Bonnet won't open. Fans staying on

[salviablue]

I've just arrived at work and when I pull the bonnet release just one side opens.
It worked fine when I got it, and over the past couple of days it has gotten progressively worse. The side with the strut was becoming a bugger to open, ended up popping the trim around the release handle trying to open it.
Earlier today I decided to have a look at it and noticed that side was loose, so I tightened it up, tested it and it was fine. Driving into town a moment later and the bonnet popped on that side. Pushing the bonnet down just wouldn't hold, felt as though the latch was just on the edge and not over enough to hold the bonnet. I released the other side with the handle, pushed down the troublesome side and it caught fine, walked over to the other side, pushed that down and the trouble side popped open again and wouldn't catch!
So I drove home bonnet half closed, opened up and decided to loosen the cable whatsit. I thought to myself, "I ought to clamp something onto the end of that cable just incase it pulls through". But not having anything to hand and with me needing to get to work, closed the bonnet - and both sides held this time - and set off to work.
Now I've been having trouble with the fans staying on too long, am going to fit a kill switch, and draining the battery just enough that if she doesn't start first/second turn, then I have to leave it a good while. Besides, the original (?) fan is quite noisy and the other fan I beleive is a fiesta(?) fan, powerful and fairly quiet. I remember something about people replacing the fans with those ford ones.
I was also leaving the stereo unit on for the code entry screen to reappear and try some of those digits found on the stereo unit so I didn't want a dead battery.
I can still hear the fan going on now (nearly an hour now)!
They do cut out eventually!
The guy that rebuilt some of the car said that the thermostat(?) kicked the fans in too early and that the temp guage in the car read a little over what the actual temp was.
The fans tend to kick in when the temp guage is reading about half way but continue to run after switching off the engine for some time. I have turned the ignition to get a temp reading when the fans where still on after a run and usually read at about a quarter, this was say 20 -30 mins after killing the engine.

Anyway, I digress. Any way I can open the bonnet where the cable has come off the adjust whatsit at the catch?

Scratch the emergency, a little jiggling did it, I think she saw me approaching with a coat hanger, knew my intention, and decided to give when I tried a little jiggle before "slipping her one"!

Just tried the ignition and the temps reading cold and the engine is cool.

All the fluids look fine. Except the PAS oil which is a little low, will sort that tomorrow.
Engine oil is clear and upto the max mark.
Oil filler cap is clear.
Water level is three ways up the can.
She never runs over midway on the guage, expect when I was stuck in a traffic queue on the motorway on the way home from picking her up. It went a little over the half way space, but cooled back to centre once traffic started moving again.
Engine sounds as sweet as my untrained ear can tell (I did that listening with a stick trick all over the cam, the bottom end and what I could get to of the top end.)
The only slight worry is a tapping/tickety tick coming from the big black thick disc thing attached to the bulk head on the drivers side (the ticking was right in my head when using the stick) which I have hopefully deducted correctly as being something to do with the PAS and its low oil/hydrolic fluid level.

Any advice??

[mat grant]

Hi,

The bonnet catch is something that worries me - if the cable snaps, how do you get the bonnet open without damaging anything??

Glad you got it open - I've got an Eclat, but it has the same arrangement as the Excel. On some cars (with front bonnet catches) you can reach underneath and open that way, but I can't see any way you could get to the catches, which just leaves forcing it(?)

has anyone else had this problem, and if so how did they solve it?

Cheers, Mat.

[pompey ice]

Hi there I had the near side cable rusted and snapped and could only peek through the o/s opening,this i did and made a mental note of the shape / contours of the body where the catch is fitted then mirror imaged it ,assumed the lotus position n/s well and drilled a 1/8th pilot hole [that missed] 2nd hole bingo put a small screwdriver in hole and bonnet popped open, you have to take the panel under the glove box out of course, as for new cable i got from wilkinsons a bicycle brake cable cut to size and used an electrical washer type crimp at the lever end ,hope these few pearlies are useful.

cheers Ian

Hi,

The bonnet catch is something that worries me - if the cable snaps, how do you get the bonnet open without damaging anything??

Glad you got it open - I've got an Eclat, but it has the same arrangement as the Excel. On some cars (with front bonnet catches) you can reach underneath and open that way, but I can't see any way you could get to the catches, which just leaves forcing it(?)

has anyone else had this problem, and if so how did they solve it?

Cheers, Mat.

[Doc Si]

The "big black disc thing" must be the Brake Servo not the PAS. PAS reservoir is on the nearside wheel arch & the pump down in the depths at the front of the engine getting its bolts all seized up.

[salviablue]

Yep that bonnet release is bit of a worry, should the cable go. i think it only popped for me because the actual catch had stuck not fully "closed". Good idea about the emergency drilling fix (would need to plug it back up with a rubber stopper or something, help reduce water intake and have it releasable should it go again).

I`ll post the tickety tick thing seperately i think. Cheers for id though.

[Graham F]

i've had a problem with my bonnet catch for years, in my case hit a bump and up pops one corner; aftermuch trial and error i may have the solution;

the latch attached to the body work has a groove in it which holds the bonnet catch - in my case the two were not a great match so i simply filed the latch to make the gap a little larger and hey presto problem solved - hope this is of some help

[bash]

I know Ive said this before, but, it sometimes pays to be a pessimist. I connected two old bits of pushbike brake cable to the levers under the bonnet and let them trail down out of the way down the side of the engine bay, they are hardly noticable from the top. When one of my cables snapped I just got under the car and pulled my emergency cable with some pliers !!

Bash

[salviablue]

Graham F
"the latch attached to the body work has a groove in it which holds the bonnet catch - in my case the two were not a great match so i simply filed the latch to make the gap a little larger and hey presto problem solved - hope this is of some help"

Not entirely sure what you mean here, probably just me being a bit dense!


Bash
"I connected two old bits of pushbike brake cable to the levers under the bonnet and let them trail down out of the way down the side of the engine bay"

Thats Genius! I think i`ll be pinching that idea!