Can't open hood. Latch too stiff to pull

[spark365]

Hi everyone!

So, I'm having a kinda difficult time with my car right now. Last week, I tried to open my hood by pulling the lever inside the car (with the drive door open, in case anyone asks), and it was so hard to pull that I literally snapped the handle. I ordered a new one and replaced everything, but it's still to hard to pull that I will certainly break it again If I pull it too hard. Right now, I have no idea how to open my stupid hood just to fill my windshield washer tank. The cable seems "stuck". It moves like a 1/2 inch but after that it's stuck. Weirdly, one day it works perfectly find but the other it's stuck.


Do you have any idea on what to do?

[b8audis4]

This happened to me after the dealer did the carbon cleaning. I believe they didn’t attach something correctly and it was binding. After using it more it seemed to get back closer to normal but still not 100%.

I later had an issue where the latch (safety mechanism) on the hood itself wouldn’t release properly, causing me to be unable to open the hood. My local shop disassembled everything and cleaned it and it seemed to work fine after that. I’d also recommend greasing the latch assembly located near the radiator as well to see if that helps.

[Mfryman1]

Spray the exposed cable ends with a good P-oil also and the latch Mech. that the latches onto. Also put a little grease on the "U" shaped latch that goes into the latch. Also there is a connection point about 1 foot away from the Drivers side headlight where the cable can be disconnected if you were going to remove the front end for service. This is also a place to spray the P-oil and lube abd check for obvious kinks where the ball socket fits together there. See circle with arrow.

Hood cable connection.jpg

[Nillious]

Have somebody put downward pressure on the hood in the latch area. Sometimes it helps

[spark365]

These are all very good recommendations... the only thing is that I literally cannot open the hood. Is there a way to open it from under the car ? I can't see any way to open it except from cutting the mechanism

[LYKUNO]

These are all very good recommendations... the only thing is that I literally cannot open the hood. Is there a way to open it from under the car ? I can't see any way to open it except from cutting the mechanism

A simple search revealed these (and more) threads on resolution of a failure to release the hood. One of them should guide you to a solution ...

https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...se-lever-stuck

https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...784-Hood-cable

https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...cted-or-broken

[spark365]

Well, my last option would be the "remove fender liner" trick. I will try it and see if it works.

[spark365]

Well found out that my hood was slightly misaligned, causing the mechanism to lock. I hammered the hook on the hood slightly and now everything is fine.

[LYKUNO]

Thanks for the update! Did you remove the fender liner to get it opened so that you could "realign" the latching hook? Hopefully it won't give you any more problems.

[spark365]

No! Actually my father wiggled it while I pulled on the latch and it released. Just pushing or pulling on the hood wasn't enough. I was on the fence of dismantling the fender line but I was glad I didn't have to

[LYKUNO]

Excellent! Good to hear it was an easy and inexpensive fix. In addition to straightening out the latching hook, it might be advisable to apply a bit of lubrication to the latching mechanism. According to the official Audi Scheduled Maintenance Intervals for the 2011 model year, at 55K/115K/175K Kilometers, in the "Doors" category, it calls for lubricating the door hinges, straps, locks and hood latch. If you haven't lubed it lately, it might also help the hood to pop up (more readily) when the inside release is pulled.

Thanks again for the confirmation of the fix!

[spark365]

First thing I did was lubricating it of course, but really, the misaligned hook was the only reason it was stuck in the first place.