Can't Open Bonnet on my Fiat Brava 1.6 (51 Plate)?

I had this problem with my Brav 1.6, too.
In the end, I had to pull off the plastic grille on the front and push the release with a big screwdriver.
It took a while, a lot of tries and a few skinned knuckles.
Once I had it open I cleaned the latch mechanism and then covered it in petroleum jelly (AKA Vaseline) to grease it and keep the water off.

Now it sticks only occasionally, and when I can't get it to open, I drive to a nearby road that's full of pot-holes and while I'm driving over it, pull the release handle. The bumps usually jog the catch open.
The secondary lever catch stops the bonnet from flying right open.

I've found that if I open the bonnet at least once a week, it never sticks.

Phil Rogers
October 2009

Finally I found the way to do this. Remove the Fiat logo plate from the front (this is held on by 2 self-tapping screws, one at each end, plus a nut in the middle) - as it's not possible to access these, the only way is to prise it off (as gently as possible). With this plate removed there's just room to access the 2 nuts which hold the bonnet catch to the body of the bonnet. With these nuts undone the bonnet simply lifts up leaving the catch still within the lock hole in the bodywork. In my case this had seized up so wasn't easy to release hence the problem as the release cable was fine.
Reassembly is simply a matter of refixing the logo plate to the bonnet, refitting the bonnet catch to the bonnet and making sure the lock mechanism is well greased and free moving.

Adrian
July 2007

I've tried bouncing the bonnet etc., but no good sadly.....

Adrian
March 2007

get someone to pull the bonnet release,at the same time push & pull the bonnet,sort of bouncing it if u get what i mean.it should pop up then.the catch will need a good spray of wd40

bob
March 2007