[TR-8R]

My hood has always seemed to have issues opening since I've owned it. I always make sure I am pulling it twice and all the way to the top. But now it seems to have lost all tension and pulls freely inside the car

The cable goes into a splitter on the drivers side and I'm hoping the " ball " in the socket has simply popped out.

Regardless I'm hoping someone here has had a similar experience and knows if there is a possibility of accessing the hood releases another way. Whether through the wheel wells or somewhere else. I know the older E3x models had access through the kidney grills but that's not option for the f30.

Thanks in advance

[jsouth]

I'm sure the OP's problem has been resolved, but I recently had a hood cable issue and wanted to post an answer here for the sake of others who will have this problem.

My car is a 2013 328i. I bought it in January 2016 with 44k miles and the hood release was always wonky. It took three pulls most of the time -- I should have had it fixed under warranty but did not.

Eventually, it would only open on the drivers side and the passenger side latch remained locked. No amount of pushing on the hood while the cable was pulled or pulling on the hood while the cable was pulled did any good.

I saw the access panel in the front wheel well and thought that might work. So I pulled off the wheel and opened the panel only to find out that it is for lamp replacement only. However, ten 8mm bolts will remove the inner wheel well, giving you access to the engine compartment.

There is a vertical brace directly between you and the working end of the cable, so you have to feel your way to the part of the latch where the cable connects. It does not take much effort to open the latch if you pull the plastic piece into which the cable goes.

The problem in my car was that the cable on that side had stretched enough that it did not work. There was much more play on that side than on the drivers side (which worked as it should). I was able to remove the latch on the passenger side and ever so slightly bend the bracket where the cable end snaps in to create less slack. It worked perfectly, and did not take much bending. But I wanted the cable replaced for a permanent solution.

Since I am 85 miles from the dealership, and since I saw what was involved, I was happy to do this job myself. I got online and ordered the new part (it has been redesigned) and the two new clips that the parts catalog says to order with it.

When the new part came in, I expected a quick job, but there are some issues. The new cable has a right angle molded plastic bend on the latch end on the passenger side. Routing the cable in the stock location would have forced the cable to kink. There was also no place for the clips which the catalog said to order.

Instead, I looked around for a way to route it in a way which would not kink the cable. The drivers side cable fit perfectly as is, just like the old one. The passenger side now goes over the top radiator hose and to the front of the airbox. There are two holes where the clips fit perfectly. Then it curves to the back of the latch and the right angle works as intended.

After installation, the hood lever has NO slack and opens the hood in two pulls easily every time.

Cable was about $25 US and each clip was around $3 US.

It would take me 30 minutes or less to get the old one out and new one in this time. It took me about an hour since I had to discover the right way to mount it. I'm curious if anyone has had this done by the dealer and how they mounted it.

BTW -- there was absolutely nothing wrong with either latch. I tested them out of the car by closing the latch manually and pulling the release with my hand (instead of the cable). It's hard to see how those could go bad and why any shop would need to replace them other than for extra $$$.

[TR-8R]

Thanks for the reply! I completely forgot about this thread. When I took it into BMW, the mechanics approached the situation through the wheel well as well. They found no issues with my cable or latches. (I also manually tested the latches, to which they were functioning fine). Ended up re-aligning my hood and it works now but is not as smooth compared to other "2 pull" BMW's I've driven.