Help - Carrera 3.2 '86 front bonnet won't open

[fluque]

Received delivery of a Carrera 3.2 1986 recently and the battery drained.

Inserted the key, turned and tried pulling the handle to open the front bonnet. It won't open. There is not much pull on the handle, it feels jammed.

Any ideas??

[jchunt7]

Maybe have someone push down a bit on the hood while you pull the handle. Try and get some tension off the latch.

[fluque]

Thanks JC. Just tried it to no avail

[RSBob]

Found using search... Here is how I got in. I pulled the rubber seal that seals the front pan (runs the entire width of front of the car) just below the hood. Luckily mine was new and did not tear (if yours is old, it will possible rip, so plan on replacing it). I could then see the two, front 10mm bolts on the lower latch. I was able to remove them with an open ended wrench. There is a third bolt you cannot access, but removing the two allowed the latch to "flex" a little. Then by gently prying up on the hood with a padded, wood wedge, I could just access the two, top latch bolts. As they loosened, the latch moved and the lid popped free!

[fluque]

Thanks Bob. Before pulling the rubber I tried as your post mentioned prying up on the hood and activated the lever, and voila it opened!!

Now the battery.... Anyway I feel good now.