It's okay, I promised them yours. The Chinese organ stealer van will be stop by in the morning. ;)

This happened to my 90 e30 and there was a kind of slot to slide a screwdriver into to open the latch. Nothing like that on teh e53?

Truth be told, I wouldn't know where to look. Most of the DIYs I've seen tell you to break your grille, ruin your hood, or somesuch. Will experiment a bit more b4 I go to the cousin's shop.

Got it open with the cousin. Turns out the little plastic holder thing on the side of the engine bay wouldn't stay shut, so the first wire would slip out of place, failing to engage. We jury-rigged it with a couple of hose clamps for now.

Is there somewhere I can just order that part, or will I be forced to order the whole cable and redo the locks?

BTW, anyone know of a good DIY for replacing the cable and locks? Passenger side lock doesn't engage, that's why the hood has a gap on that side when closed. The cousin said it's a pain in the ass to do, but I'm willing to give it a go.

Grrr... seems now the hood doesn't latch well. It pops of I just pull on it. looks like my ham fisted cousin may have compromised the lock to get it open and didn't tell me... If you guys know a good diy for the lock, pls pointme toward it. I found a few, but they weren't clear enough for the inexperienced ;)

Grrr... seems now the hood doesn't latch well. It pops if I just pull on it. looks like my ham fisted cousin may have compromised the lock to get it open and didn't tell me... If you guys know a good diy for the lock, pls pointme toward it. I found a few, but they weren't clear enough for the inexperienced ;)