Hi, hoping for advice.

The bonnet will not open, I have a new grill so was able to mutilate the old one to get nearer the locking mechanism.

The cable was still working up to the headlight then nothing. Found the cable coming from the lock, yanked it, cable and half a bit of plastic(sleeve) came away from lock. If there is a tab or spring in the lock and approximate position that I need to pull/press, could anyone let me know please? Or any help at all would be appreciated. Should I buy a new lock and chisel the old one away?

Picture of the bottom of lock and front of car with temp grill on

If you can pull the rusty arm with a hole in it at the top of your second picture downwards it should open as I'm pretty certain that's where the cable end was attached after passing round the black plastic guide. Might be worth spraying a bit of lubricant in there first though as it's likely rusted stiff.

Edited 12 September, 202512 Sep by skomaz

Thankyou for replying, I'll spray some wd40 on it a let it fester before I give try it.

Ideally not traditional WD40. It will work in the short term, but tends to attract dirt and will gum up in the longer term. It’s not really intended as a lubricant.

I prefer using silicone spray (available under the WD40 brand). It is intended as a lubricant, and can be used on plastics and rubbers where you shouldn’t use traditional WD40.

Quick update, it's open! Thanks so much for the help. Going to slather it in lubricant. Seriously thanks, it was driving me crackers.

On my old 2008 Octavia TDi, my bonnet cable came apart. It's in two parts joined by a plastic Widget" and it was this that had failed. Took the Green Flag breakdown man nearly two hours to break in.....

Dr Mike Oxgreen is partially right about WD40 the standard stuff is only really suitable for freeing off stuck or rusty components and is a slicone containing spray. What I suspect he means in the second part of his post is their PTFE spray lubricant which dries to a slippery surface. Best to not allow your bonnet catch to get that rusty in the first place.

Edited 19 October, 202519 Oct by SwallownAmazon