Bonnet won't close!

[der_kaiser]

I opened the bonnet on the wife's 1.4 Mark 5 and now it won't close. Any ideas? It just won't catch when I try and close it I've oiled it and played about for an hour but it refuses to close. Any help is much appreciated.

[Phil1980]

Could be the releasing cable that has snapped, does the releasing handle have much tension in it?  Mine snapped and I could only hook the bonnet shut with the main latch until I got vw to fit a new cable.

[der_kaiser]

How much did that set you back? I reckon that's the problem there's not much resistance now.

[Chris MKV]

I had to have a new lock on mine - luckily it was still under warranty.

[Phil1980]

How much did that set you back? I reckon that's the problem there's not much resistance now.

If I remember rightly it was about £100.00, I needed it sorting quickly and it was going to be too much of a ballache to do myself so the dealer done it for me.

[Ads17]

Had this on my Mk5 and it was only down to the release mechanism under the bonnet getting gunked up and the latch was stuck.

If the cable has snapped them there will be no tension at all on the release lever in the drivers footwell. 
If you get someone to pull the relase lever then you should be able to see it moving back and forth under tension at the bonnet catch (It comes in from the left).   

To free up the sticking catch I got a small screwdriver and and rag to clean as much gunk out of the mechanisn (where the bonnet U goes into) then I gave it a spray of WD40. Pull the release lever in the footwell This freed it off initally for me, and you will see the latch will have moved into the middle of the mechanism.  Alternate pushing the latch back into the locked position & get an assistant to pull the release in the foorwell to free it up some more.  This should free it up nice and good, then give it another spray of WD40 for good measure. 

[der_kaiser]

I put it in the garage turns out it the lock was gone. Got a new one fitted and all is well 50 quid I didn't really want to spend particularly as the clutch just went on my Mark 4 never mind that's the joys of vw's!