Car please help

moneyspender1981

Hi,

I'm having a real nightmare lately including a house fire etc.

Now I have just bumped my car doing approx 3 mph in car park in the snow, locked the wheels and bumped a metal fence... doesnt look like any damage but i tried to pop the bonnet open but it will open to the catch but the catch wont move.. think bumper must be pressing back.

I literally have no money at moment due to current circumstances..... Does anyone have any advice to get bonnet open or is it just a hammer and screw driver job

thescouselander

I would have thought a bit of "gentle pursuaision" would do the trick. Are you sure the stuck catch is down to the bump - it might have been stuck already. what car is it?

moneyspender1981

It definately opened before, so can only pursume it doesn't open due to the bump.... was quite a loud bang.

Its a 2003 Mg ZR so not the best quality car :-)

ormus

you can sometimes open em using two men/peeps.
one operates the bonnet catch, whilst the other bounces hard on the bonnet catch area, with both hands. use an up and down movement.
with a bit of luck the catch will move by itself.

Nile

Hello moneyspender1981

I'll move your thread to the 'Motoring & Public Transport' board.

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

Regards

Nile

GT60

Hi if you crall under the car at the front and look up or feel at the centre of the slam plate (the bit the bonnet sits on) you will see cable if you follow it you will feel the wire and not the outer cable ( like a brake cable on a push bike) this connects to the bonnet catch.
You should be able to pull the wire either to the front or the back of the car ( if you need to use a screw driver as a lever on the cable) and this will release the bonnet catch.
If not at the end of the wire you will be able to feel the catch if you can pull this towards the cable it will open.
Yes you will get dirty cut hands and a stiff neck..
BECAREFULL of the radiator the catch is just above it DONT put the screw driver near the rad!!!!!!!!
Dont push down on the bonnet hard like ormus says as you will have a large DENT in it just push down on it a few times whilst someone pulls the bonnet release repeatedly.
Hope this helps Niall
If you send( PM) some pics when the bonnet is open of the damaged area i may be able to tell you how to fix it.