First of all here is what mine was doing wrong. When I pulled the trigger to open the hood, it released the latch fine, but would not spring back to the original position. I had to manually push the trigger back in to make the cable push the latch to the lockdown position. I figured there was something wrong with the latch so I lubed everything, and when that didn't work I replaced the latch with one from salvage. It didn't work either so I went back to the yard and got the cable. Now I have $6 invested, but I got to practice on the salvage car. Turns out, my cable was pinched.

1. Move the aux fan out of the way. One clamp on each side with 8mm bolts, and a screw at the bottom of the circle. You don't have to unplug the fan but you might want to cut the black pull-tight thingy that holds the cord to the mount. You can put a new one on later.

2. Loosen the hood latch by removing the four tight screws.

3. Remove the black plastic tray that is under the hood latch. I don't know the purpose of this part, but if you think of one let me know. There are two black plastic plug type clips that hold it up. I was able to re-use mine but you have to be careful. Each is two pieces, a plug with a plastic screw in the center. Squeeze the screw with a pair of pliers and back it out of the plug. After you get these two plugs out, just snake the tray to your left while pulling down.

4. Detach the hood latch from the cable. The clamp is a bit tricky, but don't break it because you have to reuse it. Look at the cable from the under side and you will see the metal clamp that squeezes around the metal tip on the cable. Push up on the clamp and it will come off the cable and swivel upward. There is a post on the other end of the clamp that holds the bottom of the latch to the cable. Carefully slide this post out of the hole. I wedged mine out with a screwdriver.

5. Detach the cable assembly from its mount. You will see that the cable-end is mounted to the body by two 10mm bolts. Back one off and pull the cable toward you.

6. Follow the cable backwards and reach under the backside of the headlight. There is a plactic clip that you can reuse if you don't break it. Unclip the cable.

7. Keep following the cable back toward the firewall. If there is a black plactic strap/clip holding the cable to a wiring harness, just cut it. You can put a plastic pull-tight on it later.

8. Remove the 8mm screw that holds the relay box to the wheelwell. Take off the black plastic cover and detach the two relays from their mounts. They come off easy with a screwdriver. With the 8mm screw out and the relays and their wire harnesses out of the way it is easier to get the cable out from under it.

9. Now snake the cable out from under the hood latch end. When you have it free all the way to the firewall, you are ready to work on the cabin end.

10. Remove the trigger from its mount. Two 10mm bolts hold it to the mount.

11. Remove the cable attachment from the trigger. There is a metal cylinder shaped end that fits in a slot on the trigger.

The next two steps apply because I found it too hard the remove the firewall rubber grommet, even though my replacement cable had a grommet on it.

12. There is a five inch rubber tube surrounding the cable on the cabin side. Cut it off. It won't slide through the grommet.

13. Lubricate the cabin end of the cable, especially that metal cylinder and go around to the front of the firewall and pull the cable out toward the front.

And, as they always say in the Haynes manuals, "Install new part using same steps in reverse order." Sorry this was so long, and lacks technical terms, but I hope it helps.

__________________
Bruce

73 220D (never left Germany)
81 300D (totaled)
84 300D (Purchased '03, sold '17)
85 300SD (purchased 10/01/03)