D1 hood release cable frustration and a revelation

[terryjm1]

I attempted to open the hood/bonnet on my D1 this morning and one end of the handle/pull broke off giving me a nice cut on my finger.

The cable had been hard to pull for some time and I was expecting the wire inside the cable to break sooner or later. I assumed it had become frayed causing it to be hard to pull. As such, I had a Bearmach cable on hand, purchased a few years ago. I installed it and the first time I pushed it back in the plastic cable came out of the metal part that holds it in place in the handle assembly.

I couldn’t get the cable back in place due to the end being crimped, albeit ineffectively, So, I looked at the old cable and decided to try the new metal cable inside the old/original plastic and metal sheath assembly. It worked! What I did discover in the process is the reason it was so hard to pull is the internal metal cable was bound tight at the end adjacent the pin release assembly. If I had removed the cable while it was still intact, I could have just cut off about 1/8 - 1/4 of an inch of the plastic sheath and reinstalled it. It would have worked fine and I likely wouldn’t have broken the handle to begin with. So, if you have one that is hard to pull, take a look at that before you replace it.

 

[Toran]

Hey terryjm1,

Thanks for sharing your experience.
A few years ago I picked up a used handle/pull with cable from a D2. Still have yet to replace the original but will go at it this Spring. I know to give myself three times the amount of time to do anything these days.

I got the D2 handle/pull as a replacement because one day I went to open the hood and the same thing happened - one end of the handle broke off and I didn’t want a future of using vise-grips to open the hood.

 

[terryjm1]

“I know to give myself three times the amount of time to do anything these days.”

Yep, this 30 minute job turned into around 90 minutes.

 

[Siia109]

I'm in the same boat - The PO broke the handle so I bought a new cable thinking its the cable inside the sheath that the problem - but your saying the attachment at the catch is the cause? I still have to swap out the broken handle - is the cable hard to fish through the firewall and under the dash?

 

[AlWorms]

Mine was really tight. I just sprayed in some wd40 to loosen things up, then followed with some Wurth HHS2000 spray lude and blew in in with a little compressed air, before it thickened up. Easy to pull with 2 fingers now.

 

[terryjm1]

I'm in the same boat - The PO broke the handle so I bought a new cable thinking its the cable inside the sheath that the problem - but your saying the attachment at the catch is the cause? I still have to swap out the broken handle - is the cable hard to fish through the firewall and under the dash?

It is a bit annoying fishing it through but not horrible. I thought about cutting the old cable at the handle assembly and using the old cable to pull the new one through to avoid taking the under dash trim out and not have to contort myself to see under the dash. But, I didn’t and I am glad I didn’t because I ended up needing the old cable.

In my case, yes, the plastic sheath was pinched at the end where it goes into the latch assembly.

 

[DiscoClay]

internal metal cable was bound tight at the end adjacent the pin release assembly

Hey Terry, are you referring to the end near the latch or the handle?

 

[terryjm1]

Hey Terry, are you referring to the end near the latch or the handle?

End near the release in front the the radiator.