308 cable problem

If you look at the latch you can see how the cable is threaded through the drivers side first and then heads over to the passenger side. Cleaning and lubing both latches may be all it takes but you might need to takes some slack out of it too.

 

Did you figure it out? My reply (on second glance) looks kind of sparse on info.

 

If one side is opening, and the other is not, I would bet that as the cable is pulled, the small lock nut that trips the latches is not doing its job. If you remove any carpet trim pieces around the latches and look at the cable paths, you will see two small brass lock nut on the cable, one near each latch. You have to stick your head in upside down. If that nut has moved or the cable has stretched, the nut won't push hard enough on the cable to trip the latch.

With a very small allen wrench, you can loosen that nut and move it closer to the latch, so it trips the latch as the handle is pulled. May only need to move a millimeter or two. After years of sitting in the same place, the cable is flattened where the lock nut allen screw pushes against it. Sometimes that flat spot lets the nut move a little. What I did was rotate the cable nut about 90 degrees and re-tighten, so it is grabbing the other side of the cable.

This is effectively "taking some slack out of it" as John mentioned above.

Best of luck.

 

Also if you look in your passenger compartment rear bulkhead, high up near the door, you should find a black plastic toggle and cable (on my RHD car this on the right hand side), this is the reserve cable release. This should be checked regularly as it will probably be rusted up, or already broken and missing. It is worth getting this changed in case your main cable is on the way out... a lot cheaper than butchering your way into the boot!

I had a think about this the other day, I suppose the cheapest way into the boot if both the cables fail is to disconnect the battery and put a large hole saw right through the two inner lamp units, from there you should be directly under the latches and able to trigger them manually. The lamps are about £50-60 each to replace, so cheaper than prying at any matal parts and paintwork? God forbid it should ever come to that!


David

 

Just one additional bit of advice. If you're changing out your cable(s), also check the tightness and alignment of the latches themselves. They should catch with only a gentle amount of force applied to the bottoms of each of the "rails" at the rear corners of the bonnet (never push down on the spoiler to lock the bonnet!). I write this because I just spent about an hour and a half aligning and adjusting my latches. If yours are out of whack or too tight, they could result in a shorter lifespan for your cable...as they'll be pulling harder with each pull of the lever, and unnecessary tension/torque on the bonnet. Maladjusted latches are a possibility, especially if you're not the original owner and haven't cared for the car from the beginning.

The right latch on my '85 308 GTSi was really bothering me, as it was clearly far tighter and more difficult to lock than it should be. I brought the car home on Wednesday and since I'd had it, you needed to almost apply all of your upper body weight to lock it. Upon inspection, it became clear that some time ago, somebody slammed the bonnet with the latch not quite in alignment. What resulted was a slight bend of the bonnet's frame surface and inward movement of the latch "loop" mounting plate. Tonight, I removed the "loop" from the bonnet itself, shimmed it out a bit with two washers, and realigned and adjusted the latch. It now locks with just hand pressure on the body "rail" and the rear spoiler (bonnet edge) now aligns perfectly with the right-rear fender, as it already did on the left. When the rear edge of the bonnet (spoiler) doesn't line up with the fender(s), it's a tip that there may be a latch adjustment problem.

In addition to the smooth locking and great body panel alignment now, the release lever in the door jamb is much easier to move. Since the right corner of the bonnet had been cranked down so tightly for so long, I did need to unscrew the adjustable rubber pad on the fender a bit, to take up the slack. It had been compressed for a long time. I'll re-check it all in a week or so.

I hope that this is helpful

 

FYI, by "rails", I'm describing the sail panels at the left and right edges of the engine bonnet.