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Volvo V40 Snapped Bonnet Release Cable

This information has been  gathered from personal experience and is believed to be accurate but there is no  guarantee that this is the case. Anyone using this information does so on the understanding that its use is completely at their own risk and  that no legal liability of any kind will be accepted by the author for errors or  ommisions or consequential damage to persons or possessions. Prospective users  should make their own considered judgement or seek specialist advice as to the  accuracy or otherwise of any statements made before using this information in  any way.
 The Bonnet  cable snapped on my 2004 Volvo V40 and to make matters worse the alarm was  sounding continuously. Apparently a micro switch on the bonnet lock mechanism  detects an attempt to open the bonnet while the alarm is active so a broken  cable can set it off. Any attempt to open the bonnet was futile so the drive  home up the M6 was very noisy for several miles. Eventually the alarm staggered  to a silence so has probably burnt out. While at home  there still remained the problem of opening the bonnet to fit a new cable. Any attempt to jiggle the bonnet free proved  fruitless. Removing the main undertray was also pointless as the lock is still  obscured by the radiator and radiator under tray. Removing the grille and gaining better access seemed a possibility  but to do this would mean smashing the grille as the fixings were not accessible  from the front. By carefully looking through the  grille the lock can be seen to be fixed to the body frame by 10mm  bolts: 
Picture



One can be seen at the  top left and another at the bottom centre, there is a third covered by the  plastic moulding  that forms the supporting frame for the alarm switch. If  the 2 plastic tags at the  top right are carefully bent back the front plastic moulding can be removed. By then forcing the  remainder  of the plastic bracket to the right with a screw driver access can be gained to  the third 10mm bolt head, shown in the pic below at top centre.

Picture
I removed the 3x10mm bolts to  release the lock mechanism from the body frame by using a 1/4" drive socket with  a long extension that was able to reach through spaces in the grille. By easing  the lock assembly forward while simultaneously lifting the bonnet it was  possible to fully open the bonnet and then the inner bowden cable could be seen to have rusted away at the lock end. A new bonnet cable was thus required. To enable fitting, the offside plastic wheel arch protector will need to be removed and also the red bonnet release lever in the cabin, this is removed by unscrewing  two philips screws holding its bracket to the under dash. In my case the plastic  cable outer was found to be sound and so I only replaced the inner cable. I  managed to find some stainless inner cables of the correct diameter (1.25 mm)  from a bike shop,  they were intended as bicycle gear cables but being 2 metres in length were long  enough. Nipples were fabricated for both ends and fixed at the correct length. The pic  below shows the cable outer locating on the lock mechanism,  it also shows the  sprung lever that the inner cable attaches to: 
  

Picture





The repair has been  completely successful, and is still going strong many years later hopefully being of stainless steel the inner cable will  not rust as did the original.