The bonnet on my 2.4 Abarth won't open...
Pulled the lever in the foot-well gently - nothing, pulled harder, still nothing. Gave up & went for a drive.
Tried later - nothing, pulled lever harder and this flimsy plastic handle came off in my hand!!
I'm obviously gonna have to get it into the dealership but anyone got any ideas??
Your bonnet sticking is quite common at this time of year as the catch gets dry of lub.
Now that you have the release catch in your hand (Ha! ) then grab the end of the cable with a mole wrench or similar and pull on the cable-not too hard- once it comes to the end then there isn't any more- as you've found- but at the same time have someone pull up and down on the bonnet by the catch. If haven't any friends around then driving no more than 20mph on a bumpy road (plenty of them around) whilst pulling on the cable will achieve the same. That usually does the trick.
Once it's up then lub the catch and also LUB THE SAFETY CATCH as this can also stick as many Bravo owners have found to their cost. This means that if the bonnet pops up when you're on the move then the bonnet just flies all the way up with nothing to stop it and it moves with terrific force damaging the bonnet and everything else in it's path. In the case of Bravos smacking onto the roof. In the case of Stilos it would probably go up to the bonnet up locks and crease the bonnet or tear out the struts.
Very expensive provided you're still alive as driving with the bonnet up isn't fun. It's happened to me a long time ago, it just tore the safety catch off and took it with it If it happens to you then you're usually on a straight fast road so don't panic, look out the side, keep the thing straight and slow down gradually
Just to make my weekend complete-
I found a screw in my FLAT rear tyre this morning!! :bang:
Have booked it in & will hopefully get it plugged, or else it's £71 for a new Eagle F1.............
