Bonnet won't open

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evoke
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Bonnet won't open

Post by evoke »

I'm wondering if the car is safe to drive on the secondary bonnet catch. I can't get the bonnet open completely. The plastic lever under the bonnet that you lift upwards snapped as I was trying to get it open! My local Citroen dealer can't fix it until next week at the earliest so I was wondering if the car is okay to drive with the bonnet popped up on the secondary catch?
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Re: Bonnet won't open

Post by Ben82 »

I've done this accidentally on mine, left it overnight on the secondary catch, thinking that I'd go back to it that evening and forgot about it. Did a ~25km round trip and noticed the front looked odd when I put her away in the garage, realised I had forgotten about it and then obviously closed it.
Not sure whether its really classed as safe, but pretty sure you'd need a really strong wind to lift it off the catch AND lift the bonnet up to cause an issue.

Would avoid it if possible though. Maybe tie it down if possible as an extra safety measure?
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Re: Bonnet won't open

Post by myglaren »

Definitely use a secondary method of securing it.
I had the bonnet of my 265 fly up on a motorway, fortunately at low speed but still a terrifying experience.
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Re: Bonnet won't open

Post by qprdude »

Agree with myglaren. Just because it didn't happen once, doesn't mean it won't happen next time. There wouldn't be a secondary catch if it wasn't needed. Find some way of holding it until the permanent fix, or leave it in the garage. The other thing is, if plod see you with the bonnet not secure, you could be looking at 3 points.
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Re: Bonnet won't open

Post by miked »

I don't understand the original post. And I haven't had a drink yet so it can't be just me.

Evoke: Will the bonnet not properly shut now that the secondary catch is broken?
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Re: Bonnet won't open

Post by evoke »

Yes, the bonnet actually won't shut properly now - apologies for not stating that in the original post. In short, I cannot fully open the bonnet as it is caught on the secondary latch, the plastic lever under the bonnet has snapped off and the bonnet won't shut fully if I push it down either.

Next Tuesday is the earliest that I can get it fixed. I do have a second car so may use that for a few days.
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Re: Bonnet won't open

Post by miked »

In that case If you can't get it to shut properly I would suggest you don't drive it far.

However: Although a new plastic lever might be a dealer only part, I would have thought any local indy garage would at least make it safe for you.
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Re: Bonnet won't open

Post by Xaccers »

If it's like the Xantia one, then get someone to hold the bonnet up a bit, then you should be able to get a screwdriver or long nose pliers or bent bit of metal behind the plastic lever to open the bonnet.
Once open you'll need to clean and lube the main latches so it will stay down.
Had this with Juliet recently, the bonnet release mechanism got stuck in the open position so the latches wouldn't hold the bonnet down, had to give them a good clean and spray with 3in1 oil, then work them manually to free them up.
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Re: Bonnet won't open

Post by wheeler »

Apart from driving it at very low speeds to get it repaired i would not be driving this. I have a mate that has had 2 bonnets fly up on him when on the secondary catch, both were customers cars when road testing. First time was just a mistake not closing it properly after working on it, the second time the bonnet was deliberitley open on the secondary catch as he had test leads coming out from under the bonnet, knowing this & have been bitten before he tied the bonnet down with wire aswell & the bonnet still came up on him.
Not a good idea to be driving around like this.
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Re: Bonnet won't open

Post by evoke »

Okay, thanks all. I'll drive my other car until next Tuesday and then take the C5 slowly to the dealer.
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Re: Bonnet won't open

Post by evoke »

A quick update on this: my local Citroen dealer is still awaiting a 'secondary' bonnet release cable. It's been over a month! So, I had a local independent workshop temporarily fix the problem. They cleaned up the bonnet latch and greased it again.

So, I can now get the bonnet open and closed. However to close it I have to drop it and then push it down so it closes fully. It won't close fully just by dropping it. Any ideas what could be causing this? I've lowered the bumps stops to their minimum height but I still need to push the bonnet lid down to fully close the bonnet.
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Re: Bonnet won't open

Post by qprdude »

I always lower the bonnet until it catches on the "U" bracket , then gently push it home. I just tried it, and it does close properly by just dropping it from a few inches though. I noticed that the release cable was very slightly slack on the mechanism after I had pulled the bonnet release.

Not sure what your dealer means by "secondary cable", as mine would appear to have only one and it's the same
model as your's.
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Re: Bonnet won't open

Post by evoke »

^ I know, I think the dealer is just messing around.

However, some good news, I think i've fixed it! The bump stops were far too low. I raised them to about 4mm and now the bonnet latches completely shut when dropped from around 6-8 inches. I had sprayed grease onto the movable parts of the latch mechanism so this may have helped too.

The manual says that the bonnet should be dropped to shut it completely so it's working as per the manual now. I'm very disappointed with my local Citroen dealer!
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Re: Bonnet won't open

Post by qprdude »

Hope it's a permanent fix then evoke. You should phone the dealer and ask what a secondary cable is.
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