Folks, I have searched these archives (perhaps not well enough) and found no answer to my plight. The bonnet release on my 2004 X350 VDP is a hard pull. It is even a bit recalcitrant a pull with the bonnet open. From what I actually can gather, the rout the cable takes is tortured and coupled with any corrosion it might have is a rough catastrophe waiting to happen.
SOoooo, how do I go about lubing the cable/sheath and if I do have to replace it, how do I go about that? I understand a motorcycle cable lubricator might help, but I'd have to take the cable off one end and then find one of the said lubricators. OR, are there any really bright ideas out there to do instead of these?
Best, Brian

 

My 2005 VDP also has a very stiff lever action. Positive still, but makes a scary
Boom when the hood releases. Same level of sound as when dropping the hood to close from 14 inches...

I am going to experiment with some graphite powder inserted as best I can from each end of the cable and then exercising the lever while the hood is open.

Will report back.

Lots of snow to avoid here, so the garage queen will at least stay warm for awhile.

 

Have a look at the below threads on the UK forum, you really need to sort it as best you can before the cable actually breaks, it is very difficult to gain access once the cable snaps, you have to remove a grill section as below access is so limited, best of luck.

Bonnet cable release not working

2005 XJ8 bonnet catch

 

If you have a 2004, replace the cable, as it is likely to be corroded so bad that lubind is pointless. These things are not expensive items.

Have you inspected the cable at the front of the radiator ? I'll bet the black covering has come away and the cable is almost impossible to move, despit lubing the latches.

PS - a re-route of the cable can be beneficial as it does have some tortuous bends in it.

 

Once more, thanks aplenty to everyone. The UK references were perfect and there is nothing like a set of pictures to get you feeling better about things. I don't have the mesh grills so I hope (against hope) the next time I try, I'll actually be able to open the bonnet and rid the car of that pesky security cover. At least, that'll not make this harder than it ever has to be. I'll investigate some way to make my vaned grills removable from the outside also. This might not prove possible at all, but I'll look into it.

Also the lubing suggestion in the pictorial procedure was very good. I'll also get a price on new cabe/s from the dealer (dread). I had lubed the latches as best I could, but only that - so now I know how to more thoroughly do it. I know it was mentioned that the cable/s are inexpensive or some such word, but, being an extremely parsimonious *******, that may not be the same thing to me. I have found that folks who own Jaguars are used to paying nosebleed prices for things so their relativity might be skewed. I'm of a "certain age" and most of the world presents as 'sticker shock' to me.

Sorry to be so forthright about my take on things.

Thanks again. Best, Brian

 

I lubed everywhere I could with white lithium based lube including both latches and the cable everwhere I could get at it. I did help on my 2004 XJR

 

Well, I've torn apart the front end trying to figure out the cable release thing. Here's what I found. First off the grill is easy to take off, but with the bonnet open - two T-30 screws on either side and it just slides out easily AFTER lifting the tabs that were screwed to the frame up a bit and over a slight circular rise the tab holes fit over.

Second, my car didn't have any security shielding over the latches at all. I'm the second owner and the PO only used the dealer, so they must have done it. Anyway, I figured I'd try to unlock the latches with a screwdriver so I know the drill if the cable breaks. Easy to do on the passenger side (LH drive) but other side requires the "hood ajar" electrical sender to be removed. This is done by pressing in the square tabs on the body while levering them down and off releasing the switch to lower and dangle. The driver's side latch release is now visible. I decided to take off each latch and elevate it a bit so I could spray some silicon into the openings and hope (against hope) it would make it's way down the cable sheath to the lever area. It must have worked a bit since the cable is a bit easier to pull now. Still NOT what I'd like, but easier. I'm going to try this again as I now have the car up on ramps looking for an elusive coolant leak. I also found that my latches work pretty freely and it's only the cable that is a bit recalcitrant. I can only figure that the cable was replaced once during the PO's ownership. Otherwise the shield would not be gone. This is sure a poor design and expensive ($60 from the dealer w/o cable handle - additional $20)

Now, in the event that the cable does need to be replaced in the future, I see no way to access the cable routing at all once beyond the radiator itself. Inside the car the cable, encased in some kind of rubber seal/sheath, just disappears into the abyss of the underhood area. Nothing is visible or accessible from under the car (all undertrays removed, etc.) or from any other angle. I am only left to assume the wheel inner arch HAS TO COME OFF. Am I correct in this assumption? If not how in blazes is it accomplished?

Thanks again for your indulgence. Best, Brian

 

With difficulty ! I handed my car over to my trusty, (non-Jaguar), mechanic together with a new cable. It has been perfect ever since. If I have time, I'll have a look at my JTIS CD to see if there are any instructions in there.

$60 sounds about right, it doesn't seem too much to me, and I'm not a rich man, just "well-off" as we say in England.

 

Well, here is where I am on this. After using the silicon spray quite liberally, and having it soak and seep down the run into the car, the cable operates pretty good. While I am trying to solve the mysterious coolant leak, I'll lube is some more. I'm feeling really good about the feeling that I get from using the release and I think it'll be nearly as good as new with some more lube and seep time.

 

A lot depends on how much road salt spray you have to drive through in winter. Texas - isn't that a fairly warm place ? My old cable was lubed and lubed but still no good, and the outer plastic sheath had come away.It was a disaster area and before I got to the stage i couldn't open the bonnet, I replaced the cable, and this time it was lubed before fitting. I think that is really the key; Jaguar production don't do this.

 

Hi, thanks for the comment. I didn't realize that Jag did not lube the cable - WTF!!!.
In any case, I had written earlier about the method of replacing the cabe and STILL not seen anything on how to do it. I said "I see no way to access the cable routing at all once beyond the radiator itself. Inside the car the cable, encased in some kind of rubber seal/sheath, just disappears into the abyss of the underhood area. Nothing is visible or accessible from under the car (all undertrays removed, etc.) or from any other angle. I am only left to assume the wheel inner arch HAS TO COME OFF. Am I correct in this assumption? If not how in blazes is it accomplished?

So, can anyone confirm or deny my suspicions, or better yet, supply the procedure or at least where I can find it in the JTIS?

Thanks

 

Well, I've finished (for now) with this odyssey. I didn't completely solve it, BUT I did make an emergency release cable to use when the whole thing goes TU.

First, I must confess I didn't know what or where the "security shields" were, I simply did not see them when I took the top finisher and the grill off so I thought they had been disposed of. I didn't realize they are built into the top radiator finisher and I did remove them as a useless bit of bother.

I did purchase a cable oiler, but found, as I had surmised, there wasn't any way to use it with the tandem setup that Jag uses. No problem, it was cheap and there are plenty of other cables in Jaguar world to oil. So, I have had to be content with the several spritzes of silicon I did and let soak to do the trick. It does seem a tad bit easier when used with the bonnet shut. It's just a poor design.

I now think the easiest way to solve this is to splice and lengthen the "Hood Ajar" microswitch electrical connection and move the entire switch unit to the other side thereby allowing the main "trigger/lever" to be used. I say that because the first step in making my final Emergency Release cable was to tie the two release levers together with a length of wire through a hole drilled into the side of the pass-side unit. The driver's side wire merely passes under the catch unit where I made a notch near the original cable holder to help guide it. I connected them somewhat loosely and tried the release mechanism on the driver's side to see if it'd trip the other side - which it did smartly. I used a plastic tie to moor this connecting wire back in the center so it wouldn't interfere with the safety closing/catching mechanism. Once that was done, I had to figure out how to trip the hood catches similar to the way that Jaguar designed them. Moving the microswitch would give direct access to the 'trigger'. Since I hadn't figured the best course might be lengthening the electrical cable, of course, I had to figure a way to do it "the old fashioned (albeit hard) way" so to speak.

I reasoned if I drilled a big enough hole into the microswitch face covering the lever at the location where I could move it with a long screwdriver or some such from outside the car, that would be the next simplest course. And it did work - once. When I tried it the second time the levering action and pressure I had to apply broke the right locating locking "peg" off the switch body. RATS !!!

I could, and did, fix that in the end, but now I still had to trip the mechanism somehow. I have a roll of thin but strong wire (I didn't use it to connect the two trip levers of the catches as it's too stiff to work with much) that is probably something like piano wire and I used that. If you unbolt the catches from the body, you will see that the catch "triggers" have a 90 degree bend at the end which forms a handy place to attach the wire. This wire (and the earlier one) had to be attached and positioned at the back of that lever so as not to interfere with the "hood ajar" microswitch, but once I had unbolted the catch unit and turned it, I could do the job. BTW, if you carefully match the paint outlines of the catch-units on the radiator support, you can accurately reconnect them without losing the adjustment. My wire wrapping/affixing is, sadly, Rube Goldberg messy - what the Germans would call "zo, zo imprezize", but it only has to work once or twice in an emergency (hopefully, never). I then ran the wire through a drilled hole in the side of the catch unit and through another hole in the body itself just to the right and behind the air filter unit. I then formed a fairly large loop in the other end to use as a finger hold.
Actually, I performed this in the reverse sequence, forming the loop first then passing it through the drilled holes and wrapped it around the catch with the unit inverted.

If you stick your hand up under the fender you'll feel the top of the wheel well liner has an opening in it by which you can feel the top inner part of the body and so grab the "loop" you've now placed there. By some simple bending you can position the loop up into a lip area on the outer part of the fender where it can live till needed in an emergency. I tried operating it a few times and if you wear a glove or some kind of protection for your fingers, you won't be terribly uncomfortable while performing the emergency opening procedure.

BTW, I still don't know the step-by-step procedure for replacing the original cable. Anybody?

I've taken some pictures to show you the mess I made, but it does work.

 

Susu, it's all very ingenious, but a new cable does it easier !! However, don't let me stop you giving us information, it is crucial to keeping these cars on the road after Jaguar lose interest in them.

 

Ah, but a new cable is 'overpricey'. "Easier" is almost never my intent. Being retired and parsimonious to the nth degree, I usually have the time to indulge myself and rarely the inclination to spend the money. I like to figure out ways to skin the cat so to speak. As far as I'm concerned and the installation, if I ever find out how to exactly do it is probably more complex than this procedure. If I ever tear off the driver's side wheel arch again (I replaced suspension with aftermarket Arnot) I may just see the offending cable. In the meantime, in the fullness of time, maybe the aftermarket will come up with a less expensive solution.

 

I hear my father speaking there !! He's now in his 92nd year and as careful with money as ever. I said to him once, "Look, Dad, you can afford this now", to which he said, "I know I can afford it, I just don't want to afford it"