how do you open hood when battery is disconnected?

I have a buddy who has accidently "locked" his hood and cannot get it open because he disconnected the battery for winter storage. Now the latch for the front hood will not open it... same goes for the engine compartment. Is there a secret way to open the front hood? can the system be re-energized through the fuse box or any other means just to get the latches to work? We can open both driver and passenger door but cannot open the hood or engine compartment through the latches located to the left of the driver's seat. any tips tricks or undocumented features for 1999 carrera's that somebody is willing to share??

Um, if it is a MY99 Carrera then the latch is released by a cable (not electric like MY02+ models.)

well... the cable doesn't work for front OR rear... so I suspect there is an electronic mechanism in play here that needs to be powered up; I don't know.

I think there is a battery connection in the fuse box. I think it pulls out. Connect to this terminal and ground and I think you should be able to open the hood.

Is it a latch or a button? If it is a latch then it is mechanical (cable). The cable may have snapped. The emergency procedure is described in the owner's manual. Basically, there is a hood release cable by the front passenger side wheel well. You may have to pop out the side marker to access it. Good luck.

The emergency release for the front bonnet is located in the void forward of the right front wheel, forward of the plastic wheel well liner. Remove the wheel, remove the plastic liner, reach forward to find the steel cable with a loop on the end. Give it a tug. there is an electrical solution, introducing 12vdc through the fuse connection on the fuse panel by the driver's left foot. or through the cigarette lighter socket.

thx everyone... I'll let you know how it works out.

Kim, we were looking at the fuse panel today... where would we introduce electric current? are there special connectors we can hook into? thx

Dude, you are not listening. Is the car a '99 or not? If it is a '99 then the latch is mechanical, with a cable. The only electrical part of the system is the trunk open sensor for the car alarm. What you have to do is locate the emergency trunk release cable by the front passenger wheel well and open the trunk that way.

In my 01 I had to remove the panel covering the fuse box. There is a red fuse that can be pulled out appx 1/2 inch. Around the red fuse you will see a metal contact on it, connect yur positive battery source to this and ground the negative to the door jam..and walla

Alex, where exactly is this "red" fuse... top or bottom area of the fuse panel? thx P.

It's at the bottom! Not on a 99 though?

This is for 01+, a '99 will be mechanical. Remove the cap and attach the positive here, bad pic then just connect the negative to any metal part. A trickle charge through the cigarette lighter power will work too, otherwise the cable in front.

I had exactly the same problem with my 99 C2: - My car is a 1999 model. - The electric release for the front boot got introduced after this date. - On my car, there is a manual cable operated lever pull next to the drivers seat. However, there IS an electric operated catch/lock that prevents you pulling up the lever if it's in the locked position. This lock is normally engaged with the middle console button, or with the central locking - Hooking up an external battery or charger via the cigarette lighter did NOT let me unlock the catch (button didn't do a thing, even though I was getting some power into the car.) Maybe if I'd left the charger in place I could have got enough juice into the battery to operate it. I don't know, I got bored with this route. -Also on the early model there is NO charge/power point in the fuse box to hook up power to. This explains why the manual didn't have the info on the subject. - I couldn't open the engine bay to access the rear charge point as also has a lock that was engaged. - I could NOT see a cable in the wheel arch to pull. Perhaps this is hidden behind the internal cowling. I didn't take it off to search, so don't know... The fix is: - Take out the 3 small plastic grommits in the lever housing - Loosen the allen screws with a 5m key (takes a bit of back and forth with the seat to get access) - Pull off (up) the lever housing (it's a bit stiff, but will come with a few tugs) - and then manually operate the pull without the lock interfering I've now got a new battery, a battery trickle charger/conditioner, and all is happy in the world again. cheers jon

what Rob said...notice the metal band around the fuse

ok... we'll have another look tonight.... thx everyone.

This scenario is covered in the owner's manual. Attach the (+) from a donor battery (or power source) to the fuse box point shown in one of the previous responses, and the (-) to the door latch plate.

well... if my memory serves me correctly on a 99 there IS NO fuse box point as depicted in the diagram that was posted.... but we'll have another look tonight.

just what I thought.... no connector inside the fusebox... something akin to a 99 only.

just wanted to thank everybody for the info on opening the hood; today we found the emergency release cable on the 99 carrera.... it was on the passenger side of the car... we accessed it through the passenger side marker light with a closehanger and voila... problem solved... what you have to look for is the braided steel head of the emergency release cable... standing over the car looking at the windshield the head of the cable is exactly halfway up the passenger headlight and to the right... underneat that little strip of metal body right beside the headlight... then aiming for that position deep inside led us right to it... with a very bright flashlight of course... looking for something steel with a distinct braided look and tapping it jus to make sure it was metal vs pulling some other rubber cable and causing a small disaster thx to everybody for their input on this one; the hood is now open

When I had the 99 I don't remember exactly where I bridged in the external 12 volt source into the fuse panel to release the mechanical lever/cable to open the bonnet but I do remember that I had to turn the key on before it would actually work.

interesting... was your battery disconnected or just dead? many who have disconnected the battery have in essense killed the circuit and it would be interesting to figure out if you can still energize the system externally while one of the ends of the battery is disconnected.

This happened to me yesterday. Dead Battery. Cannot get the wheel off since the jack is in the trunk. So pulled the battery out of the wife's car and hooked up as described to the red connection in the fuse box and the door latch. Worked fine Why you cannot open the trunk manually is a mystery................