Right, my car was booked in for MoT this morning. Yesterday I got it steam cleaned, washed and took it to have the headlights set. When in the garage the bonnet opened and closed with no issue. This morning before the test I went to open the bonnet to top up the washer bottle and no pop!

 

The handle is working fine and there is some tension in the cable which brings it back almost to the original position. I can hear cable moving behind the badge but there's no click to release the catch.

 

I have searched a dozen other threads which either have a broken handle (floppy no tension) or a disjointed cable. But both these lose all tension in the handle but I can still here the cable moving at the catch.

 

I can't remember before if the handle was at the end of travel when opening the bonnet, but would it be common for the cable to stretch a little and maybe need adjusted at the handle? The car is 6 years old.

 

I'm going to take the handle and cover of tomorrow and start there.

Got someone to push / pull on bonnet while you pull the lever

The cable will have separated behind the os headlamp. Take the os wheel off and arch liner out. Then reach along the back of the head lamp for the cable and pull.

When you have the bonnet open reconnect the cable and keep the connection joint closed with a cable tie. This will prevent it happening again.

The cable will have separated behind the os headlamp. Take the os wheel off and arch liner out. Then reach along the back of the head lamp for the cable and pull.

When you have the bonnet open reconnect the cable and keep the connection joint closed with a cable tie. This will prevent it happening again.

Should the lever not hav lost all tension if its disconnected?

Got someone to push / pull on bonnet while you pull the lever

Tony, I tried this and then the examiner at the test centre tried too but no joy.

Should the lever not hav lost all tension if its disconnected?

No because the first part is still connected.

Used to do a couple a week at main dealer.

No because the first part is still connected.

Used to do a couple a week at main dealer.

Thanks Tech. Will look to get it into the wheel arch and hopefully getting some sort of temporary repair done.

The cable will have separated behind the os headlamp. Take the os wheel off and arch liner out. Then reach along the back of the head lamp for the cable and pull.

When you have the bonnet open reconnect the cable and keep the connection joint closed with a cable tie. This will prevent it happening again.

Tech, I took off the wheel and arch liner. I got my hand in just enough to get hold of the cable and give it a pull, but it just went slack and when I pulled the rest of it I got about 12-18 inches of cable and the open joint.

 

Looking at the gap behind the front light, there is no way I could get through there and past the fuel filter to go any further, and I don't have the largest of hands or arms. I assume the point where the two cables connect is very close to the catch and I have no chance of reaching that.

 

What next?

 

Could someone take a photo of where the cable runs along the front of the engine bay and post it please, I tried the internet and couldn't find anything useful.

 

Thanks

Looks like there is plenary on here but I will share my experience. 

 

Pulled the relielise in the cab and he handle came off totally sheared the plastic teeth (rubbish design). 

Took the trim off, 1 torx bolt next to the Bonnet catch and 1 plastic fastener near the accleltor peddle and then pull up from from around the door seal. 

Take the mech off with two more torx bolts

wiggle the cable and the ball on the ball on the end out of the mech 

next I got some pliers give the ball a good pull whilst a friend pushed vigorously (down repeatedly seemed to work when just holding down didn't) on the front of the bonnet. 

 

Hope this helps some one. Took me ages to figure it out!

On 08/07/2016 at 01:19, cmcm789 said:

Tech, I took off the wheel and arch liner. I got my hand in just enough to get hold of the cable and give it a pull, but it just went slack and when I pulled the rest of it I got about 12-18 inches of cable and the open joint.

 

Looking at the gap behind the front light, there is no way I could get through there and past the fuel filter to go any further, and I don't have the largest of hands or arms. I assume the point where the two cables connect is very close to the catch and I have no chance of reaching that.

 

What next?

 

Could someone take a photo of where the cable runs along the front of the engine bay and post it please, I tried the internet and couldn't find anything useful.

 

Thanks

I've the exact same problem, @cmcm789 how did you managed to fix it ?

I took it to my mechanic who had experienced the same issue with an audi years ago. Himself and another mechanic put it on the lift and worked at it from behind the radiator. A long arm (and possible pliers?) and lots of scrapes later and they were able to locate the cable and release it by hand. They said there is just enough room behind the radiator to get a hand up behind the bonnet catch. 

 

Just as well, as he said the next option was to take an angle grinder to the bonnet!!

 

Good luck with it.

Thank you ! Our bonnet latch seems to be VERY WELL concealed ! Looking through the grille using a torch, I can hardly find any opening to reach the latch.

Will probably need to send it into the workshop...

Pulled my arch liner off and pulled the cable. It has tension and heard a few snaps (suspect they are the clips). Bonnet stay shut. Guess my latch must have seized ....

Ideally also pull cable with someone pressing on bonnet but the cable may dislodged now. 

After much struggle, removed undertray and stretched my arm up ... pulled the cable and it popped.

Although the connector between the 2 pieces of cable is right, it seems the have dislodged inside. Open it up, made sure it sit properly, closed it and zip tied it.

Just wanted to share my experience (nightmare) of opening my bonnet.  I removed the lower grille (level with fog lights, just pulls out), then reached up and pushed out the main grille (there is a single Torx into the top near the badge, the rest is clipped).  Once this is out, you can start to see where the catch is, there are 2 bolts holding it in place.  There is plastic ducting underneath the catch.  I bent this out the way and cut slots in with some tin snips so I could bend this out of the way enough to insert a screwdriver into the mechanism and tap gently with a hammer.  The mechanism is quite tightly sprung, you can feel it with your fingers.  I couldn't shift so used the screwdriver.  There are vids etc of people massacring Golfs to get to this if you're not clear how it works.

 

The bonnet then popped up and I was able to do the usual reconnecting of cable.

 

Hope this helps.  I couldn't find any specific help for an Octavia 2, hence this post.

I experienced an absolute nightmare with this a couple of months ago. Mine is a 2010 fl vrs petrol. Exactly the same issue in that one day bonnet fine and the next day just would not pop. Cable still had tension at the release handle. Stripped arch liner and under tray but no matter how much yanking on the cable or what was done with the small part of the latch you could get to it would not release. My nightmare ended with resorting to the extreme of cutting the bonnet and when we did so we found that the latch had completely seized. I suppose this shouldn’t be a surprise as it is very exposed to the elements through the front grille. Luckily I managed to source a replacement bonnet in a matching colour and being Silver fortunately the match is almost perfect. Needless to say I replaced all mechanism and cable and will now make it a routine job cleaning and greasing the bonnet catch 

On 02/07/2016 at 23:21, Tech1e said:

The cable will have separated behind the os headlamp. Take the os wheel off and arch liner out. Then reach along the back of the head lamp for the cable and pull.

When you have the bonnet open reconnect the cable and keep the connection joint closed with a cable tie. This will prevent it happening again.

 

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but many thanks tech1e for this advice. 

Managed to open my bonnet today after over extending my handle which popped the metal sleeve off the cable in the bowden connector.

Time to get some axle stands on your Christmas list 😂