HELP - Hood stuck closed with harness disconnected

[y2kimmel]

Here's the story. My 1995 E420, 67k miles (which I've owned for one month) lost A/C on Saturday. I took it to get charged this morning at an independent shop, and we discovered that the aux. fans aren't coming on when the A/C pressures up. Result: the pressure builds too high - until a check valve opens and releases refrigerant. The likely culprit is the resistor - located underneath the air intake box on the driver's side (about $30 - not bad).

Until I get this resistor - I can still use the A/C - but only when driving at highway speeds (or the system will overpressure and release coolant again).

But now here are my 2 big problems:

1) When looking at the resistor, I took apart the air scoop in the front, driver's side of the engine. When reassembling, I forgot to reattach the electrical connector on the plastic scoop - which I assume leades to an intake air temp. sensor.

2) When I realized this, I went to open the hood again and the handle was loose in my hands - the cable to open the hood had broken!

Here's the real rub - I have to meet my wife at the beach this evening after work - and have no time to repair the car between now and then.

I'd hope that the Germans have built redundancy into the enginemanagemnt system - and that a single inatke air temp sensor disconnected wouldn't pose a problem.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO - SHOULD I DRIVE TO THE BEACH WITH THE SENSOR DISCONNECTED AND HOOD UNABLE TO BE OPENED? THE TRIP IS ABOUT 150 MILES.

Thanks in advance - any quick fix or workaround for the hood problem would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Troy K.

[y2kimmel]

I need to go to the beach soon - surely someone has some recommendations for me?

Thanks,
Troy

With all due respect; are you certain that that is the IAT? I cant seem to find that on ALLDATA, however, that doesnt mean much, ALLDATA isnt ALL that... cause it has nothing on the hood release mechanism.

If there is any way you can avoid driving the car, I would until a fix is in place.