Replacing the front hood release mechanism cable on
a 2000 911
Contributed by: Mark Taylor
Recently I pulled on the front
hood release lever and felt the sickening snap of the last strands of the cable
breaking. Luckily, sort of, for me it
broke at the release lever end and I was able to get into the trunk after I got
the housing loose from the body rail.
There is a provision to open the trunk via a cable in the right bumper
body channel, but I didn’t see it until I had taken the trunk trim up and
looked into the catch mechanism.
Although I’ve driven a Boxster, I don’t know if it’s front and rear hoods release
lever mech is the same as the 911, but it probably is
and the routing of the cable to the front of the car is too. My car is a left hand drive model, so for the
right hand drives, just reverse side.
All clamping bolts and screws are normal right hand threads. Before you start this project trace the route
of the cable so that you are familiar with cause and reaction. You can’t pull the cable in one movement,
there are several fasteners and grommets that have to be dealt with. The cable has two looped connectors, one on
each end. Check the direction of the
grommets esp the large one that passes through the
interior bulkhead. The pointed end must
point towards the grommet that seals the fender well.
First, there are three allen screws that secure the release lever mech to the body.
They are accessable
through holes in the side of the
housing. You only have to loosen them
enough to get the housing to pull straight up.
The housing has plastic tabs at both ends that help secure the carpet so
be sure its pulled up out of the way before pulling the carpet out from under
the threshold strip.
Next, the fuse box plastic
cover will have to be removed before pulling the carpet back to reveal the
cables path. The fuse panel itself
should also be moved slightly to free the cable, it’s held in place by a
Phillip head screw (see picture) inside and a 10m bolt at it’s top.
The cable and its sheathing
is held in place in both the release housing and the catch body by force fit into a aperture. I started removing and replacing the cable at
the release mech end, it’s probably possible to start
at the other end. I taped the end of the
new cable to the end of the old cable and as I pulled the old one out, the new
one came along for the ride. This worked
okay until the small hole in the fender well but by then I had the most of the
cable routed through the interior of the car.
I cut the two old grommets
off the car just to aid in removing the old cable. You will have to remove the plastic cover in
the back top of the trunk to get to the black square plastic access panel next
to the washer filler neck. It’s secured
by Phillips screws, the one under the wiper arm required my offset screwdriver. Once this panel is removed, you will see the
10m bolt that holds the fuse panel.
Remove the bolt using a universal or wobbly socket. The washer filler neck will need to come off
too, it just pulls out of the bottle.
Lift the left front tire off
the ground, secure the car with a jack stand.
I didn’t remove the wheel, but it would provide more working room if
removed. There are several 10m plastic
nuts holding the plastic fender liner to the body. Remove the ones at the back and pull the
liner down and away from the lip of the fender.
This will allow you to see how the cable route through the wheel well
and on into the front of the fender.
The cable can be snaked
through the channel between the fender and the trunk wall to get to it’;s final destination, the catch. It took me several tries to get the cable
through the small opening, but it can be done.
The plastic front trunk cover can be removed by using a flat blade screw
driver in the plastic screws.
VERY, VERY IMPORTANT. You have to loosen the 2 10M bolts that
secure the latch to the body. These can
be accessed by pulling the felt trunk liner away from the back of the body
enough to loosen with a socket and ratchet.
MARK, I
