Bonnet won't open, B6 A4

[AvantSE]

Can't seem to get the bonnet open on my A4 - the internal release works fine but the bonnet itself won't lift beyond the safety catch despite moving the lever as far upwards as possible (the one within one of the 4 rings).

It worked fine a few days ago.

Are there any ways of getting the lid open to put some oil in, without having to go to the stealers?

[Dave]

Arh, a well know problem.. bonnet****edness

Crow bar often helps

Seriously, can you see underneath to see where it is catching.. sometimes a bit of lubricant like wd40 can help.

[AvantSE]

Cheers. I had a look on another site and found someone had had the same problem with an A8 IIRC.

Brute force followed by liberal WD40-ing and blobs of grease has hopefully cured it. Just glad nothing snapped as a lot of the catch seems to be plastic.

[aerotec]

Just registered and thought I should add my comments as I just had this problem.

My 2000 A4 would pop to the safety latch but the bonnet release catch was seized.

To get the bonnet open I gently removed the chrome trim around the front grille. It has clips on the inner side so gently prize the outer egde with your fingers till it all comes away.

Then remove the front grille by pulling the top out. You may need to use a flat head screwdriver to help with this so use some card so as to not damage the bonnet. It will eventually pop out and the catches that hold it in shouldn't be damaged. If you see where the catches are you can push them down as you pull the grille forward, that might help.

The bottom of the grille does not pop out, you lift the grill up and out once the top comes free.

Then you can easily see up to the catch, spay it with WD40 or release agent and it will eventually loosen up.

Then just grease up the mechanism so it won't happen again.