The Ever Popular Broken Bonnet Catch

[MSpackman]

Unfortunatley my 51 plate mkIII Mondeo is in danger of taking a Basil Fawlty style beating :-(

The bonnet catch us opening it's first stage left turn,but when I turn the key right the bonnet won't release.

Having done the usual trick of scouring message forums, I'm given lots of tips of shoving screwdriver in various places, specifically aiming for the White plastic barrel which appears to be the curse of many in the past. However when I look for this through the grill, I can't see the White barrel as the plastic housing behind the badge is blocking this (I assume a security 'feature').

Any ideas how I can get the bonnet popped up before any shrubby in my garden is victim to a hit and run?!

Thanks!

[Paul-H]

Hi

I had this with mine and all it needed was a good soaking with WD40 to return it to full working order, not saying yours is not broken and needs drastic action to gain access to the mechanism, but it is just possible that its just sticky, like mine was.

Paul

[aem]

Hi,

I had the same problem a few weeks and it turned out the plastic rod had broken at the lock end.

To save smashing your grill into a million pieces in shear frustration as I nearly did, get a large hole saw for your drill and put a hole underneath the badge that you flick round to put the key in. Drill this below the centre line so you can gain easy access to the two ally security bolts that hold the lock in place.

After that simply drill the two bolts out and remove the lock (you'll have to pull the grill loose at the bottom so you have enough room to get it out, brute force and ignorance prevails here) and then simply stick a long flat blade screwdriver in the hole and twist as you would the key.

I just replaced the plastic rod with a steel dowel that I attacked with a bench grinder and some strategic drilling to get it to locate properly.

!Removed! Fords!

[MSpackman]

Cheers guys, I've tried WD40 but it doesn't seem to make a difference, plus if the lock is full of crap I don't really want to make it worse.

Will try to edge the grill out today and pop the bonnet by pushing the White barrel.

Will report back!

[aem]

Only way to get to the white barrel dude is to drill the lock bolts out :(

[MSpackman]

Bugger :-(