How do you pop the bonnet on a 2005 Mitsubishi Magna?

I assume that’s the hood? Can you slide a screwdriver under the hood to release the latch? Or a putty knife if there isn’t much clearance?

There’s no easy way, and doing it without damaging the hell out of your front end is even trickier. If you can’t pull the cable, you may be looking at using a Sawzall and replacing the hood.

Jerv gave me an idea. Could you go in from the latch end in the drivers compartment and reach the cable? Maybe pull it with needle nose pliers or a plumbers retriever?

That is an awkward model to do it on – any model Magna before the TJ would be much easier. Because the bonnet latch is just above the central section where the badge is, I expect you’ll need to take the bumper off to access the latch. See if you can find the cable through the grille first though.

@FireMadeFlesh How easy is it to get the bumper off without access to the engine compartment? If the body on those is anything like I ever owned, getting at it from underneath isn’t happening; you have to go in from the top.

@jerv To be honest, I’m not sure. I’m much better with these things when the car is in front of me (as are we all). My dad had one until about a year ago, so I’ll ask him and see if he has any insights. But personally I’d rather cut through a bumper than a bonnet.

@FireMadeFlesh Bonnets are easier to replace though.

When i said the bonnet release latch is broken, i actually meant the cable itself has popped out of the socket at the release latch. Sorry, my bad. I should have been clearer.

@jerv @FireMadeFlesh I have to say that tearing the bumper off did occur to me, but i can’t find where it’s actually attached to the bottom of my vehicle, and it does look like it’s securely attached to the bonnet release latch. I doubt i can remove it and still be able to restore it to the car. Tearing though the bonnet is also out of the question.Even if they are cheap to replace, I don’t have the gear required to cut though metal. If i had to destroy part of the car to get in, the bumper does seem like the easier of the two options. I hope i can do it without resorting to destroying either component.

I have located the area where the cable should go, but i have no idea how to get the cable back in… or trigger the release myself. I have tried long nose pliers but they only go so far in before they get stuck.

Two things that make this situation even worse is that I’m in a rural area.. Which limits the professional help i can call in… And it has a full tank of petrol, as we only just fueled it up. That’s roughly AU$80 of fuel that is virtually going to waste.

@Adirondackwannabe I apologize. I’m Australian, and have never been to the US. I do understand a few American words (Such as fuel=gas, chips=fries, soft drink=soda), but not many… Which can make communicating on a United States based website tricky at times. Google’s definition service isn’t very helpful either. I assume they are the same thing.

Thanks everyone.

@bomyne If it helps, here is a picture of what the latch should look like. Granted the photo is of a TJ, not a TL, but I highly doubt they changed the latch design for what was essentially a cosmetic change on an ageing design. I wonder if you could force it open the right tool and a bit of brute force, and only damage the latch in the process? Just a thought – I’ve never had to do this myself.

If the value of the fuel is what you’re worried about, it should be easy enough to siphon it off into a jerry can.

*Apologise. There’s no need to spell like our US friends, they’ll soon figure out what we mean ;).

@FireMadeFlesh hehe. At least I tried.

Dad tells me that it’s dangerous to siphon off unleaded petrol, and yeah… It is a little bit of a worry because we could have that fuel running though our Camry’s engine… but it’s still an expensive (for my budget anyway :P) vehicle that I’d like to get running again.

Unfortunately, that picture isn’t clear enough. I’m sure I can force it open as you suggested, as I know it’s a mechanical latch and not an electronic one… but the trick is to figure out where the release cable attaches to the latch.

Most likely, the cable enters the latch on the driver’s side near the bottom. Any other place would make it prone to kinks.

We eventually just called the RAC out. She used a “mirror on a stick”, something we didn’t have, to see what she was doing. Didn’t really want to do that but oh well.

Thanks everyone for your help.