Morris Minor Forum

Any standard method of opening the hood without the catch ? I can’t be the first person this has happened to…

This has happened before and there was a good resolution. Use the search function to find it. With a light and probably a mirror look up passed the louvers in the grille. You are looking for the rod that pulls the latch to the right side of the car. That is what needs to move.

Thank you.

I've removed the oil filter that gave me enough room to reach up and release the hood.

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Ok back to this - I've been working on other things for a few weeks so it hasnt been looked at. Today I removed the oil filter and managed to reach up inside. Turns out that the arm that goes from the hood release to the latch IS still attached to the release bar so I cannot release it by moving that by hand or by tool. Seems it must be the latch itself that has broken - Epic fail. SO the question is NOW WHAT ??

Where do I even start - CAN I even dissassemble the grill etc from the outside to open the hood/bonnet?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2025-07-06 04:03 PM by Eighteenninetytwo.

there is another short metal linking rod between the pivot lever and the latch....this has spring tension on it...when trying to move the pivot lever, did you feel any resistance or spring tension? If not, then likely this link has come unclipped. You still may be able to get to the end of this link at the latch and pull from there. Going to be a bit tight.

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What s the history here? Has it just quite working or has the latch just been reassembled? Has the bonnet been off and on? is it fully closed or almost? The latch on the bonnet is held on with two bolts but they are in front of the radiator. Does the latch on the grille slide any at all? Sometimes the lump on the end of the pin hangs up and I'm just trying to get the whole pictures

The history was that it was working and then all of a sudden it wasn't - no explanation at all (though i did push the hood down hard the last time I closed it as it hadn't closed all the way - which must have caused the issue. There is still spring tension on the actual release handle, and the arm it pulls is still connected to that and has spring tension also. The rod that the arm is connected to that moves sideways left / right from the arm to the actual latch is not accessible to me unfortunately (maybe I have extra fat arms and hands or something).

It's possible that the latch pin is hanging on another surface. The extra push might have done that. You'll need someone to operate the release then push down on the bonnet and give the rearward push on the front center of the bonnet. Then while maintaining the rearward force pull up. If that doesn't do it, with the released pulled take a look at the lump on the end of the pin. You should be able to see by looking up behind the louvers. You may need a mirror. This should tell you which direction the pin needs to move so it can pop. It nothing is evident then move it to the right side of the car on the first try, Then in each direction. Pushing the bonnet down will allow some movement of the pin. Or you can try a smart tap using a long drift.

Got my daughter to pull the release. I can see up through the grill that the parts that should move are moving to the right of the car. Now I look closely I can see that there are rusty dents / marks from leverage being applied under the front edge of the hood - a previous owner has clearly had this issue before and didnt fix it (along with the other 500 issues they had and didn't fix either).i am guessing that the bending of teh fron of teh hood is going to be required to get it open.

Good, you have seen the lump on the end of the pin. Levering the hood itself won't do much. You need to the end of the pin to free it. As I recall the stationary part of the latch has an extended side of the hole on the left side to prevent the pin from catching on that side. That could be worn or even assembled wrong. If that is in place, then the pin is most likely hanging up on the right side but could also be front or rear.

I'm a bit puzzled by thsi lump on the side of the pin. By "pin" you mean the pointed metal shaft that has a spring around it and protrudes into the space behind the Louvre/ grill?

Yes, that is the pin. The latch consists of three basic parts. The piece on top of the radiator frame, the sliding block, and the piece on the bottom. The piece on the bottom does not have a simple hole. One side has an extra shoulder. I said the shoulder is on the left side of the car but it could be on the right. I'd have to look at the pieces to confirm. This shoulder prevents that side of the pin to be caught if pushed too far or pulled when the release is activated