Has anyone had experience of releasing a Ford Fusion 2 bonnet (53 - 2003 
model), given that the stupid plastic lever in the car is doing nothing 
other than threatening to break off?

I've had a quick look under the front of the car, and there seems to be 
some space to get an arm up and fiddle around, but I'm wondering if I've 
got any chance of success.

Fallback is take it to the dealers as a warranty repair, but that will 
cost me a lot of time and inconvenience, hence having a go myself!

Biggles

In article <dg7jvu$r3p$1@news6.svr.pol.co.uk>, biggles@packaging.the-
shillings.freeserve.co.uk says...

> Has anyone had experience of releasing a Ford Fusion 2 bonnet (53 - 2003 
> model), given that the stupid plastic lever in the car is doing nothing 
> other than threatening to break off?
> 


A quick question. All the other fords I've driven (Mondeo & Focus) of that 
age have had the bonnet release behind the badge on the grille.

The lever under the steering wheel is the steering wheel adjust.

I realise the Fusion may be different though. If it's under warranty, just 
take it to Ford!

Pete.

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Pete Smith wrote:

> In article <dg7jvu$r3p$1@news6.svr.pol.co.uk>, biggles@packaging.the-
> shillings.freeserve.co.uk says...
> 
>>Has anyone had experience of releasing a Ford Fusion 2 bonnet (53 - 2003 
>>model), given that the stupid plastic lever in the car is doing nothing 
>>other than threatening to break off?
>>
> 
> 
> A quick question. All the other fords I've driven (Mondeo & Focus) of that 
> age have had the bonnet release behind the badge on the grille.
> 
> The lever under the steering wheel is the steering wheel adjust.
> 
> I realise the Fusion may be different though. If it's under warranty, just 
> take it to Ford!
> 
> Pete.
> 

Which is why I said "Fallback is take it to the dealers as a warranty 
repair, but that will cost me a lot of time and inconvenience, hence 
having a go myself!"

I don't know why I bothered.........

The lever has a picture of a car with an open bonnet on it, and the 
handbook says that it is the bonnet release. Any other suggestions please?

Biggles

Get someone to push down on the bonnet while you pull the realease
lever. After it's open then you can adjust it.

Trevor Smith

In article <dga9v7$paf$1@news6.svr.pol.co.uk>, biggles@packaging.the-
shillings.freeserve.co.uk says...

> Pete Smith wrote:
> > In article <dg7jvu$r3p$1@news6.svr.pol.co.uk>, biggles@packaging.the-
> > shillings.freeserve.co.uk says...
> > 
> >>Has anyone had experience of releasing a Ford Fusion 2 bonnet (53 - 2003 
> >>model), given that the stupid plastic lever in the car is doing nothing 
> >>other than threatening to break off?
> >>
> > 
> > 
> > A quick question. All the other fords I've driven (Mondeo & Focus) of that 
> > age have had the bonnet release behind the badge on the grille.
> > 
> > The lever under the steering wheel is the steering wheel adjust.
> > 
> > I realise the Fusion may be different though. If it's under warranty, just 
> > take it to Ford!
> > 
> > Pete.
> > 
> Which is why I said "Fallback is take it to the dealers as a warranty 
> repair, but that will cost me a lot of time and inconvenience, hence 
> having a go myself!"


They could probably fix it in 15 minutes. Phone up the warranty line, 
explain you've got to go on a long journey, but you can't check the fluid 
levels. Ask them very nicely if they could squeeze you in ASAP.

I'm sure they'd oblige (if you've got a good dealer).


> 
> I don't know why I bothered.........
> 
> The lever has a picture of a car with an open bonnet on it, and the 
> handbook says that it is the bonnet release. 


Well that's always a good sign it's the bonnet release :-)


> Any other suggestions please?


I can't tell you what to do, but I can tell you what *not* to do.

ISTR AstraVanMan ended up cutting a hole in the bonnet, or something 
similar, before realising there was an easier way to do it.

Pete.

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>> Which is why I said "Fallback is take it to the dealers as a warranty
>> repair, but that will cost me a lot of time and inconvenience, hence
>> having a go myself!"
>
> They could probably fix it in 15 minutes. Phone up the warranty line,
> explain you've got to go on a long journey, but you can't check the fluid
> levels. Ask them very nicely if they could squeeze you in ASAP.
>
> I'm sure they'd oblige (if you've got a good dealer).


Yup.  You (directed at the OP) paid a reasonable sum of money for a 
(relatively) new car, so use the fact that it's relatively new and stupid 
little things like that shouldn't be breaking to your advantage.


>> Any other suggestions please?
>
> I can't tell you what to do, but I can tell you what *not* to do.
>
> ISTR AstraVanMan ended up cutting a hole in the bonnet, or something
> similar, before realising there was an easier way to do it.


Bloody hell - someone actually attentively reads my posts?

Yup, the car was a Carlton, and the bonnet release lever inside the driver's 
footwell was a bit knackered - the cable just kept on slipping out of the 
little notch in the plastic release lever.  So to start with I got a mole 
wrench and put it tightly on the end of the release cable, and somehow 
attached it to a tow-rope, and used another car to pull on it.  Didn't work, 
and ISTR it removed the little nobbly bit on the end, so I ended up ripping 
off the grille so I could pull the cable through.and try tugging on it from 
the front.  In the end I gave up and used my breaker bar to try and lever 
the front of the bonnet up, and use brute force to pop it out of the catch 
(possibly damaging the catch - I didn't care by then!).  Anyway, after an 
age of trying, and completely crumpling the front of the bonnet, I tied the 
end of the cable in a loop, through the bit where the end bit (the 1/2" 
drive bit that sticks in the socket) of the breaker bar pivots, made sure it 
wouldn't slip out and come ondone, leant back, took the strain, and gave it 
a good hard yank, and it released it.

But don't piss about doing that on a 2 year old car - get the dealer to sort 
it out!  At minimum it'll involve purposefully wrecking the grille, and you 
really don't want to start deliberately wrecking things on such a new car.

-- 
Peter

"You're not a real UKRCMer until you've had your big end bearings go."

Pete Smith wrote:

> 
> They could probably fix it in 15 minutes. Phone up the warranty line, 
> explain you've got to go on a long journey, but you can't check the fluid 
> levels. Ask them very nicely if they could squeeze you in ASAP.
> 
> I'm sure they'd oblige (if you've got a good dealer).
> 

They probably could, but I would have to take half a day off work to get 
it there, hence me asking the group for tips. If it was a Vauxhall, I 
would take it to the dealers 30 secs down the road. With a few ideas 
from the group, I may be able to do it in 15 mins myself and save the 
half day off work.

Biggles