E30 hood release

[6670charger]

What's the skinny on the E30 hood release lever? I thought mine broke back in January on a really cold day. Turns out that the metal barrel at the end of the cable just came out of the lever. It looks like it should just pop back in there, but every time I put it in it pulls right back out again. Was this thing pressed or glued in originally?

 

Thanks.

[straight6pwr]

when you put the barrel in the opening, the cable fits through the slot, then should rotate down away from it to prevent it from coming out. there should be enough tension on the cable that it would be hard to put back together without removing the lever from the car.  its possible the spring at the latch end of the cable is toast, and since the pressure holds it in place, its coming out.

 

issues with the lever are common on e30s because no one greases the latch in the engine bay and it gets corroded pretty quick, causing you to have to pull on the lever really hard which causes failures in the lever, latch or cable.

 

first, you should clean up the latch under the hood with some penetrating oil, then grease it.

as far as the lever in the car, you probably need a new cable. the alternative would be coming up with a macgyver solution where you put something over the hole in the lever to keep the barrel from popping out. glue won't work, as the barrel has to rotate to work properly.  you could probably just put some gorilla/duct tape over it. boom! 1 minute fix.

[ClassE]

New cables are pretty cheap and not too hard to install. When I bought mine I had to use the screwdriver through the grill for awhile until I got the cable installed.