My first cry for help - front hood does not open | FerrariChat

My first cry for help - front hood does not open

Discussion in 'Boxers/TR/M' started by Testerosse, Jun 3, 2019.

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  1. Testerosse

    Testerosse Rookie

    Nov 3, 2017
    23
    Italy or Germany
    Full Name:
    Nico
    #1 Testerosse, Jun 3, 2019
    Ciao Ragazzi,


    I’ve been a silent member for some time now and got a lot of good advise out of reading this forum. Thank you for that.


    https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/new-to-me-testarossa-in-italy.601340/


    Now, my own testarossa arrived at home and I thought I would get started to address some needed TLC.

    But the car won’t let me ;)


    The front hood release was stuck. In order to avoid breaking the fragile looking lever, I took it out and pulled on the cable directly - that cable broke and I ended up pulling out the first half of it.

    The emergency front hood release does move and I can feel it moving a mechanism, but it does not unlatch the front hood. It did work when I bought the car, but don’t know who and how closed the hood the last time. Gently pressing and or pulling on the hood while working the emergency release does not do any good.


    The search function only came up with advise for the engine compartment and I don’t find anything in the WSM neither. Any help on what to do with the front hood without the normal cable and the emergency release not releasing?
     
  2. turbo-joe

    turbo-joe F1 Veteran

    Apr 6, 2008
    8,912
    southwest germany and thailand
    Full Name:
    romano schwabel
    #2 turbo-joe, Jun 3, 2019
    Last edited: Jun 3, 2019
    first welcome to the flat 12 friends here and thank you for filling out your profile first before trying to ask for help as some others did ;)
    gradulation to your "new" car .

    I think the hood has been long time not open and so the hood is tight to the rubber. so as I read in your introduction you baught this car 1 year ago. and within 1 year such things may happen

    you may need 2 people, one will pull the emergency cable ( you hear some noise where the locks are when pulling? ) and the other may try to lift the hood
    sometimes it happens that even the locks are open there is sideway pressure on both locks because of not right adjusted and the hood can not get open alone.

    I wonder: after 1 year of no use and the main switch not reachable the battery still is ok to start the engine?

    good luck without destroying something
     
    Testerosse likes this.
  3. Steve Magnusson

    Steve Magnusson Two Time F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa

    Jan 11, 2001
    25,112
    30°30'40" N 97°35'41" W (Texas)
    Full Name:
    Steve Magnusson
    #3 Steve Magnusson, Jun 3, 2019
    Have you tried with three people - one pushing down on the LH latch area, one pushing down on the RH latch area, and you pulling the emergency release cable?
     
    turbo-joe, MS250, Shamile and 1 other person like this.
  4. Testerosse

    Testerosse Rookie

    Nov 3, 2017
    23
    Italy or Germany
    Full Name:
    Nico
    #4 Testerosse, Jun 3, 2019
    Thank you for the quick replies. I will try again tonight. Yesterday I was on the hood for more than an hour pushing an pulling without any success.

    @Romano: the car was in storage for a year while I was looking for a house here in Italy. It went into storage without a battery but with a working hood release.

    @Steve: I will also try with more people but very little force. I really don’t want to damage anything.

    If I don’t have any success, is there anything else to do? Would I eventually have to take out the dashboard?

    Thank you for the help!
     
  5. EastMemphis

    EastMemphis Formula 3
    Owner Silver Subscribed

    May 25, 2019
    1,735
    Memphis, TN
    Full Name:
    John
    #5 EastMemphis, Jun 3, 2019
    If you don't already have an endoscope, I recommend investing in a reasonably good one, maybe $150. Use that to image the latch while pulling on the cable. It may be that the latch itself has broken or maybe something is binding the hood. A decent endoscope can give you the information you need while being minimally invasive.

    Good luck!
     
    Testerosse and flash32 like this.
  6. turbo-joe

    turbo-joe F1 Veteran

    Apr 6, 2008
    8,912
    southwest germany and thailand
    Full Name:
    romano schwabel
    #6 turbo-joe, Jun 3, 2019
    no
    as I remember there is no possibility to reach from the inside the car to the trunk - but not sure. long ago I had my dashboard out
     
    Testerosse likes this.
  7. jpanz

    jpanz Karting

    Sep 8, 2015
    99
    Central Jersey Monroe
    Full Name:
    John
    #7 jpanz, Jun 6, 2019
    Ironically Im having almost the exact same problem. I took the car out on Sunday for a cruise and when I got home I attempted to open the boot. The lever pulled up but tightly as if the cable is maybe stuck in the sheath. I never heard the cable snap and I think its intact. The same exact thing happens when I pull the back up cable it feels frozen. I have been very careful not to pull too hard as I have read and heard of plenty of broken cable stories.

    I drive this car all the time since March of last year I have put close to 2K miles. After every trip I open the boot to reconnect the tender? Every time it has worked perfectly and smooth?????
     
  8. Testerosse

    Testerosse Rookie

    Nov 3, 2017
    23
    Italy or Germany
    Full Name:
    Nico
    #8 Testerosse, Jun 10, 2019
    Ciao Ragazzi,

    thank you for the help.

    With my endoscope, I could not really work my way to the mechanism since it’s kind of hidden in the corner underneath the weatherstripping.

    I ended up dismantling the sheath of the original cable in order to reach the remains of it.

    Pulling on that with pliers, pulling on the emergency release by hand while simultaneously having two friends gently wiggling the hood did the trick. Seems like the mechanisms are in need of cleaning and lubrication and the cables in need of replacement.

    However, while doing so one of my friends bumped the passenger side mirror and it came right of. We all were surprised how easy it would break. It snapped right at the joint.

    Thanks to Shamile who got his car into the center of a bar fight some years ago, I found a nice thread on how to repair a snapped of mirror.

    Thank you Shamile
     

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