P.

 

Any updates?

 

I would check with local body shops.
This has got to be a very common situation with front end damage and those guys see everything.

 

I had this problem on my E60 when I had the windshield replaced. They take the hood off completely and everything else. When the put it back on, the driver's side was sticking and didn't pop up. I can't remember exactly but it took a few minutes to fix. I used a flat head and went in through the grill or under hood and released the pin and it popped up. Then I used the torx bolts to finely adjust the hood latches. When they lined up properly i torqued them down. This was many moons ago. It doesn't take a genius to do it, only a little patience (you may not get it on the first try) and some common sense. Good luck.

 

Maybe for the center latch but not for the drivers side. The latch is behind the headlight with a square steel box for the in the way.

 

Folks,

Sorry for the late reply, December was a busy month !!

I spoke to the service rep and asked what they did to get it open..... in through the wheel arch, which in retrospect makes a lot of sense, looking at it now I reckon its about the only method to actually get at the latch with your hand and release it.

On my car the cable had actually bust right at the latch mechanism so there would have been no other way to release it other than pulling the latch mechanism with your finger. There replaced all of the cables to be on the safe side and give the latches a good lube.

The cost was just over 300 GBP.... but I got to scoot around in one of their Z4's for a couple days...

All things being equal if you keep the latches well lubricated so that they move freely you should be putting much stress on the cables each time you open the bonnet and hence shouldn't run into this issues. If you do run into this problem then off the wheel and arch liner and fumble around for the latch...

A lesson hard learned for me....

Best regards, Peter.

 

Thanks for the update!