Frunk trouble

So I’ve managed to lock myself out of the front trunk. Was doing some work in that area with the spare tire cover removed, and pushed the release cables out of the way towards the back of the car. Just a gentle repositioning. Closed the lid and took the car for a drive. Now it won’t open, after opening with just a light force lift of the lever for the last 2 1/2 years.

The release lever moves a fair bit, but not enough to release the latches, and I’ve pulled hard enough I was afraid of breaking the lever housing. Found the emergency release lever (moved the lower left gauge cluster to find it) and it doesn’t move at all, like zero, even using a contrived pull handle that allowed me to use both hands.

It’s hard to imagine a slight deviation in the cable housing caused this, but I’m guessing it’s now hung up on something preventing normal travel.

Anyone faced this before? Do you have a photo of the exposed latch areas to help me visualize a path forward?

 

Thanks, but did that. See my original post.

 

I've already removed the left rear arch panel, but can only access the cable not the latch. But I like the idea about removing the lid as it seems pretty doable. I just had the grille and bumper off for the radiator and cooling fan change so I'm dialed in on that process.

 

An update: removing the front lid doesn’t seem to be an option as it appears I have the anti intrusion safety feature (see photo) which would preclude me from sliding the lid pins out of the latch once the hinges are loose.

Getting the car on the lift and removing both the inner wheel arch panels I was able to reach in from the right side arch and find the latch-to-latch cable which seems to be reasonably free. Just tugging on it a bit allowed the right latch to release, which was encouraging, but the other one still would not respond to the lever. I also tried just pulling directly on the cable from the left side wheelwell, but no luck.

Most interestingly, I had my wife pull on the release lever with as much strength as she could muster while I had a loose grip on the latch-to-latch cable and I couldn't detect any movement whatsoever. So it appears the issue is with the left side latch only and it appears it is mechanically locked very solidly at this point.
Now I'm pondering using a hole saw on the vertical panel in the wheel arch to give me access to the latch mechanism, but I really don't want to do that, so will explore more options over the next few days before I get that desperate.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

It occurs to me to ask if someone could activate one of their latches with the lid up (using a bolt or screwdriver to simulate the lid pin) then see if there is a method to release the latch without using the cable pull. That could help me plan my strategy.

 

That's the big question if I try that route, but I don't think so. I can see and touch the button head of the safety pin from inside the wheel arch and it protrudes below the keyhole plate a good half inch. So I would have to be able to tilt the lid many inches at the hinge end to give me the needed clearance at the latch end. I'm thinking the latch wouldn't be very happy to allow that much misalignment with the lid latch pin so something would be trying to give. And I really don't want to risk a damaged lid. So right now I'm thinking that removing the lid will be my very last resort. But when I finally get this open I do believe I will slot the keyholes to allow a sliding motion of the lid in the future.

I'm still perplexed about what caused this in the first place.

 

I've done the push or pull on the lid every time I pulled on the lever, so like 30 times already. This is not a simple mis-adjustment issue. Something is preventing the left latch from even thinking about operating. The adjustment was spot on and everything worked well until I moved the latch-to-latch cable.

 

Interesting idea, and thanks for the info on the release pawl location. The right side of the lid can be gently flexed up enough to just clear the rubber seal, so there would be room for a thin flat tool (that would need to be about 36" long-the nominal opening is right about 31"). The trick would then be to guide the tool across the frunk while keeping it above the level of the keyhole plates, which it would be disinclined to do due to the angle of entry. But I do have a narrow (3/4") line of sight to the latch area from beneath the car as I've made the spare tire well removable and haven't figured out the edge seals yet (this is the project that led to the current situation). That line of sight could allow another long tool to lift and position the first tool under the latch. Sounds like a trip to the hardware store for thin flat metal!

 

Thanks for close up photos. I do think it's possible the latch-to-latch cable is hung up somehow, causing the issue, as I tucked it rearward (under the cowl edge) not long before I shut the lid. Meant to move it back in position before closing but forgot. A minor mistake with major consequences.

 

So, success!

After pondering Rifledrivers last suggestion (long thin tool to trip the release pawl) I spent some time with my boroscope checking out the pathway/challenges associated with that idea. And in that process I discovered the issue: somehow I had pinched the cross cable (latch-to latch) between one of the screw tabs for the spare tire cover and a new Dzus bracket I am fabricating for the new spare tire cover (new bracket mounts under the two center screw tabs).

Basically the cross cable was very firmly clamped in position. Note the cross cable in my car does not have a normal vinyl covered wound wire sleeve over it, just a simple very thin vinyl tube, so the cable was more or less directly clamped along 20mm of it's length. So how to loosen the bracket? I found I could just touch the nut I needed to loosen, and so was able to get a 10mm wrench on it and get it backed off about 1 turn. Keep in mind I am past my left elbow into the under cowl area (approaching from the right wheelwell) doing this blind while trying to ignore the pain from whatever little sharp things are digging into the back of my hand. Took me 15 minutes of "wrenching" and resting to get that 1 turn. Only dropped the wrench once. That I'm a skinny guy with skinny arms can have its benefits, when working on cars anyway.

So once out of the wheelwell, it was just lift the lever, and 'click': normal operation restored.

However good my attention to detail was before, it just went up several notches. I think it might be good to have these self induced crises every few years to help keep one sharp. Of course it would be better to simply learn from the woes of others, but that's too easy.

 

No more bleeding. I'm a happy guy.