[gspinks11]

Pleaseeeeee help.. ugh what a week its been.

I'll save the long story for the end in case anyone wants to know how my luck is (my entire life seems to be this way lol)..

My hood is stuck, its an e92 335xi and i managed to get the drivers side unlatched by opening the wheel well, i pulled the cables and it got the drivers side,m the passenger WONT budge no matter how hard i pull.
tried screwdriver and metal rod through grille and headlamp..



*Long part*
pulled hood up as much as i could and opened brake cable connector and it looked fine, tried pulling it with pliers, no good.. even CUT the brake cable off the little metal block thats there and pulled just the passenger brake cable with pliers and it just isn't pulling.

This has never gotten stuck before and I know the hood was pretty tight with the knobs on the frame that you use to raise and lower it when its shut. So this would cause the hood latch inside the car to be a little harder to pull but always worked.. until today..

I tried EVERYTHING I can think of.. screw driver through/above the headlamp and also tried through the grill by taking that out.

My hoods in near perfect condition and im at the point now im going to cut if off to get to the hood latch and fix this properly and buy a new hood. Seems like a huge waste of 300-400$ though. even though i do want a new m3 hood now is not the time..

I dont know what a shops going to do that I cant? Im sure they are more skilled but im extremely handy and im quite surprised that after multiple days of effing with this thing I havent been able to unlatch it like the youtube videos.


I got a long metal rod and a long screw driver and I even think im hitting the right spot of the latch and almost think its just too hard to press somehow because its stuck that bad??? I dont know if the hood latch has like a hook to it which is kind of keeping me from pushing the lock mechanism back but thats what it seems like.

I can ALMOST see from under the car without the belly cover on..


HELPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP.



I literally just changed spark plugs which also became a debacle with a broken spark plug in the block so that was fun but i got lucky and was able to get out with little effort with the right custom made tool basically.. car was running MINT then next thing u know i go get ice cream with the wife, loose power steering and battery light goes on, no ac...

get home try to open the hood, cant because the hoods stuck.. and most likely my belt just broke.

So good ol' me trying to do maintenance and car for the car, the car says F you basically and not only will the belt break, we'll make it impossible to get to the belt and fix it! lol

So yeah good times..

A grown man is about to cry lol if not.. go crazy

So i have the new belt and tensioners already and I bought new extra long thin screw drivers which will be here in a week and i HOPE i can persevere because i rarely every quit and almost ALWAYS get the job done so this is extremely frustrating.

If I cut the hood off, i'll cut a small square near the latch and see if the latch can be unscrewed from the bottom of the hood or something or ill cut the latch off and maybe try and see my welding skills and fix the hood back up and paint it... (dont have any of that equipment either so that would be a new expensive hobby.,..)

[gspinks11]

The best thing I can think of, is if I can send someone a screw driver, who can bend it so that it fits through the grille and hits the passenger side while they have their hood open they could make the tool bent exactly as I need. and I'm sure i'll have to mess with it still but i'll KNOW that I should be able to hit the right spot rather then assume...

I'm basically working off this blind and from crap videos on youtube, and I seem to have the most stubborn case EVER apparently.. cuz I'm no Einstein but im quite the Mcgyver

[gspinks11]

The stubborn baby attached...

[Phil325i]

Have you used the search facility on this forum? Or even Google? There are loads of apparent solutions out there...

[TheTallJS]

wd-40 on hood latch

[gspinks11]

Originally Posted by Phil325i

Have you used the search facility on this forum? Or even Google? There are loads of apparent solutions out there...

I did actually, i used the sh** out of google and youtube and did find other posts for the past week.

I was hoping maybe someone had a titanium silver hood or some other miracle i guess to be honest because at this point it seems like a long shit. idk how i can even wd40 the latch i cant even get to it so id be guessing spraying who knows where on a latch that i dont think the mechanisk is so stuck, i think its more so the pressure is so tight between the hood and the frame.

the hood hook/latch on the hood itself (not the middle but the passengers and drivers side) seems to be pulling UPWARD on the lock mechanism very very tightly as the hood is very tight to the frame due to the rubber hood-rest pieces you use to adjust the height of the hood being adjusted a little higher to make the hood line up with the fenders properly.

I tried pulling up on the hood to break the latch but it seems quite strong..

may try carefully wedging and hammering a crowbar between them and get a little leverage and retry that..

2 weeks of searching forums and i finally found that in another post on this forum but it seemed simple and it worked fort someone else and i hadn't thought of that yet, so im also hoping for maybe another "shot in the dark" if anyone has..

[gspinks11]

***KING GOT IT!!!!

ordered these https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

bent the flat head one in the set at about a 40 degree angle or so, and then used the screwdriver threw/above the headlight method and it worked...

I was still messing with it initially having major doubts due to this being a blind hopeless jab at the lock mechanism.

Figured I'd finish up the post in case anyone else has doubts in the future, just have determination beyond what you think you need and you'll succeed lol,

I've NEVER been so happy to have my hood open.


If anyone ever has issues with this, I will be glad to help.. just PM me, i dont post alot but I review this often