S40 bonnet (hood) catch broken - how do I open bonnet?!

Discussion in 'Volvo S40' started by Jonathan, Jan 27, 2005.

  1. Jonathan

    Jonathan Guest

    I pulled the bonnet catch on my UK S40 1.6 (2000 if it makes any
    difference) yesterday, and the lever went all floppy...the wire had
    come out of the catch.
    Had a quick look and tried to lever the catch through the grill, local
    garage couldn't sort it either. Called Volvo, they want "anything
    between £95 and £195 + vat and parts" to sort it out. As this is the
    same (only) garage that charged me £28 labour PLUS PARTS to change a
    wiper blade (3 minute job, meaning they must be pricing labour at
    £560/hour!) I thought I'd give it a miss and see if you fine people
    had any suggestions.

    What I can see is a little lever which you pull up, but fiddling with a
    screwdriver didn't seem to work. Is there something else I need to
    tweak first?
     
    Jonathan, Jan 27, 2005
    #1
  2. Jonathan

    Andy Burke Guest

    I had to bite the bullet and take the front grille off to open mine

    Andy
    UK
    1998 V40
    I pulled the bonnet catch on my UK S40 1.6 (2000 if it makes any
    difference) yesterday, and the lever went all floppy...the wire had
    come out of the catch.
    Had a quick look and tried to lever the catch through the grill, local
    garage couldn't sort it either. Called Volvo, they want "anything
    between £95 and £195 + vat and parts" to sort it out. As this is the
    same (only) garage that charged me £28 labour PLUS PARTS to change a
    wiper blade (3 minute job, meaning they must be pricing labour at
    £560/hour!) I thought I'd give it a miss and see if you fine people
    had any suggestions.

    What I can see is a little lever which you pull up, but fiddling with a
    screwdriver didn't seem to work. Is there something else I need to
    tweak first?
     
    Andy Burke, Jan 27, 2005
    #2
  3. Jonathan

    Jonathan Guest

    I gave up finding a garage who knew, so I just had to go for it and
    pull the grill off. This DID break the plastic clips, but I did an
    invisible mend with some clever use of grey cable ties until I get a
    decent replacement grille from a breakers yard.

    I looked carefully, and I could see no way I could have made a tool to
    get at the bonnet release, even once I'd seen it, it seemed too fiddly.

    The cost of the repair? 30 minutes of time, a £2 bicycle brake cable
    and a 20p solderless nipple. ..
     
    Jonathan, Jan 28, 2005
    #3
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