Technical How to open a Fiat 2004 Punto 1.2 Car Bonnet

[qwerty2018]

I have a 2004 - Fiat Punto 1.2 Car. I have posted about a problem about my car battery and how it fails on here before. Spoken to friends and they have to mechanics and they think I have an intermittent electrical fault in my car that might be causing this. My car is 20 years old and worth about £250 and a trip to the garage might cost me just as much as the car and even a trip to an Auto Electrician might cost the same as the car so not worth it. The car besides this runs fine but a friend of a friend who is a mechanic said I should undo the negative cable from my car battery when I pull up and know I will not need to use the car for a couple of days and when after these days have passed and I need to use the car again I need to attach the negative cable again and go out in my car. All sounds good and has worked fine for last 2 months and no problems but this means opening the car bonnet many times in a week etc and this will eventually mean one day my car bonnet will not open as it is being opened far more often than usual. I am not so bothered if this happens in the city I live in as a garage might be nearby but if I am out in say a village maybe 30 miles away and I pull up open bonnet and undo negative cable and shut bonnet and come back several hours later (as I do a lot of walking in the countryside) and try to reopen the bonnet to reattach the negative cable and the bonnet will not open then I am stuck out in the middle of nowhere. I need to be able to reopen the car bonnet when this happens but do not know how too? Also told that a solar power car battery charger might help when the car is inactive and wonder if this helps?. Apologies for this being a long post on here.

 

[bugsymike]

Not quite sure what you mean.
Do you mean the battery may go flat and the you cannot open car door using your remote key fob button to access bonnet cable pull handle?
If so what is wrong with putting the key in the door lock?
It may trigger the alarm, but usually as soon as you put key in ignition alarm switches off. I have a neighbour down the road that does that regularly.
Alternatively if car is only worth £250 as you mention, leave it unlocked.
Another thing that is possible is to rig a bonnet pull cable that can be activated from say just below the bumper by pulling on a cable.

 

[qwerty2018]

Not quite sure what you mean.
Do you mean the battery may go flat and the you cannot open car door using your remote key fob button to access bonnet cable pull handle?
If so what is wrong with putting the key in the door lock?
It may trigger the alarm, but usually as soon as you put key in ignition alarm switches off. I have a neighbour down the road that does that regularly.
Alternatively if car is only worth £250 as you mention, leave it unlocked.
Another thing that is possible is to rig a bonnet pull cable that can be activated from say just below the bumper by pulling on a cable.

I can unlock and lock the car door fine but my battery and several before this one have gone down on me but even with a flat battery can unlock and lock the doors and open the bonnet. I have in the last six months had a new set of spark plugs and also a new starter motor too. My concern is that in my original post I have to now after advice from a friends mechanic open the car bonnet many times more than usual now to dettach the negative lead when I do not need the car for a while and then when I do have to reattach the lead back onto the battery before one sets off. I know that eventually my car bonnet will not open for me one day and if I am out in the countryside miles from anywhere and this happens I am stuck.

You say 'Another thing that is possible is to rig a bonnet pull cable that can be activated from say just below the bumper by pulling on a cable.' and I would like to do this as it would be great when my car bonnet pull cable fails upon me and would like to know more. Many thanks too

 

[bugsymike]

I can unlock and lock the car door fine but my battery and several before this one have gone down on me but even with a flat battery can unlock and lock the doors and open the bonnet. I have in the last six months had a new set of spark plugs and also a new starter motor too. My concern is that in my original post I have to now after advice from a friends mechanic open the car bonnet many times more than usual now to dettach the negative lead when I do not need the car for a while and then when I do have to reattach the lead back onto the battery before one sets off. I know that eventually my car bonnet will not open for me one day and if I am out in the countryside miles from anywhere and this happens I am stuck.

You say 'Another thing that is possible is to rig a bonnet pull cable that can be activated from say just below the bumper by pulling on a cable.' and I would like to do this as it would be great when my car bonnet pull cable fails upon me and would like to know more. Many thanks too

I did have one Iveco Daily that used to trigger a red light on dash after locking which over a week unused could flatten the battery, I eventually found the cause was a previous owners wire to the brake light switch causing it, but I do understand your concerns and I kept my bonnet cable and mechanism well oiled in case of failure.
Re a auxiliary bonnet pull, on one car I attached an extra "pull" using a piece of stainless steel mig wire inside a plastic tube with pull loop on one end and the other end connected at the bonnet catch next to original, it could be reached just below the front bumper out of sight. However it can be a fiddle fitting something like this as many modern bonnet catches are made as hard to access as possible to deter thieves etc. and of course it has to be safely routed away from any mechanical or electrical parts.

 

[qwerty2018]

I did have one Iveco Daily that used to trigger a red light on dash after locking which over a week unused could flatten the battery, I eventually found the cause was a previous owners wire to the brake light switch causing it, but I do understand your concerns and I kept my bonnet cable and mechanism well oiled in case of failure.
Re a auxiliary bonnet pull, on one car I attached an extra "pull" using a piece of stainless steel mig wire inside a plastic tube with pull loop on one end and the other end connected at the bonnet catch next to original, it could be reached just below the front bumper out of sight. However it can be a fiddle fitting something like this as many modern bonnet catches are made as hard to access as possible to deter thieves etc. and of course it has to be safely routed away from any mechanical or electrical parts.

Huge thanks here for your help and I am not mechanically minded and when my bonnet is shut I would never be able to access it then. As you say it would be a fiddle fitting an emegency cable and I am really worried about any trips to the Peak District for a walk and the cable not woking for me.