Engine compatment wont open....?

My back engine cover used to not shut all the way and ised to sometimes fly open on the street when I was driving..about a week ago when it opened up I had a friend of mine jump out and close it. He slammed it really hard and got it to shut all the way..the only problem is now i cannot get it open again. When I pull on the lever in the door it does nothing... does anybody have an Idea on how i can get it open..?

That's a tough one. 911's are built with a fail safe, in that if the cable breaks the latch will unlatch automatically. Have someone push down on the decklid while you pull on the release handle. That should free up the latch enough to release.

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Tyson Schmidt
72 911 cabriolet (964 bodywork)

I had the *exact* same thing happen to me.

If you look at your font hood latch you'll see that the upper part has a bolt which is adjustable. The end of the bolt is rounded off like a mushroom cap. That cap is supposed to catch on the latch at the bottom. If the bolt is adjusted too long the cap will go past the latch and catch on a fixed object below the latch. So now the latch is no longer holding the lid closed.
Pushing on the lid and pulling on the cable won't open it, and may make it worse.

Fortunately mine was adjusted so long that I had about 3/4" gap between the lid and body when it was closed. I was able to get a wrench up there and remove the two bolts that hold the upper part of the latch to the deck lid. You might also be able to get a wrench on the adjustable nut that control the length of the bolt and turn it until the entire bolt and spring come compeletely out.

If you don't have enough room, you might have to resort to removing the muffler and rear bumper.

After you get it unstuck, adjust that bolt so that it is very short, and then lengthen it so that it just catches.

Good luck.

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Greg
72 911S

[This message has been edited by ggalloway (edited 12-02-2000).]