Okay, bath bathed and beer drunk it is back to the task in hand. Let’s get the bonnet catches working. With the bonnet open it is clear that it is the sticky catches that are causing the problem but first lets remove the bonnet pins so the bonnet cannot close itself again.
So much easier with the bonnet open
And look at the state of the catch
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The other side still has the pin stuck in the catch and you can see the thread where it was unbolted from the bonnet
Use a T30 torq spanner to undo the three bolts holding the latch mechanism in place. The bolts are self tappers fitted at the factory so bastard tight. I had a lovely imprint of my Ratchet Rocket wrench by the time I had done both sides. I found it best to start with the bolt sitting vertically as if you leave that until last it is really awkward as the latch moves around a lot.
Now it is loose you can do the other side. The driver’s side latch has a cable coming in from the left which goes to the cabin and a separate short cable going right which activates the passenger side latch.
Once you have freed up the latches you can see how badly corroded they were. At this point I was thinking I would need to buy new ones.
The latches are now stuck in the car with the cables from the cabin and between the two preventing you removing then. First remove the short connecting cable from the driver’s side latch. This is just a case of poking it about with a screwdriver until it releases
I gave them a quick scrub with a wire brush and they looked a lot better and possibly re-useable.
I decided to give them a bath in assorted cleaner fluids to try and get them moving again
Lots of crud started falling away but I really wanted to shake them up and get the insides clean. I have heard of vibration cleaning tanks where things get shaken about while submersed in cleaner so I thought I would give it a go. Take one orbital sander
And one pot of cleaner and dirty parts, put one on the other, switch on the sander and you have a vibrating cleaning tank. I was really surprised how much extra crud came out this way. I also decided not to take the pot back to the kitchen as the bottom was half sanded through!
The end result was what I wanted though. The latches were reasonably clean and after drying carefully, spraying liberally with WD40 and then packing with grease it was time for a coffee break