within 2 hours of taking ownership..... dreaded hood latch cable popped off

[goonie284]

So my wife has owned a couple BMW 135i's, the hood release level under the dash is really stiff and requires some muscle. I've gotten used to it after working on her cars over the years. After taking ownership of a low mile 2015 Golf R today, stupid me went to open the hood and apparently summoned my inner Hulk. As soon as I felt the *pop* and the hood release did not return to its position I knew what I did.

Unfortunately the hood did not release and I spent the next couple hours going through the fender well and gaining access to the latch. I was able to hook it with a large O-Ring Pick and pop the hood. The little torx screws on the back of the headlight were the worst, the upper right screw must have taken 30 min to remove due to the tight access.

Not how I wanted to spend my afternoon but entertaining at my own expense

That darn headlight cover was so frustrating to remove!

so convenient that the cover popped open by itself, trying to open that through the wheel well would have been a nightmare!

 

[Pickleahoy]

Put zip ties on yer latch donger or suffer the consequences.

Glad you didnt have to ruin any parts in the process

 

[goonie284]

Put zip ties on yer latch donger or suffer the consequences.

Glad you didnt have to ruin any parts in the process

yeah man, bright green on the latch under the hood and bright green on the latch under the dash so I don't forget!!

 

[riceburner]

Oh boy thanks for the reminder - just ziptied mine!

 

[The Fed]

All right, why the zip tie, is it because the cable "holder" popped open from pulling too hard on the hood release?

 

[goonie284]

All right, why the zip tie, is it because the cable "holder" popped open from pulling too hard on the hood release?

From my understanding, the cable union under the hood is able to pop free because that outer cover pops open and allows the cable ball to slide out of the black clip it’s supposed to sit in. If we secure the outer cover with a zip tie it holds the cable ball in the black clip and doesn’t allow the ball to pop out of the side of the black clip.

also take a look at the black “fins” on the cable sheath on the left side. If you pull too far and hyper extend the spring it will bull back the cable sheath as well. Those fins are what hold that outer cover closed. So with the zip tie if you hyper extend the release handle hopefully the ball will stay in the black clip and you’ll just have to reseat the cable sheath in the fins slot

 

[ayao]

https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthr...hen-the-release-lever-mechanism-does-not-work

 

[Al_in_Philly]

It's a 5 year old car that's been driven in Chicago (i.e. salt spray winters), take a tip from us motorcyclists: pick up a can of cable lube and spray it into the cable housing. Put a rag under where you do it as it's messy. Over time, the lube will work its way down lubing the entire span of cable. A little grease or even WD-40 on the latch mechanism isn't a bad idea either.

 

[VDubberinDE]

So my wife has owned a couple BMW 135i's, the hood release level under the dash is really stiff and requires some muscle. I've gotten used to it after working on her cars over the years. After taking ownership of a low mile 2015 Golf R today, stupid me went to open the hood and apparently summoned my inner Hulk. As soon as I felt the *pop* and the hood release did not return to its position I knew what I did.

Unfortunately the hood did not release and I spent the next couple hours going through the fender well and gaining access to the latch. I was able to hook it with a large O-Ring Pick and pop the hood. The little torx screws on the back of the headlight were the worst, the upper right screw must have taken 30 min to remove due to the tight access.

Not how I wanted to spend my afternoon but entertaining at my own expense

View attachment 187281

View attachment 187250

That darn headlight cover was so frustrating to remove!
View attachment 187251

so convenient that the cover popped open by itself, trying to open that through the wheel well would have been a nightmare!
View attachment 187252

Why did you go through the fender?
VW has a way to open hood if latch cable fails. Pop off VW emblem on front of grill to access latch.

 

[jimlloyd40]

Why did you go through the fender?
VW has a way to open hood if latch cable fails. Pop off VW emblem on front of grill to access latch.

Can you do that with the models that have a camera behind the emblem?

 

[Golfs everyday]

That emblem is not easy to just pop off either. You have to take the grill apart to remove the emblem.. I mean literally take it apart. And that requires the hood to be open to remove the grill.

Nice work OP. Good to hear you found another way to access. I zip-tied mine a while back and have been very gentle with it when I need to open it (frequently to hook up battery manager). I don't even latch the hood while parked in the garage to minimize the pull cycle.

I had the opposite happen on my FiestaST the other month. I dropped the hood to close as usual, but wouldn't latch. Sprayed WD40 on the mechanism and it latched. Salt sucks.

 

[Fastlax16]

Did you buy that car from Roy? Assuming it was his since there can't be that many brown, low mile 15s that sold in Chicago in the last few days. If so its never seen winter or anything close to it.

 

[goonie284]

Did you buy that car from Roy? Assuming it was his since there can't be that many brown, low mile 15s that sold in Chicago in the last few days. If so its never seen winter or anything close to it.

Guilty as charged, Roy was pretty chill, we chatted about car stuff for a couple hours almost when I met him to look at it until my wife got sick of listening to us and said it was time to go .Yeah, him storing in the garage was a huuuuge bonus for me. I come from New York originally and then Virginia, I know what salt can do to cars. How did you meet Roy, cars and coffee?

That emblem is not easy to just pop off either. You have to take the grill apart to remove the emblem.. I mean literally take it apart. And that requires the hood to be open to remove the grill.

Nice work OP. Good to hear you found another way to access. I zip-tied mine a while back and have been very gentle with it when I need to open it (frequently to hook up battery manager). I don't even latch the hood while parked in the garage to minimize the pull cycle.

I had the opposite happen on my FiestaST the other month. I dropped the hood to close as usual, but wouldn't latch. Sprayed WD40 on the mechanism and it latched. Salt sucks.

Thanks dude, it was one of two methods I found online, the other was jamming some wood or plastic under the hood and unbolting the hood latch. That seemed less desirable and more likely to damage something but I didn't try so who knows.

Why did you go through the fender?
VW has a way to open hood if latch cable fails. Pop off VW emblem on front of grill to access latch.

Interesting, I thought I saw online that only worked for Mk 6 Golfs so I didn't investigate any further. So that method works for Mk 7 as well?

 

[Fastlax16]

Guilty as charged, Roy was pretty chill, we chatted about car stuff for a couple hours almost when I met him to look at it until my wife got sick of listening to us and said it was time to go .Yeah, him storing in the garage was a huuuuge bonus for me. I come from New York originally and then Virginia, I know what salt can do to cars. How did you meet Roy, cars and coffee?



Thanks dude, it was one of two methods I found online, the other was jamming some wood or plastic under the hood and unbolting the hood latch. That seemed less desirable and more likely to damage something but I didn't try so who knows.


Interesting, I thought I saw online that only worked for Mk 6 Golfs so I didn't investigate any further. So that method works for Mk 7 as well?

Met him on the mk6 forums and at a few of the mk6 group meetups. Good dude if you avoid talking politics w him. Did a couple of track days with him (1/2 mile down in Rantoul and 1/4 mile up at GLD). That thing is clean. I probably would have bought it from him earlier this year when I got back in to the game if VW hadn't started offering the 0% and no payments for 6 months. The tires and stock wheels have basically no mileage on them.

I mentioned this to him and he didn't believe me.

 

[goonie284]

Met him on the mk6 forums and at a few of the mk6 group meetups. Good dude if you avoid talking politics w him. Did a couple of track days with him (1/2 mile down in Rantoul and 1/4 mile up at GLD). That thing is clean. I probably would have bought it from him earlier this year when I got back in to the game if VW hadn't started offering the 0% and no payments for 6 months. The tires and stock wheels have basically no mileage on them.

I mentioned this to him and he didn't believe me.

Cool, I think avoiding politics applies to most the people I know if I want to keep the conversation civilized. That sounds like a hell of a deal, so you ended up with a 2019 Golf R? I was looking at a sub 10K mile 2019 stick shift Golf R a couple hours north but it sold before I could make it up there.

Yeah, I didn't measure the tread depth but they are a bit low, and at 140 treadwear I'm sure they will not last long. Thankfully they only need to last a couple weeks until I get hub spacers and some Tapered Lug Bolts for this set I just picked up from Facebook Marketplace:

they say sport edition so at LEAST +5 HP

Me and my wife used to run rallycross in VA in some subies, I see ice racing is a thing in Wisconsin, I wish it was a bit closer but thinking I might give it a shot until HPDE season comes around.