Engine Lid Won't Open After Adjustment

[Turkocharged182]

I need help Pelicans. I have recently been adjusting my engine lid to make the gaps line up a little better than the way I bought the car from the previous owner. I added some shims and closed the lid to check the gap and now the lid will no longer pop open. Is there a trick to reach the latch without damaging anything? I have looked at my Bentley manual and don't see anything about getting the engine lid open like the manual has about drilling a hole to get the hood open. Does anybody have a trick to this lid open? This is on my '83 SC with rear wing.

Please help.

Thanks in advance. This is only my second time posting but I have been stalking you guys for a while now.

[Porchcar guy]

I beleive it is a 2 person job...one pulling the handle and one pushing down gently on the cover above the latch and then ...hopefully pulling the cover up quickly. Others may chime in here as they may know more than me.

[Ronnie's.930]

If you do a search for "engine lid stuck" you will find many former threads on the subject (like this one) -

Help, Can't Open Hood!

[80-911SC]

Just a hint for those thinking of re adjusting the deck lid ....

remove the grill screen first ... adjust the decklid then and only then put it back in ...

that way you can reach in and pop the latch if you need to ....

This does not work if you have a turbo tail or the others without the removable grill ....

for those I suggest taking a piece of air craft line or high test fishing line and tie it off to the latch at the cable .. that way you can tug on it a bit harder and get it to move a bit more than the decklid release t handle will allow you to ...

I have this on both ends of the 911's and the 914 ... just in case the release pulls snap ..

[Turkocharged182]

Thanks for the link Ronnie. The picture with the red Porsche helped me see what I need to know. It looks like I need to push the plunger piece towards the passenger side some to get it to come loose. I currently have the rear bumper, reflector, and muffler all removed but there is still no room to get to the latch itself.

I was able to get a slim jim in there last night and I tried pushing the plunger but still couldn't get it to release. I only had my 6 year old there to help me and he isn't quite strong enough to pull the lever. I will try some more tonight if I can find a slightly stronger helper.

[fred cook]

If nothing else works, jack up the rear of the car and support on jackstands. Remove the muffler to gain some working space. Should be 4 bolts and two straps to get the muffler off. There is a rubber gasket between the engine tin and the body. you should be able to reach past the rubber and push the latch open. Hope this helps!

[tobluforu]

Get some vice grips, pull the latch, and attach vise grips to cable so it does not retract, then try and jimmy it.

[80-911SC]

Originally Posted by fred cook

If nothing else works, jack up the rear of the car and support on jackstands. Remove the muffler to gain some working space. Should be 4 bolts and two straps to get the muffler off. There is a rubber gasket between the engine tin and the body. you should be able to reach past the rubber and push the latch open. Hope this helps!

when you get this far .. remove the engine .. it can be done from the bottom you need to remove the air hoses and reach in ..

[kkinzli]

When I recently installed mine I took the top male part of the latch off of the decklid and fitted it in the female part on the cross member to make sure it fit and was able to be released using the pull on the driver door. Once I was sure this worked I installed the male part of latch back on the decklid and it worked fine!

[will hung]

When this happened to me, I just pulled the latch handle in the door frame and held it open using a taped up screw driver, then lifted the lid. I quickly learned to remove the latch on the engine lid first when making adjustments. Get my gaps right and then re-install the latch on the engine lid. It is made with adjustments in mind also.

[Turkocharged182]

So far you have all had good ideas but none of these help me get out of the situation that I got myself into. I will definitely do some of these tricks when I finally get this thing open.

The problem is that I still can't get it open. Right now there is no muffler, taillights, rear reflector, or lower heat shield piece on the car. This is all removed due to other work I have been doing when I decided to make a few tweeks on the rear deck lid.

I had a couple of friends over last night that helped me tug on it, slim jim it, and pull the cable (just in case the vice grips weren't holding tight enough). I even looped a piece of speaker wire through the gap and tried to pull the plunger the way I think it needs to go which is towards the driver seat. I have even tried pulling it other directions. None of this is working. My friends were willing to rip the wing off but I am still thinking we can do this without damaging anything.

I am thinking now that I might need to cut a hole in the metal from the bottom. I am hoping that I can maybe cut or bent the metal divider piece that has the rubber strip attached to give me more room to get to the latch. I am still open for more ideas and I am hoping I can find another 911 close by that I can look at to help me get a better idea. Anybody?

Just for the record I am not a moron and I have been turning wrenches for a long time but this one is really kicking my arse. This is my first 911 but I have worked on many cars. I have been to factory schools and I currently am an automotive designer.

[tobluforu]

Try the opposite method, unscrew the T handle.

[Iciclehead]

Some good advice here, one thing that I learned to my chagrin is that the latch's default position is OPEN, and that the cable tensions the retaining lever to catch on the upper latch. Once tension on the cable is released it snaps open.....so one option is to just cut the wire somewhere you can reach.

Probably the better option has already been suggested, namely to unscrew the handle. I would check for you, but my car is in storage for the winter, but if I recall the handle in the door pillar screws on to the cable end..if you unscrew it that will release the cable and *should* release the tension which in turn will release the latch.

Dennis

[jstobo]

Unfortunately the cable is not the problem. The problem is that the plunger is not centered in the latch and the lip of the plunger is catching a side of the latch and preventing the lid from opening. If you can get at the plunger you will need a BF pry bar to move the plunger away from the latch.

I did the same thing to my front trunk lid. Ended up cutting a hole in the suspension pan and using a pry bar to pry the plunger free. Coming from the bottom, I could get the pry bar on the end of the plunger to pry it away from the latch. After readjusting and making sure everything worked I then rewelded the pan.

You say you are new to 911's. Unfortunately we learn by experience-most of it bad. But a lesson for everyone is that on a 911 you never close a lid until you are certain that the plunger is in the center of the latch.

[mean_in_green]

Had the same problem, tried all the suggestions on here but none worked. Ended up taking the silencer off and cutting an access hole from underneath, was easy and it worked. Have pics if you want to see them showing where to drill?

[Turkocharged182]

I agree with the last two posts. I have been hoping to see another car locally to get a better idea where I might have to drill from underneath but have not found anyone yet. Mean_in_green can you please post your pictures. This is exactly what I need.

I had to walk away from this for a few days after I got dirty in my eye and was afraid of what damage I might do after that. Thanks in advance.

[Turkocharged182]

Mean in green please help as soon as you can find the time. I'm still dead in the water without some pics.

Happy New Year Everybody.